Chemistry

04. Dashes

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In chemistry, a pair of dashes can be used to enclose necessary information, particularly when a sentence is long. Usually, commas are enough, but in sentences that already contain sub-clauses (phrases that supply more information about the main subject of a sentence) dashes sometimes help to keep the meaning of the sentence clear.

Good example of use of dashes:

This sentence is long, and the dashes help the reader to follow the sense of the sentence.

However, essays littered with unnecessary dashes irritate readers.

Poor example of use of dashes:

Here, we have only one sub-clause: belonging to the monoamine oxidase inhibitor class of antidepressant. In this case, dashes are too strong and commas would be much more appropriate.
A tip: commas and dashes are not interchangeable. Commas will nearly always be more appropriate. If you've more than four pairs of dashes on a page, check to see that they really are necessary.
TaskTask TypeDifficulty
Task 1Multiple choiceModerate
Task 2Multiple choiceModerate
Task 3Multiple choiceMore Challenging
Task 4Multiple choiceMore Challenging
Task 5Multiple choiceModerate
Task 6Multiple choiceMore Challenging
Task 7Free textEasier
Task 8Free textModerate