Use of dash

[user789653241]

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?

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

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?

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.

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."

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.

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

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.

THank you, Ferguson.

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.

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

I'd use commas

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?