deal with the matter a little more systematically. We shall first catalogue, with examples, the chief uses of the dash; next state the debatable questions that arise; and end with the more definite misuses. It will be convenient to number all examples for reference; and, as many or most of the quotations contain some minor violation of what we consider the true principles, these will be corrected in brackets.
1. Chief common uses.
a. Adding to a phrase already used an explanation, example, or preferable substitute.
1. Nicholas Copernicus was instructed in that seminary where it is always happy when any one can be well taught,—the family circle.–B. (Omit the comma)
2. Anybody might be an accuser,–a personal enemy, an infamous person, a child, parent, brother, or sister.–Lowell. (Omit the comma)
3. That the girls were really possessed seemed to Stoughton and his colleagues the most rational theory,—a theory in harmony with the rest of their creed.–Lowell. (Omit the comma)
b. Inviting the reader to pause and collect his forces against the shock of an unexpected word that is to close the sentence. It is generally, but not always, better to abstain from this device; the unexpected, if not drawn attention to, is often more effective because less theatrical.
4. To write imaginatively a man should have—imagination.–Lowell.
c. Assuring the reader that what is coming, even if not unexpected, is witty. Writers should be exceedingly sparing of this use; good wine needs no bush.
5. Misfortune in various forms had overtaken the county families, from high farming to a taste for the junior stage, and—the proprietors lived anywhere else except on their own proper estates.–Crockett.
d. Marking arrival at the principal sentence or the predicate after a subordinate clause or a subject that is long or compound.
6. As soon as the queen shall come to London, and the houses of Parliament shall be opened, and the speech from the throne be delivered,—then will begin the great struggle of the contending factions.–B.
e. Resuming after a parenthesis or long phrase, generally
