When should you use a semicolon?

Use a semicolon to join two related independent clauses in place of a comma and a coordinating conjunction (and, but, or, nor, for, so, yet). Make sure when you use the semicolon that the connection between the two independent clauses is clear without the coordinating conjunction.

How do you use dashes in a sentence?

Use dashes to mark the beginning and end of a series, which might otherwise get confused, with the rest of the sentence: Example: The three female characters—the wife, the nun, and the jockey—are the incarnation of excellence. Dashes are also used to mark the interruption of a sentence in dialogue: Example: “Help!

Why would dashes be used in a sentence?

Use dashes to set off an idea or an appositive within a sentence. A dash (—) is a punctuation mark used to set off an idea within a sentence and may be used alone or in pairs. Dashes interrupt a thought in a more dramatic way than a phrase enclosed in commas, but less theatrically than parentheses.

How do you use dashes in writing?

Dashes are used to show a range or in place of parentheses to show that information has been inserted into a sentence. Dashes are only used in informal writing; in academic and business writing, use parentheses, commas, or colons instead. Do not put a space before or after a dash.

How do you properly use?

What is an example of a hyphen?

Use a hyphen to join two or more words that stand for a single adjective (describing word) before a noun. Examples: chocolate-covered donuts. well-known doctor.

Where do you put dashes?

A dash is a little horizontal line that floats in the middle of a line of text (not at the bottom: that’s an underscore). It’s longer than a hyphen and is commonly used to indicate a range or a pause. Dashes are used to separate groups of words, not to separate parts of words like a hyphen does.

What is a colon used for?

A colon is used to give emphasis, present dialogue, introduce lists or text, and clarify composition titles. Emphasis—Capitalize the first word after the colon only if it is a proper noun or the start of a complete sentence.

Are dashes used in formal writing?

Did you know that dashes are informal punctuation? When writing a formal letter or another kind of document, you should always try to avoid informal punctuation symbols. Dashes are one example; exclamation marks are another. … Dashes can be replaced by several other punctuations including commas, colons and brackets.

What do double dashes mean?

Definition of double dash

: a graphic character consisting of two long parallel horizontal dashes of which the top one is heavy and the bottom one light that is sometimes used to mark page or column divisions in printed matter.

What is the em dash?

The Em Dash: An Introduction

Like commas and parentheses, em dashes set off extra information, such as examples, explanatory or descriptive phrases, or supplemental facts. Like a colon, an em dash introduces a clause that explains or expands upon something that precedes it. … Spacing around an em dash varies.

How do you use dashes in dialogue?

To show an interruption of the spoken words, include an em dash inside the quotation marks, at the point where the dialogue is interrupted.

What is the difference between en and em dashes?

The en dash is approximately the length of the letter n, and the em dash the length of the letter m. The shorter en dash (–) is used to mark ranges and with the meaning “to” in phrases like “Dover–Calais crossing.” The longer em dash (—) is used to separate extra information or mark a break in a sentence.

What does — mean in shell?

More precisely, a double dash ( — ) is used in most Bash built-in commands and many other commands to signify the end of command options, after which only positional arguments are accepted.

What is the difference between an en dash and a hyphen?

En dashes, which are about the width of an upper-case N, are often mistaken for hyphens. But, traditionally, en dashes function as a kind of super hyphen. They’re meant to give you a little extra glue when you have a compound modifier that includes a multi-word element that can’t easily be hyphenated.

Do you capitalize after an em dash?

Don’t capitalize after a dash unless it’s a proper noun that follows. Second—and I’m going to be pedantic here—those examples don’t use proper dashes for what they’re trying to convey. There are two kinds of dashes: en and em. Em dashes are longer and have no spaces before or after—like this.

How do I type an em dash in Windows?

How to type an em dash on Windows
  1. Hold the Alt key. …
  2. Now type “0151” on the num pad. …
  3. A clunkier method, but one that works with any keyboard, is to use the Windows 10 emoji keyboard. …
  4. Click the right-most tab with the omega (Ω) symbol on it. …
  5. Scroll down until you find the em dash symbol (—).