Why is (--)dash used? I think there is no need for dash before they are.
Why is (--)dash used? I think there is no need for dash before they are.

It is important to recognize your pet’s particular needs and respect them. If your pet is an athletic, highenergy dog, for example, he or she is going to be much more manageable indoors if you take him or her outside to chase a ball for an hour every day. If your cat is shy and timid, he or she won’t want to be dressed up and displayed in cat shows. Similarly, you cannot expect macaws to be quiet and still all the time―they are, by nature, loud and emotional creatures, and it is not their fault that your apartment doesn’t absorb sound as well as a rain forest.

Similarly, you cannot expect macaws to be quiet and still all the time―they are, by nature, loud and emotional creature

Question

Why is (--)dash used? I think there is no need for dash before they are.
Why is (--)dash used? I think there is no need for dash before they are.

It is important to recognize your pet’s particular needs and respect them. If your pet is an athletic, high­energy dog, for example, he or she is going to be much more manageable indoors if you take him or her outside to chase a ball for an hour every day. If your cat is shy and timid, he or she won’t want to be dressed up and displayed in cat shows. Similarly, you cannot expect macaws to be quiet and still all the time―they are, by nature, loud and emotional creatures, and it is not their fault that your apartment doesn’t absorb sound as well as a rain forest.

Similarly, you cannot expect macaws to be quiet and still all the time―they are, by nature, loud and emotional creature

Answer

Well, you need something, and your best bets are either a dash, a semicolon, a conjunction (like "because", perhaps), or a full stop if you want to make a separate sentence. In this case, I would use either a dash or a semicolon myself, and I'd use the former to indicate that what followed was something of a parenthetical or explanatory note, and a semicolon if what followed it was related to and equally prominent as what came before it.

Answer

You could technically use a semi-colon to link two related sentences together; however, the reason for the dash is because the writer made a statement and wanted to further explain it while being in the same sentence.

If you consider when things are put into a parentheses, it adds an extra detail, but isn't necessarily relevant and can be omitted. (Like this.)

When a dash is used, the text to follow it will provide relevant information that gives the rest of the sentence more clarity.

i.e. When we went to the mall, the three of us -- Liz, Jen, and I -- all got dresses to wear for the event later this week. I wasn't sure about the dress code -- the invitation said you could do casual wear, but knowing Peter, it'd be wiser to dress up. Hopefully, we made the right choice.

Answer

What would you put in place of the dash?

Answers · 3

Still haven’t found your answers?

Don’t miss out on the opportunity to learn a language from the comfort of your own home. Browse our selection of experienced language tutors and enroll in your first lesson now!