Quick Use: Introduce a list or quotation, or connect two clauses in which the clause after the colon details or expands on the first. I know you are still there – somewhere in the sky. There's always a second chance – even for someone like you – so don't think your career is at an end. But if the first function can be substituted with parentheses and the second with a semi-colon or conjunction, then why use dashes instead? The effect of dashes is that they highlight the clause that they are inserting, thus bringing attention to it. Quick Use: Use a dash to connect independent clauses or to interrupt a main clause in a way that creates dramatic effect.ĭashes function in two ways: to signal interruptions in a sentence (basically like parentheses), and to connect independent clauses. But remember that when deciding whether to use a period or a semi-colon, a colon or a dash, it is more a stylistic/rhetorical choice than a choice of right or wrong.

Connecting your clauses with a semi-colon might provide a pause that is just right, while a dash could make that pause more dramatic by highlighting the following clause, or a colon could signal that the second clause expands on the first. A comma between two independent clauses creates a run-on sentence that doesn't give enough definition between your ideas, while a period between them sometimes distances them too much. What can they do for my writing?Įssentially, semicolons, colons, and dashes offer you different ways to join your ideas together, and you can use them to adjust how you want your sentences to sound. Dashes, colons, and semicolons connect two independent clauses that are related in thought.