密歇根新闻广播 英语中破折号的用法

（单词翻译）

How many dashes is too many? For some of you — especially those who are writers — that may be a rhetorical question.

For others, the dash is something of a mystery. You've seen it around, you know what it looks like, but you've never learned how to use it.

That may be because the dash — and keep in mind, we're talking about the em-dash — is kind of like the Wild West of punctuation¹ marks.

It's extremely flexible and works in a lot of different situations.

In fact, it's almost easier to explain where you can't use a dash, but let's take a look at a few places where you can. 

For starters, if you're making a list or providing an explanation, you can use a dash in place of a colon²:

"There are a variety of factors to consider when choosing a pet — size, cost, energy level and maintenance, to name a few." 

The dash can also be used to set off a parenthetical element. Of course, you could just use parentheses³, but the dash can add emphasis. Check out this example from an article by our own Anne Curzan:

"How is ‘aren't I' more grammatical — or more logical for that matter — then ‘ain't I'?"

Dashes are also handy when you want to start a sentence with a list:

"The dirty dishes, the grungy carpet, the filthy⁴ bathroom — it was clear that housework wasn't his top priority."

Sometimes, other punctuation marks are technically⁵ correct, but just don't work as well as the dash. Here's a great example from George Eliot's "Middlemarch":

"He had done nothing exceptional in marrying — nothing but what society sanctions and considers an occasion for wreaths and bouquets⁶."

Unfortunately, the versatility⁷ of the dash also makes it prone⁸ to overuse. One or two can add emphasis or clarity, but too many can disrupt the flow of your writing and make it confusing.