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By Root 1600 0

Words such as moreover, meanwhile, and nevertheless and phrases such as for instance and for example traditionally have taken commas, but the practice has become increasingly discretionary over the years. In Britain they have been more freely abandoned than in America; Fowler, for instance, seldom uses them. I would recommend using them when they suggest a pause or when ambiguity might result. This is especially true of however. Consider these two sentences: “However hard he tried, he failed” “However, he tried hard, but failed.” To keep from confusing the reader, if only momentarily, it is a good idea to set off however with commas when it is used as an interpolation. Much the same could be said of say: “She should choose a British government stock with [,] say [,] five years to run” (Daily Mail).

dash. Dashes should be used in pairs to enclose parenthetical matter or singly to indicate a sharp break in a sentence (“I can’t see a damn thing in here—ouch!”) or to place emphasis on a point (“There are only two things we can count on—death and taxes”). Dashes are most effective when used sparingly, and there should never be more than one pair in a single sentence. There are two common errors with dashes:

1. Failing to mark the end of a parenthetical comment with a second dash: “The group—it is the largest in its sector, with subsidiaries or associates in eleven countries, says trading has improved in the current year” (Times). Make it “countries—says.”

2. Allowing a word or phrase from the main part of the sentence to become locked within the parenthetical area, as here: “There is another institution which appears to have an even more—shall we say, relaxed—attitude to security” (Times). Removing the words between the dashes would give us an institution with “an even more attitude.” Relaxed belongs to the sentence proper and needs to be put outside the dashes: “There is another institution which appears to have an even more—shall we say?—relaxed attitude to security.” See also PARENTHESES.

ellipsis. An ellipsis (sometimes called an ellipse) is used to indicate that material has been omitted. It consists of three evenly spaced periods (…) and not, as some writers think, a random scattering of them. When an ellipsis occurs at the end of a sentence, a fourth period is often added.

exclamation marks are used to show strong emotion (“Get out!”) or urgency (“Help me!”). They should almost never be used for giving emphasis to a simple statement of fact: “It was bound to happen sometime! A bull got into a china shop here” (cited by Bernstein).

hyphen. Almost nothing can be said with finality about the hyphen. As Fowler says, “Its infinite variety defies description.” Even the word for using a hyphen is contentious: some authorities hyphenate words, but others hyphen them. The principal function of the hyphen is to reduce the chances of ambiguity. Consider, for instance, the distinction between “the twenty-odd members of his cabinet” and “the twenty odd members of his cabinet.” It is sometimes used to indicate pronunciation (de-ice), but not always (coalesce, reissue). Composite adjectives used before a noun are usually given hyphens (“a six-foot-high wall,” “a four-inch rainfall”), but again, not always. Fowler cites “a balance-of-payments deficit” and Gowers “a first-class ticket,” but in expressions such as these, where the words are frequently linked, the hyphens are no more necessary than they would be in “a real estate transaction” or “a post office strike.” When the phrases are used adverbially, the use of hyphens is wrong, as here: “Mr. Conran, who will be fifty-years-old next month…”(Sunday Times). Mr. Conran will be fifty years old next month; he will then be a fifty-year-old man.

In general, hyphens should be dispensed with when they are not necessary. One place where they are not required by sense but frequently occur anyway is with -ly adverbs, as in newly-elected and widely-held. Almost every authority suggests that they should be deleted in such constructions.

parentheses. Parenthetical matter can be