vidcast 15: hyphen vs. dash

[ChrisTripp]

I'd give you a C -

[wittcowittco]

A "C-" barely passing. Hmmm. Okay, can you give me some specifics as to what needs to improve? What was your assessment criteria?

[ChrisTripp]

Well, that was meant as a joke, but now that you ask...

The minuscule amount of information you gave was correct, there just wasn't enough of it.

There are a lot more rules for the en dash and em dash as well as the hyphen that were not included

[cadge20]

The dash is most importantly used for a break of thought in a sentence.

[wittcowittco]

It is used to show that break in a thought, often a speaker being cut off. As for it's level of importance, that is debatable.

[wittcowittco]

I agree and have found that many of my students give me that who-really-cares-anyway look. These two students took it upon themselves to give their take since they heard me bring it up in class sooooo many times. The other problem is that student look for the dash key on the computer.

[hplover09]

It's amazing--most people don't understand this difference. Whenever I try to explain to someone that they should be using a dash instead of a hypen they just give me that "you're crazy" look.