How To Use Dashes And Parentheses

Dashes are considered less formal than parentheses.

How to use dashes and parentheses. Use parentheses to enclose supplemental material including in text citations minor digressions and afterthoughts. Dashes and parentheses perform seven basic and related functions in written english. Unlike parentheses the dash is quite popular in news writing in all types of writing really. Separate appositives introduce emphasizations enclose clarifications enclose asides and additional information introduce explanations introduce an explanation of a preceding series and enclose numbers or letters in a list. The following article explains the seven uses of dashes and hyphens in written.

The en dash is often used to indicate spans of time or ranges of numbers. Em dashes in place of parentheses. If you want to draw attention to the parenthetical content use dashes. A pair of em dashes can replace a pair of parentheses. Let s start with those quiet parentheses.

Using the en dash to indicate spans of time or ranges of numbers. Dashes parentheses and commas can actually be used interchangeably as a way to mark some of the information in a sentence as not necessary to the main meaning non restrictive information for you grammar wizards. Recall that en dashes are slightly shorter in length than em dashes. The em dash and the en dash. This makes your writing easier to understand and lets you add details.

Do not overuse dashes or use them in place of other punctuation. The en dash is often used as a replacement for the word to. Find out more in a bitesize ks2 english guide. Using parentheses and dashes properly adds structure to your sentences and helps you avoid the absent minded professor effect. You use them to surround something that seems a bit out of place in the sentence an aside a clarification or a.

They are also more intrusive. Dashes are used as punctuation in sentences. 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. Do not leave space before or after a dash. Hyphens are shorter than dashes and are used to connect words.