Which sentence should we write?
This?
"Cardiovascular disease, a group of diseases that affect both men and women,
is the leading cause of death in the United States."
This?
"Cardiovascular disease..." and in parentheses "... a group of diseases that..." and so on...
or this?
"Cardiovascular disease..." then between em dashes
"... a group of diseases that..." and so forth?
Em dashes?
Whoever uses em dashes?!
Well, stick around, and we'll see how to use parentheses and the very versatile em dash.
[♫]
Hi, welcome to Snap Language.
This is Marc Franco.
We use punctuation to show where sentences and parts of sentences fit together.
Sometimes, depending on our choice of punctuation, we can also create very nuanced meaning.
Let's look at these ideas first.
The main part we want to express is that cardiovascular disease is the
leading cause of death in the United States.
We also want to explain or point out something more about cardiovascular disease—that it is
a group of diseases that affect everyone.
Yes, we can write these two sentences... just like this...
but this is a little choppy.
We can avoid repeating "cardiovascular disease" twice
and embed that extra bit of information into the main sentence all at once.
Like this...
"Cardiovascular disease, (comma) a group of diseases that affect
both men or women, (comma) is the leading cause of death in the United States."
This "extra information" is not necessary to
the main message
(that cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death).
We can take it out and still have a good sentence.
This sentence is called a "parenthetical statement."...
Oh!
It's parenthetical, meaning we can put it between parentheses!
Like this...
Cool!
So, you can add this extra information (the parenthetical statement),
between commas or between parentheses.
The meaning is essentially the same.
Using the commas, the statement kind of blends in with the sentence,
but the parentheses make it a little more separate, or detached, from the sentence...
at least visually.
So, we can add this aside, or parenthetical statement,
using commas or parentheses.
Another way to do that is to use em dashes.
By the way, it's called an em dash because, in print, it is as wide as the letter M.
Anyhow, no more digressions...
So, using em dashes, we could write this sentence like this...
There's one situation, though, where a comma might not work very well.
Take these sentences:
"The Declaration of Independence was adopted at the Pennsylvania State House on July 4, 1776
and "The Declaration of Independence was the announcement that the thirteen colonies,
then at war with Great Britain, were independent from British rule...
Let's add the second sentence to the first as a parenthetical statement using commas.
"The Declaration of Independence, (comma) the announcement that the thirteen colonies, (comma)
then at war with Great Britain, (comma) were independent from British rule, (comma)
was adopted at the Pennsylvania..." and so forth...
Ooh... can you see the comma bonanza here?!
The parenthetical statement already had a few commas in it,
so we ended up with a fairly difficult sentence to read.
Visually, it's difficult here to separate out the main statement
and the parenthetical statement
with another parenthetical statement within it...
In this case, we'd be better off using parentheses instead... like this...
This is still a very complex sentence but much easier to read.
Instead of parentheses, we could also use em dashes here...
Em dashes also have a unique application where commas or parentheses
cannot be used—to emphasize a sentence, a phrase, or a single word
at the end of an idea.
Look at this example:
"After much thinking, I finally found the word
that best described my decision
that best described my decision—stupid."
In this case, a comma would not work!
Nope, sorry...
... can't use a comma here.
"Among Pedro's fine qualities, one virtue stands out—his compassion."
No!
No comma here, either.
Just.. can't!
"Many people start their own businesses for one reason—to be their own boss."
In each of these examples, you could also use colons.
But, I don't know... there's something special about using em-dashes instead;
they add extra emphasis to the idea at the end of the statement.
"At this point in the video, one thing was certain—it was time for a transition."
Where you have the choice between commas, parentheses, or em dashes,
does it make any difference which one we use?
Well, as I mentioned earlier, the parentheses make it visually clearer than commas
that the statement is parenthetical.
The parentheses remove the statement from the sentence structure a bit more.
Em-dashes are also a little more common in formal writing than in everyday writing.
Reporters use them in newspaper and magazine articles;
you also see em dashes in academic writing fairly often.
Compared to parentheses, em dashes seem a bit more forceful; they bring more attention
to the parenthetical statement.
I think the best way to get a good handle on
when to choose commas, parentheses,
or em-dashes in these situations is to
start experimenting with them when you write
and, definitely, start paying closer attention to them when you read...
well, when you read well written materials.
Remember the one time where you *must* use em-dashes—to emphasize something
at the end of an idea.
Keyboards have no em dashes, so how do you add them to your text?
No worries!
In most word processors, just use two hyphens and they'll automatically change into an em-dash.
Now, if you're writing a web page, you'll need to use HTML code... and you're all set.
These punctuation marks have other uses, but these are the main ones.
The other uses are easy enough, and I'm sure you will get them with practice.
For now, there is little left to do—like, share,
and subscribe.
And, don't forget: always check the description below a Snap Language video; I often add
relevant information and related links there.
And of course, thanks for stopping by and watching this video.
[♫]
Bye! :)