ext_1554 ([identity profile] icarusancalion.livejournal.com) wrote in [personal profile] icarus 2005-03-08 08:15 pm (UTC)

Well what this person did was use two sets of dashes in the same paragraph.

Blah blah blah blah blah blah blah -- blah blah blah blah blah blah -- blah blah blah blah blah . Then, blah blah blah blah blah . And blah blah blah blah -- blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah -- blah blah blah blah blah blah blah .

Very confusing for the reader because you start losing track of which dashed section belongs to which sentence. You want to use dashes to set off important, sudden information -- so people will pay attention to it.

If you can avoid the double-dash sticking information in the middle of a sentence and use either parenthesis or commas, do it. Better yet, find a way to say it in two sentences, or a sentence with a subordinate clause. I hate to over-generalize, but generally, two sets of dashes in one sentence means you're over-burdening that sentence.

Icarus

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