Dashes | Punctuation | Khan Academy

Hey grammarians! Hey Paige! Hi David! Today we're going to talk about dashes, which is a piece of punctuation that looks kind of like this—um, it's just kind of a straight line. Later we're going to talk about hyphens, which look like this. 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 and 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 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 interrupty.

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, but the bus had already driven away." Even though that's technically 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 dash is uniting these two independent clauses: "I ran to the bus stop" and "the bus had already driven away." The comma "but" would connect those two independent clauses the same way that dash "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 two things together.

Okay, also it looks like you don't have a space before or after your dashes, right? Is that right? So originally when I drew it, it did look a lot closer, but yes, according to the Chicago Manual of Style that Khan Academy uses, it would just go word—dash—word, then a space. But when you're using dashes, generally you don't put spaces in between them—between words, right?

So that's use number one: it can interrupt the structure of a sentence. Use number two for the dash is that they can act like parentheses in pairs. So the dash is in the same place as another type of punctuation could be.

Again, correct. Okay, the dash, 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 Paige, as you rightly pointed out, you know, this is the same as having it in parentheses. You wouldn't have both of these together like that, but they do the same thing.

But they have the exact same function 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 an appositive with commas. So we could say, "The bug had to be the size of a softball." The sentence still makes 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; 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 too, Paige! So many snacks!" "Me too!" So, right? 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 just do the jobs of all these other punctuation marks. So it can be parentheses; it can be a colon; it can be like a comma sometimes.

Wow, 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 does—watch out for that! Wham! So, we're using this dash to say that this sentence was interrupted by something. And then, you know, we deploy the sound effect—but it could be anything really.

So if you're trying to write down dialogue that is being cut off by something—by another person interrupting, by an 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 it would go that dash—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 dash kind of serves that role, of course, because it's a very fancy actor. So I wouldn't say that the dash 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 dashers 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 a 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!"

Thanks! And those are the functions of the dash. You got it! You can learn anything! David out! Paige out!