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Join our Primary Education forum to discuss starting school and helping your child get the most out of it.

Primary education

Use of dash

12 replies

user789653241 · 28/10/2016 19:23

I was wondering if this is the right way to use dash.

"His countdown to Nova Driver- which was his best attack- was starting."

My ds is in yr4. He has written them today, but haven't got a clue if he is using it right or not. Tbh, looks ok to me but not 100% sure.
Is there any particular rules for using them? Can you recommend any resources for me(non native English speaker) to reference usage?

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Heratnumber7 · 28/10/2016 19:28

You can use them instead of brackets (). Does that help?

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user789653241 · 28/10/2016 19:35

So they are allowed to use them when writing at school? Instead of ()?

His countdown to Nova Driver(which was his best attack)was starting."

Either of them are ok?

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CauliflowerSqueeze · 28/10/2016 19:38

Yes. The brackets just make for a greater emphasis. The dashes are used in the same way but have just more of a "by the way" meaning.

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ImperialBlether · 28/10/2016 19:39

You can use any of the below, but I'd use commas.

Dashes, but put a space either side.
"His countdown to Nova Driver - which was his best attack - was starting."

Commas:
"His countdown to Nova Driver, which was his best attack, was starting."

Brackets:

"His countdown to Nova Driver (which was his best attack) was starting."

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user789653241 · 28/10/2016 19:50

Thank you.
One of ds' teacher said once, that education is learning for both children and parents. It's really true! I feel like learning new things more now than when I was a child.

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ImperialBlether · 28/10/2016 19:52

Oh yes, I learned loads when my kids were in school!

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Ferguson · 01/11/2016 20:04

Hi -

You may find this useful (and amusing) :

www.davidcrystal.com/?id=2942

David Crystal is probably THE authority on English. And Lynne Truss also is useful.

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user789653241 · 02/11/2016 06:24

THank you, Ferguson.

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Maims100 · 02/11/2016 07:26

Yes, in this sentence, an em dash can replace commas. The dash should be long (longer than a hyphen or en dash) with no finger spaces between the words on either side.

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hairygodmother · 02/11/2016 07:38

For the purposes of KS2, for clauses like this, children would probably be encouraged to use commas here and not dashes.

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Tomorrowillbeachicken · 02/11/2016 10:51

I'd use commas

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user789653241 · 02/11/2016 10:59

Thank you.
My ds is in yr4, so in general, is it better to use comma rather than dash at this stage?
I'm not sure he learned the use of dash from school or he picked it up from book or something.
Maybe better to check with the teacher? Or should I just encourage him to use comma instead?