1. Dash, Hyphen, & Parentheses

2. Dash & Parentheses Purpose: Offset words that break into the main idea of a sentence Use a comma for a close connection to the main idea of the sentence Use a dash for something that is loosely connected to the main idea of the sentence Use parentheses to set off material with only a slight connection

3. Parentheses It was a black suit with a formal Mao jacket (what the Chinese call a Sun Yat- sen suit), and black cloth shoes to match. If anything is not “quite right” with your order (fit, style, or even color), please return it for a full refund or exchange.

4. Dash People grew impatient---the parade was already thirty minutes behind schedule-- -and began to leave. Before a summary: –Edsels, Packards, and Hudsons---these cars are no longer made.

5. Dash A break in thought The winner of today’s baseball game--- assuming we aren’t rained out---will play in the regional semifinals.

6. Dash Set off a long explanatory statement that interrupts the main thought of the sentence. The meeting between the two men--- they had clashed violently and repeatedly over a period of years---was unexpectedly calm and friendly.

7. Dash Dialogue to show an abrupt break in thought. “Photosynthesis is an action---I mean, it’s what happens---well, it’s sunlight doing something to chlorophyll.”

8. Your Turn! After a long pause, which my appearance seemed to produce for he eyed me closely as I approached, he gave a whoop, and swore that he could out-swap any man that ever walked the hills. The students were bored with the lesson even though grammar is an essential part of English class and bitterly completed the assignment.

9. Hyphens Use if part of a word must be carried over from one line to the next Example: The FBI has about 169,000,000 fin- gerprints on file. Use in compound numbers Seventy-six trombones

10. Hyphens Use hyphens in compound nouns Brother-in-law, drive-in, great-grandmother Use between words that make a compound adjective used before a noun Stephen King’s latest thriller is a well-written book. Stephen Kings latest thriller is well written.

11. Your Turn! My great uncle is ninety nine years old. She is a self confident young lady.