WRITE GUD... YOU ARE WHAT YOU WRITE!
by Neal Doten
Dashes Aren't Track Events!
One of the questions I use in my basic reading and writing class is this: What is
a dash? Possible answers are:
a) Something you do out the door when you are late for school or work
b) A track and field event
c) The part of the car that contains the radio and speedometer
d) A form of punctuation with lots of uses
Obviously, for our purpose the "write" answer is the last one (d). Let's look more
closely at dashes.
Dashes should be considered a valuable writing tool. They give some variety to your
writing. Dashes may be used in place of the comma, semi-colon, or parentheses. I
recommend you use the dash in only two ways to avoid confusion, errors, and over-use:
use dashes to offset a special emphasis item in a sentence, or use a dash to indicate a
break in thought or
an afterthought.
Whether writing by hand or typing, there is one thing about dashes that requires some
attention to detail on your part. Be sure to use adequate spacing before and after
a dash. This will ensure your dashes are not confused with hyphens. To help avoid
this problem, I suggest you use an extra space before and after a dash to be sure it really
stands out on its own.
If you want to give particular attention to something in your sentence, consider using
a dash to set it apart and make it stand out to your reader. For instance, if you
are describing a movie and want to emphasize some aspect of it (e.g., Jamie Lee Curtis), you would write:
"Arnold Swartzenegger - and Jamie Lee Curtis - were excellent in their roles in the
movie True Lies
."
Here's another example:
"Many of the world's premier fighter craft - F-15s, F-16s, and the latest Migs - are
sold to countries throughout the world."
The other common use for dashes is to separate a particular thought or an afterthought
from the rest of the sentence. This allows you to show a sudden change in thinking
or a secondary thought in the same sentence. Here are two examples:
"I can't find an oven stretcher in any of Abaco's hardware stores - maybe it doesn't
exist!"
"The Bahamasair flight was supposed to land at 1:30 PM - or was it 2:30 PM?"
Whether you are dashing off a short note to a friend or carefully crafting a business
letter, remember that dashes are useful for getting your message across - or simply
giving variety to your writing. However, using too many dashes destroys their value
for emphasis.
Time to lighten things up a little... Richard Lederer's More Anguished English
mentions a rather cute exchange between an Art teacher and one of her elementary
school pupils during a Sunday School session. Kids have some interesting "misconceptions"
- Little Emma was no exception when asked to draw a picture of the journey to Bethlehem.
"The drawing showed an airplane flying over the desert. In the passenger area were
seated Joseph, Mary and the little Jesus. 'The drawing is fine,' said the teacher,
'but who is that up front flying the plane?' Answered Emma, 'Why, that's Pontius
the Pilot.'"