Good morning all,

I have a question regarding punctuation; specifically, the use of dashes.

I use dashes in two ways:

1. To bracket a short collection of words that are not essential to the meaning of the sentence, for example

"Mr Martin, the English teacher - a stern, grey-haired man - yelled at the assembled pupils for not paying attention."

Sometimes dashes seem more appropriate than commas in crowded sentences.

2. To insert a pause into a sentence, particularly before revealing something, for example

"Mr Martin couldn't believe what he saw - one of his pupils was fast asleep."

Are both of these acceptable uses? I'm sure the first is, but not so sure of the second.

Grateful for any advice,

Many thanks

Nigel

Hi,

I think both uses are just fine. I may be wrong, but it seems to me that dashes are among the least 'regulated' aspects of language, anyway!

The second case you cited, ie providing a pause, the way I see that is using the dash to avoid a full stop or colon. But that's me -- I think that after a certain point, punctiation becomes a matter of style. (Note my use of dashes in previous sentence -- that was not intentional! And look, I just did it again!)

Anne Marie
Anne Marie



<Added>

I have a very short memory, repeating my name like that!

Thanks Anne Marie Anne Marie

Nigel,

Both your examples are perfectly acceptable. Some might put forward the view that commas would be more suitable for Example 1, but dashes do have a more dramatic effect.

In Example 2. the dash separates the main sentence and the lesser clause which also contains a verb. Although a purist might argue that a semi-colon or even a full stop could be used, the dash does provide a dramatic quality. Three full stops could also be used.
The beauty and the challenge of the English language is that it is forever changing and I think that in the 'old school' commas would have been used for Example 1. However don't use too many dashes in your work.

Len

I would certainly lean towards use of a semi-colon (snigger) in the second example, and I'm by no stretch of the imagination a purist.

The former example, however, is a perfect example of use of dashes, in my oh so humble (yeah...) opinion.

Dashes seem to be becoming the accepted norm for where you’re not sure whether it should be a dash or a comma or a semi-colon… I love them… use them all the time. I think the bottom line is – does your reader understand what you’re saying? I think the answer is yes, usually, unless you’ve made a complete balls-up of the rest of the sentence – which is another issue entirely!

ee.

Nigel

I think that a colon may usable as the punctuation mark for your second example - at least that is the interpretation I take from Lynne Truss' Eats, Shoots and Leaves. (p118 if you have a copy - in fact p118 even if you don't have a copy!)

She seems to suggest (I think) that where the second phrase reveals something more about the first phrase, then a colon is the appropriate separator.

But then, I can't tell my colon from my apostrophe!

Jumbo