HOW TO USE DASHES AND PARENTHESES

DASHES []
To set off parenthetical material that you want to emphasize. E.g.: Her taste in musicfrom country to rapexemplifies her eclectic personality.
1.

2. To set off appositives that contain commas. E.g.: Joea student who is also an athlete, actor, and writing coachdoes not have enough time to join the committee.

3.

To prepare for a list, a restatement, an amplification, or a dramatic shift in tone or thought.

E.g.: The vegetarian gasped in horror when he saw lining the wall of the cabin a collection of animal headsmoose, deer, bears, squirrels, all dead.

PARENTHESES [()]
To enclose numbers or letters in a series. E.g.: Three elements to a story include (1)characters, (2)setting, and (3)plot.
1.

To enclose supplemental information E.g.: For the last five years (some say longer), the house on the hill has been haunted.
2.

To indicate the plural of nouns. E.g.: If anyone has any information about the person(s) who committed this crime, please call the sheriff's office.
3.

To Indicate an Acronym E.g.: President Eisenhower established the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) in 1958.
4.

To enclose dates E.g.: Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772-1834) is one of my favorite poets.
5.

To enclose citations E.g.: "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times" is one of the most well-known quotes in literature, even among those who have never read A Tale of Two Cities (Dickens).
6.

TIPS FOR USING DASHES

1. Use dashes to highlight information that you could also

2.

3.

4. 5. 6.

set off with commas if you didn't want to call attention to it. If you're setting off information in the middle of a sentence, be sure to use a pair of dashes: one dash before the phrase or clause and another dash after it. If the information you are setting off comes at the end of a sentence rather than in the middle, use just one dash. Never use a comma before or after a dash. Do not overuse dashes or use them in place of other punctuation. Do not leave space before or after a dash.

TIPS FOR USING PARENTHESES

1.

2. 3.

4. 5. 6.

Since readers often skip information included in parentheses (or pay less attention to it), make sure you save parentheses for information that is not crucial to your message. Use parentheses the first time you want to present or explain an acronym. For parenthetical statements in the middle of a sentence, don't use a comma before the first parenthesis mark. Use a comma after the closing parenthesis only if you'd still add a comma there if you removed the information inside the parentheses When the words in parentheses come at the end of a sentence, the final punctuation mark goes outside the parentheses (like this). When a separate sentence is enclosed in parentheses, place the final punctuation mark inside the parenthesis. (Here's an example.) Always use both opening and closing parentheses.