ON WRITING: The dash (—)

[royspeed]

For years I've noticed that the dash is distinctly underused in student writing.

Students seem a bit timid about using it, and I suspect that their hesitation derives from two things:

• The rules aren't clear. Most students have never been taught the rules, the guidelines for the proper use of the dash.
• The dash seems a bit suspect. The fact that students have never been explicitly taught how to use it leaves many students fearful that it’s not officially sanctioned—that it is somehow not quite as proper as the other marks of punctuation.

Meanwhile, in books on English usage I've never seen anything more than the most cursory discussion of the dash, and my own students have for years been asking me for such guidance. (They read great essayists who routinely use it, so they want to know how to use it in their own writing.) 

After fruitless searches for such a guide, I created one myself.

For those of you who work with your own students on their writing — I'm specifically thinking of moms like @lucyintheshadowlands and @busy5mom — I'm providing access to that guide.

I hope you find it useful. — Please see the attachment.

THE-DASH-from-Logical-Communication.pdf

[lucyintheshadowlands]

Thank you for sharing this!