Dashes, Parentheses, and Hyphens

1. Dashes, Parentheses, and Hyphens

2. Dashes-Key Concepts • Use dashes to indicate an abrupt change of thought • Ex. I cannot believe what the barber did to my beautiful hair—oh, I don’t even want to think about it!

3. Dashes • Use dashes to set off interrupting ideas dramatically • Ex. Oatmeal--which tastes delicious with honey and raisins—makes a nutritious breakfast when served with milk.

4. Dashes • Use dashes to set off a summary statement • Summary statements often start with the following words: all, these, this, and that • Ex. Vanilla, rocky road, strawberry, black berry, and butter pecan—deciding which of these flavors to get took me a full five minutes.

5. Dashes • Use dashes to set off a nonessential appositives due to length • Ex. The ruby-throated hummingbird—a bird that lives in woods, orchards, and gardens but moves to the forests in the winter--eats nectar and small insects.

6. Dashes • Use dashes with nonessential appositives containing internal punctuation. • Ex. Some of the stores in the mall--for example, The Bathing Beauties Bath Shop--never have any customers.

7. Dashes • Use dashes with nonessential appositives to show strong emphasis. • Ex. The movies--three box-office blockbusters--were not among our favorites.

8. Dashes • Use dashes with nonessential modifiers when internal punctuation is used in the sentence. • Ex. The ruby-throated hummingbird—which migrates to Central America for the winter—must build up a layer of body fat equal to half its body weight before migrating.

9. Dashes • Use dashes with nonessential modifiers when strong emphasis is desired. • Ex. Our new dog’s hopeful expression—which he has mastered so well that even Lassie could take lessons from him—is so appealing that he is slowly winning me over.

10. Dashes • Tip: Be careful not to overuse dashes and follow the rules for use. • Now let’s practice! • 1. The hummingbird’s main source of food nectar is supplemented with small insects and spiders.

11. Practice with dashes • 2. There are actually some flowers at least thirty-one varieties of blossoms that attract the ruby-throated hummingbird. • 3. The fantastic agility of the hummingbird a hummingbird beats its wings ninety times per second lets it skip from flower to flower in the same movements an insect uses.

12. Practice with dashes • 4. Flying from flower to flower gathering nectar with its long beak it can hover for long periods of time it pollinates the flowers from which it feeds. • 5. Honeysuckle, petunias, nasturtiums, and lilacs all these flowers attract a hummingbird.

13. Parentheses-Key Concepts • Use parentheses when the material is not essential or when it consists of one or more sentences. • Ex. The diet (seeds, nuts, berries, fruits, flowers, corn, and some insects) of the sulphur-crested cockatoo is especially varied for a bird.

14. Parentheses • Use parentheses to set off numerical explanations—such as dates of a person’s birth and death—and around numbers and letters marking a series. • Ex. We established a memorial fund for Mary Tsai (1965-1981), which will be used to buy books.

15. Punctuation rules with Parentheses • When a phrase or declarative sentence interrupts another sentence, do not use an initial capital or end mark inside the parentheses. • Ex. Cockatoos (my sister just bought one) look like parrots.

16. Punctuation rules with parentheses • When a question or exclamation interrupts another sentence, use both an initial capital and an end mark inside the parentheses. • Ex. Cocky (That bird lived 82 years compared to the normal 50 in captivity!) lived in the London Zoo.

17. Punctuation with parentheses • With any sentence that falls between two complete sentences, use both an initial capital and an end mark inside the parentheses. • Ex. We drove to the Ashland bird sanctuary. (It took more than fifteen hours.) The quality of the facility surpassed even our high expectations.

18. Punctuation with parentheses • In a sentence that includes parentheses, place any punctuation belonging to the main sentence after the parentheses. • Also apply this rule for commas, semicolons, colons, and end marks. • Ex. The ocean water felt icy cold (about 45 degrees)!

19. Practice with parentheses • 1.Cockatoos spend the morning and evening looking for food. (Afternoons are spent entertaining themselves by pulling bark and leaves off trees.) They then return to their roosting grounds at nightfall. • 2. Its shrill voice heard mostly early in the morning or when it becomes alarmed can be trained to mimic the human voice.

20. Practice with parentheses • 3. Cockatoos that make the best pets are those that are bred in captivity. They are calmer and easier to train. Buying only birds that are captivity-bred also helps protect the birds of the wild. • 4.In the North, these birds travel in small ( at least two birds) groups.

21. Practice with parentheses • 5. When buying a cockatoo, be sure to buy a large cage; cockatoos will grow to be over a foot 18-20 inches long. • 6. Cockatoos are common in the wild throughout parts of Australia the eastern area and some islands close to the mainland.