- Dashes- (Parentheses) [Brackets]

1. - Dashes- (Parentheses) [Brackets]

2. Dashes • Use dashes mainly to set off explanations, to show an abrupt change in the flow of the sentence and to set off a thought that is repeated for stress or emphasis. I saw Harry the other night - didn't he used to live here? - and he looked terrible. I went to check out that used car -  the one I told you about yesterday - to see if it was a good deal. Sonny finally bought a CD outfit - Sony or Hitachi, I forget which - and he wants me to see it later.

3. Dashes • Use a dash before a clause that summarizes a series of words or phrases. The dash is used in place of terms like namely, in other words, that is and similar expressions. Printers, scanners, digital cameras, CD recorders - all are gadgets that can be hooked up to your computer. Terns, geese, and warblers—all migratory birds—fly hundreds of miles each year. But ideas—opinions backed with genuine reasoning—are extremely difficult to develop.

4. Dashes • Use a dash to set off an interruption that is important to the meaning of the sentence but not grammatically part of it: It matters not where or how far you travel—the farther commonly the worse—but how much alive you are. For the first time in my three years at Clear Lake College – I can hardly believe it – I agree with Dean Rack. In typing, make a dash with two hyphens (--) and leave no space on either side.

5. Parentheses Use parentheses to enclose information or explanatory matter (a single word, a number, or short sentence) that is added to a sentence but is not considered of major importance. Harriet Tubman (1820-1912) is remembered for her work with the Underground Railroad. In the United States, the term bank holiday (the England the words mean legal holiday) refers to the closing of all the banks by Franklin Delano Roosevelt on March 5, 1933.

6. Parentheses • Be sure that any material enclosed in parentheses can be omitted without changing the basic meaning and construction of the sentence. George Eliot (whose real name is Mary Ann Evans) wrote poems and several well-known novels. For setting off incidental matter, commas, dashes, and parentheses are frequently interchangeable. George Eliot, whose real name is Mary Ann Evans, wrote poems and several well-known novels.

7. Parentheses • Use parentheses to enclose numbers and letters. Recipe for a great day: (1) Drive to the mall; (2) Whip out the charge card; (3) Shop to you drop. Motherhood is in trouble, and it ought to be. A rude question is long over- due: Who needs it? The answer used to be (1) society and (2) women.

8. Brackets • Use brackets to enclose explanations within parentheses or in quoted material when the explanation is not part of the quotation. Words may not be changed, but remarks may be added. Waving a sheet of paper, Bernice yelled to Ike Canon, “This [a copy of the zoning variance} doesn’t give you authority to start construction.” “Wanna bet,” he replied still aiming his bulldozer at the oak. “Phil Grymm [legal counsel for Dumble and Tweed] says we can, and I take my orders from him.”

9. Sources Hairston, Maxine and John J. Ruszkiewicz. The Scott Foresman Handbook for Writers. Scott, Foresman and Company: Glenview. 1988. Print Rozakis, Laurie E., Ph.D. The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Grammar and Style. Second Edition. USA: Alpha. 2003. Print Warriner, John. Warriner’s English Grammar and Composition: Fifth Course. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, Inc. 1982. Print.