IN THIS CHAPTER

Placing long and short dashes where they belong

Inserting hyphens to split words and form compounds

Introducing lists, quotations and other material with colons

As your thumbs hover over whatever you’re texting, tweeting, or otherwise sending, do you take the time to tap a few punctuation marks on your tiny keyboard? Maybe you don’t, and maybe you should. In this chapter, you practice inserting dashes (long or short horizontal lines), hyphens (very short horizontal lines), and colons (one dot atop another). These small marks pack a big punch of meaning.

Dashing Off

Before you dash off somewhere, let me explain what dashes do:

• Long dashes insert information. Long dashes — what grammarians call em dashes — break into a sentence. Look back at the sentence you just read. I inserted the technical term for a long dash with two long dashes. When you break into one thought with another, you may use a long dash. Often the inserted material is a definition or explanation, but sometimes it reflects a small change in subject. “Terry went to the museum this morning — she loves abstract art — so she can’t babysit.” The information about Terry’s art preferences is only slightly related to the main idea of the sentence, which is that Terry can’t babysit.
• Long dashes clarify lists containing commas. If you’re dealing with two expressions, each of which contains commas, a long dash can separate them and make your meaning clear. “Jill invited the vice-presidents for marketing, publicity, technology, and manufacturing — Jack, Peggy, Billy, and John.” With a comma instead of a long dash, the reader might stumble into the list of names and wonder whether those people received invitations in addition to the vice-presidents. The long dash indicates that the vice-presidents’ names are Jack, Peggy, Billy, and John.
• Long dashes separate general and specific information. The long dash may take the reader from general to specific: “Ollie has assembled all the ingredients for his favorite meatloaf — mustard, ground turkey, Jell-O, and lollipops.” In this example, the general (ingredients) becomes specific (mustard, ground turkey, Jell-O, and lollipops) after the dash. The same punctuation mark can signal a move in the other direction: “Eggs, ground beef, and bread crumbs — Ollie hated all those ingredients and refused to cook with them.” Now the details (eggs, ground beef, and bread crumbs) precede the general (ingredients).
• Long dashes show that speech has broken off. You see this usage often in mystery novels, when a character starts to give a vital clue and then stops because a dagger has flown through the air: “Marvin shouted, ‘The codebook is in the —’”

Other punctuation marks can do the same jobs as long dashes. Sometimes commas are all you need. Parentheses also insert information and avoid potential comma confusion. Colons separate general and specific information, especially when the general appears first. An ellipsis (three spaced dots) shows an unfinished thought. You never need a long dash, but they’re perfectly proper and a bit more dramatic than commas, parentheses, colons, and ellipses. Because they’re dramatic, be careful. Nobody likes an overdose of drama.

• Short, or en dashes, show a range. The range can be distance (the Chicago–New York train) or time (1900–2010). Don’t send a long dash to do a short dash’s job. Don’t send in a hyphen either. (More on hyphens appears in the next section, “Helping Yourself to Hyphens.”)
• Short dashes pair equal elements. The short dash often signals a relationship: “Are you worried about the pitcher–catcher coordination on that team?”

Insert long dashes (em dashes) or short dashes (en dashes) where appropriate in these sentences.

Helping Yourself to Hyphens

Hyphens are horizontal lines, like dashes, but they’re much shorter. Hyphens are versatile. They can connect or separate. Here are a hyphen’s main jobs:

• Hyphens cut words that don’t fit on a line. Most writers don’t have to worry about this function of hyphens because computers, tablets, and phones usually move a word that’s too long to the next line or, in some cases, chop the word into pieces and insert the hyphen automatically. If you’re hitting a margin and have no way to complete a word, break it off by placing a hyphen at the end of a syllable and continue on the next line. Picnic, for example, breaks this way: pic- nic, with pic- appearing at the end of the line and nic on the next line.
• Hyphens create compounds. Where would the world be without well-meaning mothers-in-law? The hyphens turn two words into one description (well-meaning) and three words into one noun (mothers-in-law).
• Hyphens clarify numbers. If you’re writing numerals, you don’t have to worry about hyphens. And most of the time you should be writing numerals, especially for large amounts. If you have to express an amount in words, hyphenate all numbers from twenty-one to ninety-nine. Also hyphenate fractions that function as a description (two-thirds full). Don’t hyphenate a fraction used as a noun (one third of your paycheck).

Check the hyphens (or the lack of hyphens) in these questions. Mark each as “correct” or “incorrect.”

Coming to a Stop: Colons

Have you noticed that most of the section headings in this book contain colons? Colons are the stacked dots that separate the title from the subtitle. In this section, the title is Coming to a Stop and the subtitle is Colons. That’s one function of a colon. Here are others:

• Business letters or emails. This punctuation mark signals formality. Use it after the greeting (Dear Client: or Attention: George Smith). A colon also follows the subject line in a memo (Re: Salary Negotiations).
• In combined sentences. You don’t often see colons in this role. When you link two complete sentences and the second explains the first, a colon is a legal sentence-combiner. (Arthur was clear about his goal: He wanted to make his first billion before he turned thirty.)
• Lists. You don’t need a colon in a short list, but if you’ve got a lot of items, a colon makes a strong, clean introduction. (Mercy packed everything she’d need while hiking: boots, food, phone, bug spray, and the phone number of a limo service that would take her to a luxury hotel every night.) The words preceding the colon should form a complete sentence.
• Introductory line on a presentation slide. Most presentation slides are lists. You often need a colon for the top line, unless it is the title of the slide, alone on a line. For all the rules of presentation slides and their punctuation, turn to Chapter 14.
• Introducing long quotations. Students, pay attention! If you’re tucking a quotation into a sentence, and the quotation is on the short side, don’t use a colon. If it’s long (yes, you have to use your judgment here), a colon prepares the reader for what’s to come. Always use a colon to introduce a quotation that is presented as a block of text, separate from the information surrounding it. (The new president of the Dog Lovers Club declared: “Ask not what your collie or your terrier or your pug can do for you! Ask what you can do for your beloved canine companions.”)

Correct or incorrect? You decide.

Calling All Overachievers: Extra Practice with Dashes, Hyphens, and Colons

Ten portions of this letter from a florist to a client are underlined. Decide whether the underlined material properly employs dashes, hyphens, or colons. If you find a mistake, correct it. If everything is fine, leave it alone.

Answers to Problems on Dashes, Hyphens, and Colons

How’s your punctuation? Check your answers here before you answer that question!

1 While she was waiting for a bus, Melanie took out her lunch — almonds, steamed broccoli, and a hard-boiled egg. The long dash separates a general term, lunch, from the components of lunch (almonds, steamed broccoli, and a hard-boiled egg). The long dash could be replaced by parentheses, as it is in the preceding explanation sentence. It can’t be replaced by a comma, though, because the commas that separate each item in Melanie’s lunch would seem to be part of a series starting with lunch.

2 Suddenly she realized that two animals —in this case, a squirrel and a pigeon — were staring at her. As in question one, you're better off with long dashes than simple commas here, because in this case, a squirrel and a pigeon already has a comma. Parentheses, however, would also be fine in this sentence.

3 The Bronx–Manhattan express bus was late. The short dash shows a range. The bus travels between the Bronx and Manhattan.

4 “Well,” thought Melanie, “I'll wait for two–four minutes and then leave if it doesn't show up.” The short dash in this sentence shows a range of time.

5 While thinking about the bus — Melanie has always been good at multitasking — and eating the egg, she continued to stare at the squirrel and the pigeon. Here the comment about Melanie's ability to do more than one thing at a time interrupts the statement While thinking about the bus and eating the egg. Two long dashes show the interruption.

6 The human–animal bond is amazing. A short dash shows a relationship between two categories, human and animal.

7 Who can imagine what questions go through the mind of a squirrel — where's the food supply, how's my tail doing, why's that human looking at me, or something else! The long dash signals the shift from general (questions) to specific (the content of those questions). A colon would also serve to introduce the list of possible questions.

8 Xander Hicksom (1802–1888) theorized that squirrels spend most of the day sleeping, not thinking. The short dash connects two dates here, the years of birth and death.

9 Will an actual descendent of Xander Hicksom — Melanie — prove him right or wrong? Simple commas would also do the job here, much less dramatically.

10 Will Melanie — can Melanie — analyze squirrel psychology? The long dashes emphasize the real question, which is whether Melanie can figure out what a squirrel thinks. The dash gives the first question, will she, less importance.

11 Probably Melanie — an animal lover but definitely not a scientist — cannot. The long dashes create a dramatic air in this sentence, as they set apart the statement about Melanie's aptitude for science.

12 Nevertheless, she will spend two–four years on the project. The short dash shows a time range.

13 As the woman–squirrel connection deepened, the pigeon flapped its wings. The short dash connects woman and squirrel.

14 Melanie was concerned about the bus, which was now 10–15 minutes late. The short dash shows the time range.

15 “Finally, the bus has — ” said Melanie, breaking off her thought as the pigeon swooped in and grabbed the last of her almonds. The long dash shows that Melanie didn't finish her statement.

16 Incorrect. The expression third base coach is confusing. Are you talking about the baseball coach who stands near third base (the third-base coach) or the third person to hold that position this season (the third base-coach). Without a hyphen, your reader may misinterpret your meaning.

17 Correct. The two words, well and planned, function as one description, so a hyphen should link them. If the same two words appear after the word they refer to (plot), the grammar changes. If you write, “The plot was well planned,” well describes planned, which is part of the verb was planned.

18 Correct. Complicated breaks into four syllables: com pli ca ted. The hyphen properly separates the first syllable from the next three.

19 Correct. This title, like many others, is hyphenated. If you’re not sure about a particular title, check your dictionary.

20 Incorrect. Creating one description such as top-of-the-line is correct only when you're describing something. In this expression, you're not.

21 Correct. Now top-of-the-line does describe something (car).

22 Incorrect. Numbers from twenty-one to ninety-nine should be hyphenated, so the correct form is sixty-six.

23 Incorrect. Two words, star and studded, combine to describe cast, so you want a star-studded cast.

24 Correct. The hyphen tells you that this word refers to a relative, not to a quality (greatness) that a grandmother may possess.

25 Correct. Surprised? Used this way, quarters is a noun. Three is a description, telling you how many quarters you have.

26 Incorrect. Last week Joe campaigned in ten states: Maine, Vermont, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Ohio. A colon introduces this long list.

27 Incorrect. Joe stated, “I like states.” A comma is fine as an introduction to this short statement.

28 Correct. The colon separates the title from the subtitle of Joe’s article.

29 Correct. This overly long quotation is properly introduced by a colon.

30 Incorrect. A colon properly joins two complete sentences, but only if the second portion explains the meaning of the first. Okay, Joe's energy level is low. That's nice to know, but his plans to run for Regional Transportation Secretary if he doesn't win the directorship don't explain anything about the fact that he naps 20 hours a day. These two sentences need a different connection.

Here are the answers to the “Overachievers” section:

1 Incorrect. A colon follows the greeting in a business letter or email.

2 Incorrect. A comma, not a dash, follows this short introductory phrase.

3 Incorrect. The quotation is short, so a comma is better than a colon.

4 Correct. The second portion of the sentence explains the first, so the colon is correct.

5 Incorrect. The description, well behaved, is not hyphenated when it appears after the word it describes, which in this sentence is husband.

6 Incorrect. A short dash shows the time range.

7 Incorrect. A short dash shows the path of the trip, from Buffalo to Scranton.

8 Correct. To introduce a blocked quotation, a colon is appropriate.

9 Incorrect. A short dash shows a range, not what you need in this sentence. Here, information is inserted into the main idea of the sentence, so commas work well. The long dash would add a touch of drama and would also be correct here.

10 Correct. The long dash shows an incomplete thought.