Dashes, Parenthesis, and
Brackets
Advanced Composition
Dash
Use a dash to indicate an abrupt break in
thought.
The boy down the road—I don’t know his
name—is annoying.
My homework—that stupid essay for Ms. Roy—
is on my desk.
Dash
Use a dash to mean “namely”, “in other
words”, or “that is” before an explanation.
Competitive members of the GWOC South—
Lebanon, Springboro, and Franklin—dominate
the entire tri-state area in sports.
In Word press hyphen twice; do not put a space, and
immediately start typing your next word.
Parentheses
Use parentheses to enclose informative or
expository material of minor importance.
Mary Jane (sophomore) dates Johnny (junior).
Brackets
Use brackets to enclose an explanation
within quoted or parenthetical material.
“I want to thank them [my parents] for
supporting me.”
Hammer the nail into slot B. (See page 10
[Diagram B] for an illustration.)
Homework
Exercise #9
Do not write the entire sentence!
Tell me the correction
“I love it [the class].”
(junior)…