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Ellipses, Dashes, Hyphens, & Parentheses
Introduction
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While Ellipses, Dashes, Hyphens, & Parentheses are all integrated differently into sentences, they serve a common purpose of setting apart information to help further define sentences and create clarity.
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This lesson will focus on the unique uses of these grammatical tools to equip you to be a strong writer.
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Learning Outcomes
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By the end of this learning experience, you should feel confident with the following:
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Identifying the uses for ellipses and applying them correctly in sentences
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Classifying the purposes for dashes and utilizing them in sentence structures
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Distinguishing the uses for hyphens and integrating them effectively in writing
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Categorizing the purposes for parentheses and applying them correctly in sentences
Hyphens and Dashes
Hyphens
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The Oxford Manual of Style once stated, “If you take hyphens seriously you will surely go mad.” Hyphens belong to that category of punctuation marks that will hurt your brain if you think about them too hard, and, like commas, people disagree about their use in certain situations. Nevertheless, you will have to use them regularly because of the nature of academic and professional writing. If you learn to use hyphens properly, they help you to write efficiently and concretely.
The Hyphen’s Function
Fundamentally, the hyphen is a joiner. It can join several different types of things:
two nouns to make one complete word (kilogram-meter)
an adjective and a noun to make a compound word (accident-prone)
two words that, when linked, describe a noun (agreed-upon sum, two-dimensional object)
a prefix with a noun (un-American)
double numbers (twenty-four)
numbers and units describing a noun (1000-foot face; a 10-meter difference)
“self” words (self-employed, self-esteem)
new word blends (cancer-causing, cost-effective)
prefixes and suffixes to words, in particular when the writer wants to avoid doubling a vowel or tripling a consonant (anti-inflammatory; shell-like)
multiple adjectives with the same noun (blue- and yellow-green beads; four- and five-year-olds)
A rule of thumb for the hyphen is that the resulting word must act as one unit; therefore, the hyphen creates a new word that has a single meaning. Usually, you can tell whether a hyphen is necessary by applying common sense and mentally excluding one of the words in question, testing how the words would work together without the hyphen. For example, the phrases “high-pressure system,” “water-repellent surface,” and “fuel-efficient car” would not make sense without hyphens, because you would not refer to a “high system,” a “water surface,” or a “fuel car.” As your ears and eyes become attuned to proper hyphenation practices, you will recognize that both meaning and convention dictate where hyphens fit best.
Examples of Properly Used Hyphens
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Some examples of properly used hyphens follow. Note how the hyphenated word acts as a single unit carrying a meaning that the words being joined would not have individually.
small-scale study
self-employed worker
air-ice interface
long-term-payment loan
two-prong plug
one-third majority
silver-stained cells
cost-effective program
strength-to-weight ratio
coarse-grained wood
protein-calorie malnutrition
time-dependent variable
high-velocity flow
decision-making process
membrane-bound vesicles
radiation-sensitive sample
When Hyphens Are Not Needed
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By convention, hyphens are not used after words ending in –ly, nor when the words are so commonly used in combination that no ambiguity results. In these examples, no hyphens are needed:
finely tuned engine
real estate
civil rights law
blood pressure
census taker
public utility plant
sea level
atomic energy
carbon dioxide
Note
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Phrases like containing the word well like well known are contested. Well is an adverb, and thus many fall into the school of thought that a hyphen is unnecessary. However, others say that leaving out the hyphen may cause confusion and therefore include it (well-known). The standard in MLA is as follows: When it appears before the noun, well known should be hyphenated. When it follows the noun, no hyphenation is needed.
She is a well-known person.
She is well known.
Prefixes and Suffixes
Most prefixes do not need to be hyphenated; they are simply added in front of a noun, with no spaces and no joining punctuation necessary. The following is a list of common prefixes that do not require hyphenation when added to a noun:
after
cyber
infra
nano
anti
di
inter
photo
bi
down
macro
poly
bio
hetero
micro
stereo
co
homo
mini
thermo
Note
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The prefix re generally doesn’t require a hyphen. However, when leaving out a hyphen will cause confusion, one should be added. Look at the following word pairs, for example:
resign (leave a position) v. re-sign (sign the paper again)
recreation (an activity of leisure) v. re-creation (create something again)
Common suffixes also do not require hyphenation, assuming no ambiguities of spelling or pronunciation arise. Typically, you do not need to hyphenate words ending in the following suffixes:
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able less fold like wise
Commonly Used Word Blends
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Also, especially in technical fields, some words commonly used in succession become joined into one. The resulting word’s meaning is readily understood by technical readers, and no hyphen is necessary. Here are some examples of such word blends, typically written as single words:
blackbody
downdraft
setup
groundwater
longwall
runoff
airship
upload
blowout
Dashes
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The dash functions almost as a colon does in that it adds to the preceding material, but with extra emphasis. Like a caesura (a timely pause) in music, a dash indicates a strong pause, then gives emphasis to material following the pause. In effect, a dash allows you to redefine what was just written, making it more explicit. You can also use a dash as it is used in the first sentence of this paragraph: to frame an interruptive or parenthetical-type comment that you do not want to de-emphasize.
The dissolution took 20 minutes—much longer than anticipated—but measurements were begun as soon as the process was completed.
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There is no “dash” button on a computer keyboard. Instead, create it by typing the hyphen button twice in a row; or use the “symbol” option in your word processor; or use the Mac shortcut option + shift + —.
When you type the hyphen or dash, no spaces should appear on either side of the punctuation mark.
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Practice
Once you have completed the practice quiz, scroll up inside the quiz box and
click "view score" and see the correct answers.
Brackets
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Brackets are a fairly uncommon punctuation mark. Their main use is in quotations: they can be used to clarify quotes. For example, say you want to quote the following passage:
“I finally got to meet Trent today. I had a really great time with him. He was a lot taller than expected, though.”
However, you only want to relay the fact that Trent was taller than the speaker expected him to be. In order to do this, you would write the following: “[Trent] was a lot taller than expected.”
The brackets let the reader know that while the word Trent wasn’t in the original quote, his name was implied there. When using brackets, you need to be careful not to change the original meaning of the quote.
Another use of brackets is when there is a spelling or informational error in the original quote. For example, “Gabriel sat down on the river bank to fed [sic] the ducks.” (The term sic means that the typo was in the original source of this quote.)
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Ellipses
An ellipsis (plural ellipses) is a series of three periods, as you can see in the icon to the right.
As with most punctuation marks, there is some contention about its usage. The main point of contention is whether or not there should be a space between the periods (. . .) or not (…). MLA, APA, and Chicago, the most common style guides for students, support having spaces between the periods. Others you may encounter, such as in journalism, may not.
Quotes
Like the brackets we just learned about, you will primarily see ellipses used in quotes. They indicate a missing portion in a quote. Look at the following quote for an example:
Sauropod dinosaurs are the biggest animals to have ever walked on land. They are instantly recognized by their long, sweeping necks and whiplashed tails, and nearly always portrayed moving in herds, being stalked by hungry predators.
In recent years, a huge amount of taxonomic effort from scientists has vastly increased the number of known species of sauropod. What we now know is that in many areas we had two or more species co-existing alongside each other.
A question that arises from this, is how did we have animals that seem so similar, and with such high energy and dietary requirements, living alongside one another? Was there some sort of spinach-like super plant that gave them all Popeye-like physical boosts, or something more subtle?
It’s a lengthy quote, and it contains more information than you want to include. Here’s how to cut it down:
Sauropod dinosaurs are the biggest animals to have ever walked on land. They are instantly recognized by their long, sweeping necks and whiplashed tails. . . .
In recent years . . . [research has shown] that in many areas we had two or more species co-existing alongside each other.
A question that arises from this, is how did we have animals that seem so similar, and with such high energy and dietary requirements, living alongside one another?
In the block quote above, you can see that the first ellipsis appears to have four dots. (“They are instantly recognized by their long, sweeping necks and whiplashed tails. . . .”) However, this is just a period followed by an ellipsis. This is because ellipses do not remove punctuation marks when the original punctuation still is in use; they are instead used in conjunction with original punctuation. This is true for all punctuation marks, including periods, commas, semicolons, question marks, and exclamation points.
By looking at two sympatric species (those that lived together) from the fossil graveyards of the Late Jurassic of North America . . . , [David Button] tried to work out what the major dietary differences were between sauropod dinosaurs, based on their anatomy.
One of the best ways to check yourself is to take out the ellipsis. If the sentence or paragraph is still correctly punctuated, you’ve used the ellipsis correctly. (Just remember to put it back in!)
Pauses
There is one additional use of the ellipsis: this punctuation mark also indicates . . . a pause. However, this use is informal, and should only be used in casual correspondence (e.g., emails to friends, posts on social media, texting) or in creative writing.
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Practice
Once you have completed the practice quiz, scroll up inside the quiz box and
click "view score" and see the correct answers.
Parentheses
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Parentheses are most often used to identify material that acts as an aside (such as this brief comment) or to add incidental information.
Other punctuation marks used alongside parentheses need to take into account their context. If the parentheses enclose a full sentence beginning with a capital letter, then the end punctuation for the sentence falls inside the parentheses. For example:
Typically, suppliers specify air to cloth ratios of 6:1 or higher. (However, ratios of 4:1 should be used for applications involving silica or feldspathic minerals.)
If the parentheses indicate a citation at the end of a sentence, then the sentence’s end punctuation comes after the parentheses are closed:
In a study comparing three different building types, respirable dust concentrations were significantly lower in the open-structure building (Hugh et al., 2005).
Finally, if the parentheses appear in the midst of a sentence (as in this example), then any necessary punctuation (such as the comma that appeared just a few words ago) is delayed until the parentheses are closed. Remember, parentheses always appear in pairs. If you open a parenthesis, you need another to close it!
Note: In technical writing, there are additional rules for using parentheses, which can be more nuanced. While we won’t discuss those rules here, it’s important to bear their existence in mind, especially if you’re considering going into a more technical field.
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Practice
Once you have completed the practice quiz, scroll up inside the quiz box and
click "view score" and see the correct answers.
Congratulations!
You have now completed this module. Please complete the mastery test below and then proceed to the next module.
Once you have completed the practice quiz, scroll up inside the quiz box and
click "view score" and see the correct answers.
Licensing and Attribution
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CC LICENSED CONTENT, ORIGINAL
Revision and Adaptation of Wikipedia content. Provided by: Lumen Learning. License: CC BY: Attribution
Brackets. Provided by: Lumen Learning. License: CC BY: Attribution
Ellipses. Provided by: Lumen Learning. License: CC BY: Attribution
Self-Check. Provided by: Lumen Learning. License: CC BY: Attribution
CC LICENSED CONTENT, SHARED PREVIOUSLY
Practice Activities. Provided by: Lumen Learning. License: CC BY: Attribution