When to use the Dash

Many people confuse the hyphen with the dash. We’ve done an earlier tutorial with the hyphen and saw that it represented a shorter pause than the dash does.

A dash can be used instead of a comma or brackets, to insert a short statement into a sentence.

Sometimes we need to include small, qualifying, or describing phrases into our sentences to make them clearer or more interesting to our reader. The dash is useful for this and in this case, is used instead of commas or brackets. For example:

• My pet hamster – a masterful escapist – spider-walks on the top of her cage. (Here I’ve demonstrated the difference between the dash; the first two, and the hyphen; the third one between “spider” and “walks.”
• The thief – a cunning criminal – held up the entire bank with a toy pistol.

Here your reader would pause slightly, and would be able to read the sentence just as you intended. To make sure you’re using dashes properly, check that you’re able to take out the phrase between the dashes and still have a sentence which makes sense.

A dash can be used to insert a pause before a change of thought or idea.

If you want to change the thought in the middle of the sentence without using a full stop, the dash is a good way to do it. Your reader would pause, but would know that the sentence has not yet ended, because the first part of it is connected to the second.

• I’ve worked hard at getting over the credit crunch – though I can’t say that it won’t affect me in the future.

The dash gives a smooth transition between two thoughts which are linked, but which aren’t necessarily two separate sentences.

Notice that I could’ve used a semi-colon here instead of a dash. However, I’ve chosen to use a dash because they seem to be the preference of modern writing courses.

When to use a Question Mark

…Certainly not with the above statement because it is not a question. Question marks are only used at the end of a direct question.

• Does he still have his own teeth?
• Where are the other three lessons of these tutorials?
• Do these come in purple?

If you’re asking an indirect question you do not use the question mark. My advice is to say it out loud if you’re in doubt. If your voice naturally goes up at the end of the sentence (like in my examples above), you need a question mark. If your voice stays the same at the end of the statement (like with the examples below), then you do not need a question mark, even if the statement sounds like a question.

• Ask your date if he still has his own teeth
• I wonder where she’s put the other three lessons of these tutorials
• Why can’t you just tell me where the purple ones are

As with a full stop, the word directly following a question mark always begins with a capital letter.

When to use the Exclamation Mark

The exclamation mark is used too profusely! People are too generous with it, especially when writing on the internet! Comments are stewed in the sauce that is the exclamation mark!

One thing to remember is that if you use too many exclamation marks, they will actually lose their effect. I never tend to use them unless they are totally necessary. As I’m sure you’ve noticed with the above paragraph, my screaming at you added little or no effect to my writing because I did not need to.

As there is no hard rule for using the exclamation, you have to decide for yourself if you really do need one. Exclamation marks should be used to express anger, surprise, stress, or amusement.

• You’ve got to be kidding!
• Go away!
• You’d better shut up!

Sometimes exclamation marks are used with single words/phrases:

• Stop!
• Cheers!
• Oh!
• Watch out!

Keep in mind (as with full stops and question marks) that the word following the exclamation mark always begins with a capital letter.

Here are some sentences for you to correct. (One of them is correct).

1. His wife has long since left him though one could say that she shouldn’t have married him in the first place! (Use a dash).
2. Why don’t you go and play somewhere-else Billy?
3. How do you start this car.
4. You don’t want to drink that, it’s poison.
5. Get away from me – you moron.

Answers

1. His wife has long since left him – though one could say that she shouldn’t have married him in the first place. (2 mistakes).
2. Why don’t you go and play somewhere else Billy. (2 mistakes).
3. How do you start this car? (1 mistake).
4. You don’t want to drink that, it’s poison. (correct)
5. Get away from me you moron! (2 mistakes).

Here are links to the other lessons in this series of tutorials:

• Lesson 1- The Apostrophe
• Lesson 2 The Comma and the Full Stop
• Lesson 3 The Colon, The Semi Colon and the Hyphen
• Lesson 5 Inverted Commas, Brackets And Capitalization