How To Use Dashes Instead Of Commas

To properly use a dash in an english sentence start by identifying which dash you should use.

How to use dashes instead of commas. Use a dash in a sentence to set off parenthetical information and provide emphasis. A colon can be used immediately after the greeting in a formal letter less formal letters tend to use a comma in this location. Dashes are often used informally instead of commas colons and brackets. When a thought is left unfinished however a dash should be used instead. For example i never said he began when typing a completed sentence a comma precedes the closing quotation mark and the attribution.

The dashes have a slightly more emphatic feel making the reader focus on this information that is set inside the special marks. Let s start with those quiet parentheses. An em dash is made by typing two hyphens. You use them to surround something that seems a bit out of place in the sentence an aside a clarification or a commentary. For instance em dashes can replace parentheses at the end of a sentence or when multiple commas appear in a parenthetical phrase.

Place em dashes around non essential information or a list in the middle of a sentence like you would with commas. Use a dash to cut off dialogue. Please accept my application for the position advertised in the news and observer. You could live your whole life and write reams of english and never use it. It s entirely a matter of personal style.

Parenthetical phrase with commas. To whom it may concern. Using a colon between a verb and its object or complement. So it s not a matter of it ever being correct to use a dash. There s never a requirement to use a dash.

Em dashes save the day when other punctuation would be awkward. Commas can also be used to set off parenthetical information but they do. Parentheses are the quiet whisper of an aside commas are the conversational voice of a friend walking by your desk and dashes are the yowl of a pirate dashing into a fray. A dash is a horizontal line that shows a pause or break in meaning or that represents missing words or letters. In general you can think of parentheses commas and dashes as a continuum of marks.