The dash

Dashes are used in the following instances.

1. To set off a sudden change in thought or tone:

The committee found—can you believe this?—that the company bore full responsibility for the accident.

That's what she said—if I remember correctly.

2. To emphasize a parenthetical element:

The managers' reports—all ten of them—recommend production cutbacks for the coming year.

Arlene Kregman—the first woman elected to the board of directors—is the next scheduled speaker.

3. To set off an introductory series from its explanation:

Wetsuits, weight belts, tanks—everything will have to be shipped in.

When a series follows the general statement, a colon replaces the dash:

Everything will have to be shipped in: wetsuits, weight belts, and tanks.

Note that typewriters and most word processors do not have a key for the dash. In typewritten or word-processed text, a dash is represented by two uninterrupted hyphens. No space precedes or follows the dash.

Parentheses

Parentheses are used in the following instances.

1. To set off incidental information:

Please call me (x3104) when you get the information. Galileo (1564-1642) is often considered the father of modem astronomy.

H. W. Fowler's Modern English Usage (New York: Oxford University Press, 2nd ed., 1965) is still the final arbiter.

2. To enclose numbers and letters that label items listed in a sentence:

To transfer a call within the office, (1) place the party on HOLD, (2) press TRANSFER, (3) press the extension number, and (4) hang up.

Use both a left and a right parenthesis—not just a right parenthesis—in this situation

The hyphen

Hyphens are used in the following instances.

1. In general, to form compound adjectives that precede nouns:

general-purpose register

meat-eating dinosaur

chain-driven saw

Note that hyphens are not used after words that end in -ly:

newly acquired terminal

Also note that hyphens are not used when the compound adjective follows the noun:

The Woodchuck saw is chain driven.

2. To form some compound nouns and adjectives:

mother-of pearl red-hot

editor-in-chief first-class

3. To form fractions and compound numbers:

one-half

fifty-six

4. To attach some prefixes and suffixes:

vice-chairman post-Victorian

self-control ex-governor

5. To divide a word at the end of a line:

We will meet in the pavil-

ion in one hour.

Whenever possible, avoid such breaks: they annoy some readers When you do use them, check the dictionary to make sure you have divided the word between syllables.

<== попередня сторінка	\|	наступна сторінка ==>
The semicolon	\|	The apostrophe

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