The 800-Word Dash to Better Punctuation
Tony: Have you ever thought about using dashes in your writing?
Frank: Wh — Wh — What did you say?
Tony: Have you ever thought about using dashes in your writing?
Frank: I don’t give a — about writing.
Tony: Well, you should. You’re smart — smart enough to use proper punctuation.
Frank: I hate —
Tony: Don’t tell me what you hate.
Are you one of those people, like Frank in the conversation above, who hates punctuation and couldn’t care less about writing? I doubt it. If you were, you wouldn’t have read this far already. Since you obviously do care about writing and punctuation, perhaps you’d like to know how to use the dash correctly in your essays and term papers.
The first thing you should know is that the dash is different from the hyphen. The hyphen is the key to the right of the number zero on most keyboards, and the hyphen is typically used in compound words such as mother-in-law or in phrases like “part-time student,” where two or three words describe another word. The dash, however, is made up of two hyphens.
Generally speaking, the dash is used in eight different situations, and four of those situations are demonstrated in the conversation above. The dash is used in the first situation to demonstrate a stutter or hesitant speech as Frank struggles with his first line. Second, a dash is used to show where an offensive word has been omitted like when Frank expresses his thoughts about writing. A dash is also used to separate a repeated word like when Tony tries to emphasize how smart Frank really is. And, finally, a dash is used to show an interruption before a sentence is complete. At the end of the conversation above, for example, Tony interrupted Frank before Frank had a chance to say what he hated, so a dash is used to indicate that interruption.
Typically, these first four uses of the dash occur when authors are writing dialogue for plays or movies. Student writers, however, are more likely to use dashes for the following purposes: to
Define
Accentuate
Separate
Hinterrupt.
Define. Sometimes in your writing, you may want to use a word that may be unfamiliar to your readers. If that should happen, you should also include the definition of that word within a pair of dashes. Here’s an example: “As your instructor, I’d like to accentuate — highlight — your accomplishments.”
Accentuate. At other times, you may want to highlight someone’s accomplishments or special characteristics when you write about that person: “William Kennedy — the Pulitzer Prize-winning author — will be on campus next week.” Obviously, too, you can use dashes in a similar way to accentuate information pertaining to places, things, or ideas in addition to people.
Separate. Can you name the starting five for the New York Knicks when they last won the Championship in 1973? If so, you may want to include those names between dashes when you write about that team or whenever you want to separate the individual parts from the whole unit: “The starting five for the 1973 Knicks — Willis Reed, Walt Frazier, Dave DeBusschere, Bill Bradley, and Earl Monroe — are all in the Basketball Hall of Fame.”
Hinterrupt. Obviously, I’m misspelling the word “interrupt” here to make this acronym work and to make it easier for you to remember when to use dashes. This last use may occur when you want to lead your reader in one direction and, then, jolt the reader with a surprise or a twist or an added emphasis: “I think you will like — no, I’m sure you will adore — my cousin from Schenectady.”
As you read through the last four examples, you probably noticed that I always put the dashes and the information between them in the middle of the sentence. Do you always have to do it that way? No. You can put a single dash at the beginning or end of a sentence. Here are two examples:
“Moe, Larry, and Curly — these Three Stooges are my role models.”
“I’ll never forget my first date with Barbara — or my last.”
Here are three final points to keep in mind regarding dashes. Yes, you may use parentheses in the same way that dashes are used, but remember that parentheses tend to de-emphasize your information while dashes make it stand out. Second, you should be able to remove the dashes and the information between them from your sentences and still have complete thoughts. And, finally, don’t overuse dashes in your writing. Use dashes sparingly — for effect.
