Dashes | Punctuation | Khan Academy Video Lecture | Complete Course on English Grammar: Upgrade your Speaking & Listening - Personal Skills

hey grammarians hey Paige hi David
today we're going to talk about dashes
which is a piece of punctuation looks
kind of like this just kind of a
straight line later we're going to talk
about hyphens which looks like this and
there is a difference between the two of
them it's kind of confusing but first
we're just going to talk about dashes
what they are what they do okay
sounds good to me so dashes have
approximately four uses use number one
is that they can mark interruptions in
the structure of a sentence as in I ran
to the bus stop but the bus had already
driven away so we're using this dash to
interrupt the structure of this sentence
okay but couldn't you just put a comma
there you know you you totally could you
absolutely could use a comma instead of
a dash but the dash has this feeling and
I'm gonna make up a word here it feels
more interrupting okay right so a comma
sort of helps the sentence keep flowing
and the dash kind of stops it for a
second and even though grammatically
those two sentences are identical right
I ran to the bus stop comma but the bus
had already driven away even though
that's technically that means the exact
same thing as I ran to the bus stop -
but the bus had already driven away this
is kind of like an abrupt cut off
so like the comma right the the dash is
uniting these two independent clauses I
ran to the bus stop the bus had already
driven away right so like you know comma
but would connect those two independent
clauses the same way that - but is
connecting those two clauses but it has
a slightly different connotation it's
just more abrupt in the way that it
connects these these two things together
okay also it looks like you don't have a
space before after your dash is right is
that right so originally when I drawn it
it did look a lot closer but yes in
according to the Chicago Manual of style
that Khan Academy uses it would just go
word - word than a space but when you're
using dashes generally you don't put you
don't put spaces in between is between
in between words paint so that's use
number one it can
interrupts the structure of a sentence
use number two for the - is that they
can act like parentheses in pairs so the
- is in the same place as it as another
type of punctuation could be again
correct okay the - I guess is kind of
like so let's look at another example
sentence and I'll switch colors the bug
which landed on my nose had to be the
size of a softball enormous bug but
pages you rightly pointed out you know
it's this is the same as Halligan in
parentheses you wouldn't have both of
these together like that but they do the
same thing but they've yeah they have
the exact same function in this case in
this case so when you have them in pairs
like so it's the bug which landed on my
nose had to be the size of a softball so
it's kind of this aside if we really
wanted to we could take it right out of
the sentence kind of like in a positive
write with commas so we could say the
bug had to be the size of a softball
sentence don't make sense right use
number three a dash can be used where
you would otherwise use a colon so in
this case it's going to be sort of
introducing something right so the colon
has this linking power right it can
introduce ideas it can start a list you
can do the same thing with a dash so for
example if we wanted to introduce an
idea we could say I have only ever
wanted one thing snacks
me to page so many snacks me too so
right so we're using this to introduce
this idea the same way that we would had
it been a colon okay so the dash is like
a little actor yeah yeah the dash is
like an actor that can use like do the
jobs of all these other these other
punctuation marks so it can be
parentheses it can be a colon it can be
like a comma
sometimes wow that is uh that is a
talented little guy seriously I'm very
impressed and the fourth use of the dash
is again to indicate interruptions but
specifically to indicate interruptions
in speech this is like its own little
special thing yeah it's not acting like
anything else nope just indicating
interruption as it
watch out for that Wham so so we're
using this - to say that this sentence
was interrupted by something and then
you know we deployed this sound effect
but it could be anything really so if
you're if you're trying to write down
dialogue that is being cut off by
something by another person interrupting
by avalanche of ice cream I don't know
you know whatever it is then you would
use a dash at the end of the sentence so
no space so would go that - quotation
marks and you wouldn't have to do any
kind of terminal punctuation no need for
a period or a question mark or an
exclamation point the the - kind of
serves that role because it's a very
fancy actor so I wouldn't say I wouldn't
say that the - as an actor can perform
the same roles as terminal punctuation
as periods or question marks or
exclamation points but rather I would
say that it's cutting off the sentence
before we can even get to where those
would live okay yeah it's saying there
would have been more words in this
sentence and then terminal punctuation
but so that's what dashes can do they
are used to mark interruptions in the
structure of a sentence like I ran to
the bus stop but the bus had already
driven away they can act like
parentheses when they're used in pairs
so like the bug which landed on my nose
had to be the size of softball you can
use them like a colon to lead into lists
or to link an idea so I have only ever
wanted one thing snacks and they can
indicate interruptions in speech like
watch out for that Wham
yes good thanks and those are the
functions of the - you got it you can
learn anything gave it out page out