Tag Archives: punctuation

[If you would prefer this document as a learning support in Microsoft Word, it’s under that hyperlink.]

8. Use a dash to set off an abrupt break or interruption and to announce a long appositive or summary.

A dash is a mark of separation stronger than a comma, less formal than a colon, and more relaxed than parentheses.

His first thought on getting out of bed—if he had any thought at all—was to get back in again.

The rear axle began to make a noise—a grinding, chattering, teeth-gritting rasp.

The increasing reluctance of the sun to rise, the extra nip in the breeze, the patter of shed leaves dropping—all evidences of fall drifting into winter were clearer each day.

Use a dash only when a more common mark of punctuation seems inadequate.

Her father’s suspicions proved well-founded—it was not Edward she cared for—it was San Francisco.

Her father suspicions proved well-founded. It was not Edward she cared for, it was San  Francisco.

 Violence—the kind you see on television—is not honestly violent—there lies its harm.

 Violence, the kind you see on television, is not honestly violent. There lies its harm.

Excerpted from: Strunk, William Jr., and E.B. White. The Elements of Style, Fourth Edition. New York: Longman, 2000.

[If you’d prefer to use this as a learning support in Microsoft Word typescript, click on that link and it will download to wherever on your computer downloads land.]

“7. Use a colon after an independent clause to introduce a list of particulars, an appositive, an amplification, or an illustrative principle.

A colon tells the reader that what follows is closely related to the preceding clause. The colon has more effect than the comma, less power to separate than the semicolon, and more formality than the dash. It usually follows an independent clause and should not separate a verb from its complement or a preposition from its object. In the four sentences that follow, the first sentence in each pair is wrong; it should be rewritten as in the second sentence.

Your dedicated whittler requires: a knife, a piece of wood, and a back porch.

Your dedicated whittler requires three props: a knife, a piece of wood, and a back porch.

Understanding is that penetrating quality of knowledge that grows from: theory practice, conviction, assertion, error, and humiliation.

Understanding is that penetrating quality of knowledge that grows from theory, practice, conviction, assertion, error, and humiliation.

Join two independent clauses with a colon if the second interprets or amplifies the first.

But even so, there was directness and dispatch about animal burial: there was no stopover in the undertakers foul parlor, no wreath or spray.

A colon may introduce a quotation that supports or contributes to the preceding clause.

The squalor of the streets reminded her of a line from Oscar Wilde: ‘We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars.’

The colon also has certain functions to form: to follow the salutation of a formal letter, to separate hour from minute in a notation of time, and to separate the title of a work from its subtitle or a Bible chapter from a verse.

Dear Mr. Montague:

departs at 10:48 P.M

Practical Calligraphy: A Guide to Italic Script

Nehemiah 11:7“

Excerpted from: Strunk, William Jr., and E.B. White. The Elements of Style, Fourth Edition. New York: Longman, 2000.