The Dashes Dashes, like commas, semicolons, colons, ellipses, and parentheses, indicate added emphasis, an interruption, or an abrupt change of thought. Experienced writers know that these marks are not interchangeable. Note how dashes subtly change the tone of the following sentences: Examples: You are the friend, the only friend, who offered to help me. You are the friend—the only friend—who offered to help me. I pay the bills; she has all the fun. I pay the bills—she has all the fun. I wish you would…oh, never mind. I wish you would—oh, never mind. They ran away—the cowards. They ran away, the cowards. Rule 1. Words and phrases between dashes are not generally part of the subject. Example: Jordan—and his trusty mutt—was always welcome. Rule 2. Dashes replace otherwise mandatory punctuation, such as the in the following examples: Without dash: The man, from Lagos, Nigeria, arrived. With dash: The man—he was from Lagos, Nigeria—arrived. Without dash: The December 13, 2010 edition of the Africans Hope arrived in June, 2011. With dash: The Africans Hope—dated December 13, 2010—arrived in June, 2011. Rule 3. Some writers and publishers prefer spaces around dashes. Example: Joe — and his trusty mutt — was always welcome. There are two types of dashes—em dashes and en dashes. We will be discussing them later. You can read more on https://www.royaltyacademy.net