iikarthik wrote:
Hi All,
I would need assistance to understand whether the given below sentence has correct structure.
China's ambition to create new"green cities" powered by windmills comes with a dirty little secret-dozens of coal fired power plants need to be installed as well.
In this sentence,
1.is the part after a hyphen(dozens of coal fired power plants need to be installed as well)an independent clause?
2.What is the rule for an hyphen? the sentence following hyphen needs to be an independent clause always or it can be a phrase as well
3.I first considered powered as the verb for ambition and later found out that its incorrect as comes in the right verb.Is it because "to create new"green cities" powered by windmills" is a modifier?If yes how to identify the right verb excluding these modifiers?
Pls clarify with some examples if you can for better understanding
Thanks
Dear
iikarthik,
I'm happy to respond.
This is tricky, because you are asking a punctuation question, and the rtf of GMAT Club doesn't really support the proper punctuation in question. Also, keep in mind, the GMAT SC does NOT ask questions solely about punctuation.
First of all, what you were calling a "hyphen" is NOT a hyphen. We have to distinguish three closely related pieces of punctuation
1) the
hyphen2) the
en dash3) the
em dashWe have no way to type the latter two here on GC. We can only type hyphens. Therefore, I will use the convention of two hyphens in a row for an en dash and three hyphens in a row for an em dash. It's not ideal, but it's the best we can do under the circumstances.
The hyphen is used to join words.
early-onset disease
one-eighthIn particular, if w use a series of nouns or nouns with modifiers as the modifier of a target, we join the modifying words with hyphens.
a late-night show
a second-birthday party
This latter use is more common in colloquial speech, and not common on the GMAT, but see an example in OG2016 SC #75 & SC#104 & SC #140.
The en dash is used for ranges and for contrasting relationships
pp. 35--38
a SFO--EWR flightThis is very technical. In practice, folks typically use an ordinary hyphen for an en dash. See the correct use of an en dash in OG2016 SC #40 & SC#139.
The really important one to understand, the focus of your question, is the
em dash, sometimes just called a dash. This is the one that can separate the independent clause of a sentence from another phrase or clause.
This is your sentence:
China's ambition to create new"green cities" powered by windmills comes with a dirty little secret---dozens of coal fired power plants need to be installed as well.With a hyphen, that sentence is 100% incorrect, but with a proper em dash, this sentence is 100% correct.
What comes after the em dash could be a clause, or simply a noun with a modifier, or another structure. The dash is used for what is called in drama an "aside," words that the character says under his breath, rather than aloud to the other characters. Shakespeare's Hamlet often speaks in asides.
Some correct examples of sentences with an em dash:
1)
James Polk is a vastly underrated US president---he added more land to the US than did any other US President. clause follows the em dash
2)
Shakespeare's Hamlet, obviously intelligent, but he suffered from a fatal flaw---the morbid inability to make any meaningful decisions.
here, a[noun] + [modifier] follows the em dash. This is essentially an
appositive phrase.
3)
The General Theory of Relativity is comprehensive but not all-inclusive----what happens to gravity at the quantum level?Here, a question follows the em dash. This is typical of slick journalistic writing, but not as typical of the GMAT.
4)
Beethoven composed sixteen string quartets---some after he had completely lost his hearing---and these remains standards of the chamber music repertoire to this day.
Here, a pair of em dashes set off a parenthetical phrase in the middle of a sentence. This is also a common use of the em dash.
The following sentences in the new OG2016 correctly use the em dash
SC #3
SC #67
SC #118
SC #128
Notice that in none of these is the use of the em dash the focus of the question. Once again, the GMAT does not ask about punctuation.
Does all this make sense?
Mike