asked 137k views
1 vote
Which sentence uses dashes correctly?

A. I need -- a lot of -- colorsfor this painting.
B. I can't believe my own --brother! -- is now mayor.
C. Tom and I -- are planing -- a wedding in June.
D. I looked under the bed -- can you believe it? -- and there it was!

2 Answers

5 votes
Hmm... I'm going to go with the answer D.
It adds some sort of emotion to the "Can you believe it?" in the option.
Tell me if I was right!~
answered
User Matt Hudson
by
7.0k points
4 votes

The answer is D: I looked under the bed -- can you believe it? -- and there it was!

A dash is used in English both in formal and informal writing. They should not be overused. The usual recommendation is, in informal writing, to use not more than two in a sentence, and in formal writing, not more than two per paragraph. Dashes are most commonly used to change the topic within a sentence or to add surprising or unexpected information to complement the sentence, like in this example. When using dashes one should abide by common grammatical rules in order to express sense in a meaningful manner.


answered
User Nawara
by
8.0k points
Welcome to Qamnty — a place to ask, share, and grow together. Join our community and get real answers from real people.