Punctuation: The Dash

The Dash is one punctuation mark that is seldom used by E.English learners. In Spanish at least, the reason is we don’t just have it which explains why we rarely use it.

A Dash is a good alternative for situations when an ellipsis or a parenthesis are required. Let´s say we need to clarify an aspect of a concept we are trying to explain:

In other words, it is sunlight -- not moonlight -- what comes from the moon since our satellite reflects but does not produce any light.

A Dash is not a hyphen. Hyphens are shorter while dashes are slightly longer. Also hyphens are used to either put words together and to separate syllables in a word but not to introduce a short message to clarify what is being said.

There are really two types of dashes the en dash and the em dash. 

An en dash is used if you want to establish a number range: I  have students who are 15-16 years old. It is also used when there is a connection between two specific term: The London-New York bridge seems to become a reality little by little as architecture progresses. 

An em dash can replace a parentheses when there is some clarification to be made: Many of the soldiers returned to their loved ones --those who never gave up on them-- still scarred, still in pain but willing to start again. It can replace an ellipsis if suddenly an idea is interrupted as when a character speaks: "I was there awaiting when then I saw it, it was-- words are not enough!"

Sadly, my keyboard that is adapted to the Latin American use does not include dashes so I have typed hyphens twice in the case of em dashes.