Hey, everyone, welcome to another English grammar lesson. Today we're going to be talking
about dashes.
So, just a reminder, dashes are not hyphens. If you’re looking for hyphens,
we’ve got you covered… I think… So, you can go back and watch that video and then
come back to this one. Anyway, … Okay, so, for starters, dashes are longer than hyphens.
When you want to type a hyphen, you just tap the "minus" key on your keyboard, and a dash
is two of those. So, there's that… Also, like I said a moment ago, dashes just do different
things. Dashes are used for interrupting, and that can happen in three main ways. First,
dashes can be used when you stutter. Like this: "I—I didn't know you'd be here." Or
"I was wondering if—if you wanted to go out sometime." Or “Do—do you want to hang
out later?” So, if someone is stuttering, we can use a dash to show that. Second, dashes
can be used when someone is being cut off by someone or something else. Like this: "Hey,
Jess, I was just calling to see if you could—" Or "Yeah, I was thinking about that, but I
don't know if I—” So, in these sentences, you actually have people being cut off by
something. It could be another person, like someone talking over them. Or it could be
a thing. It could be an alarm going off or a door slamming shut or something. So, when
someone is being cut off—unable to finish their sentence—we can also use a dash. And
the third and final way that dashes are used is to cut in and/or out of additional information
within a sentence—almost like you're interrupting yourself. Like this: "My brother—that guy
over there—is pretty cool." Or "I like everyone here—except Todd." Now, you might be thinking,
couldn't I just use commas in these sentences? Don't commas do, like, the same thing with
extra information like that? And the answer, for the most, part is yes; commas do do the
same thing, but like we said earlier, dashes are more of an interruption, so it really
just depends on how you want the sentence to sound. Commas are a bit smoother, while
dashes are a bit more abrupt. So really it’s up to you as far as the specific tone or energy
you’re going for with your sentence, and that’s going to tell you whether you want
dashes or commas in the situation. So that's it; that's how you use dashes. You can use
them for stuttering. You can use them for being cut off. And you can use them for cutting
in and/or out of extra information in a sentence. And if you think about it, dashes are actually
one of the most common punctuation marks people use when they speak. We talk with dashes all
the time. I mean, think about it. How often do you hear people stutter or get cut off—or
add something to a sentence that they almost forgot? In writing, those would all be dashes.
So because of that, it shouldn’t really be that hard of a punctuation mark to master.
Okay, let’s jump into a few practice ones… "I didn't like that movie at all—" she said.
Okay, so what do you think? Is this correct or not? Well, remember, dashes are use for
interruptions, so the question is, is this person being interrupted in her sentence?
And the answer is no. It seems like this person’s sentence is over, so there shouldn't be a
dash here; there should just be a comma. Next one: "My boyfriend is a total—oh, hey, Brian."
Okay, so what do you think here? Well, to me, it seems like this person was about to
go off on Brian, but then he walked in, so she interrupted herself; she cut herself off.
And because of that—because this dash is being used an interruption—and everything
around it makes sense, this dash is used correctly. Couple more… "My neighbor—is a really
nice guy." Okay, so what do you think on this one? Is there some sort of interruption here?
Answer is… no, there isn’t. There’s no interruption here, and because of that,
we should not have a dash. All right, last one: "Did—did you hear about actually, maybe
I shouldn't say that." Ooh, okay, now this one's a bit tricky. Take a second, read it
over, and see if you can figure out why I say that. You find it? Okay, so a lot of you
were probably able to tell that there was some stuttering going on in the first part
of the sentence. And that’s good; that’s how we use a dash. So that dash is correct.
However, that is not the only interruption we have in this sentence. Give yourself a
point if you noticed this: “Did—did you hear about—actually, maybe I shouldn’t
say that. Now, I don’t know about you, but to me that definitely sounds like an interruption.
And because of that, I need a dash. So, yes, you actually do have multiple dashes doing
different things in the same sentence: one for a stutter and one for a general interruption.
Cool. Well, whether you came here for a refresher or are just now learning this stuff for the
first time, I hope this video helped. Be sure to check out the free practice down in the
description, and we’ll see you next time. Thanks.