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What is dash meant for..?

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Raths
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What is dash meant for..? [#permalink] What is dash meant for..?   11 Nov 2010, 03:19
Guys ,
What does a dash(-) signify in a sentence . I was intimidated to see a one in the
actual GMAT test.
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Re: What is dash meant for..? [#permalink] What is dash meant for..?   18 Nov 2010, 16:08
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Raths,

Although the dash is pretty rare on the GMAT, it certainly does show up and is therefore worth discussing. Most often, the dash can take the place of a comma under a few specific scenarios:

1. The dash can serve to see off a list:

"I went to the mall with my friends -- Jim, Joe, and Jerry -- and bought a new pair of pants." Here, my friends names are "Jim, Joe, and Jerry." Often, people use commas here. The issue with commas is that it would be slightly ambiguous:

"I went to the mall with my friends, Jim, Joe, and Jerry, and bought a new pair of pants." Here, it's not clear whether Jim, Joe, and Jerry ARE the friends or if they went to the mall WITH me and my friends.

2. The dash can serve to set off a parenthetical:

"My high school football team -- who hasn't won a game in 40 years -- just beat the best school in the state." Here, the dash serves the same purposes as parentheses. You really don't use parentheses on formal occasions such as GMAT test day.

Hope that helps!

Brett
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Re: What is dash meant for..? [#permalink] What is dash meant for..?   11 Nov 2010, 07:10
- is a seperator of the non-essential part
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Re: What is dash meant for..? [#permalink] What is dash meant for..?   11 Nov 2010, 10:05
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If it is a dash (the longer version of -) then, the context may decide the usage. But on the contrary, if it is the shorter version (-), then it may be a hyphen, which signifies an apposition, kind of additional information to the noun or the clause it touches. The info that follows will be an inessential one, which may be conveniently ignored.
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Re: What is dash meant for..? [#permalink] What is dash meant for..?   18 Nov 2010, 19:39
BKimball wrote:
Raths,

Although the dash is pretty rare on the GMAT, it certainly does show up and is therefore worth discussing. Most often, the dash can take the place of a comma under a few specific scenarios:

1. The dash can serve to see off a list:

"I went to the mall with my friends -- Jim, Joe, and Jerry -- and bought a new pair of pants." Here, my friends names are "Jim, Joe, and Jerry." Often, people use commas here. The issue with commas is that it would be slightly ambiguous:

"I went to the mall with my friends, Jim, Joe, and Jerry, and bought a new pair of pants." Here, it's not clear whether Jim, Joe, and Jerry ARE the friends or if they went to the mall WITH me and my friends.

2. The dash can serve to set off a parenthetical:

"My high school football team -- who hasn't won a game in 40 years -- just beat the best school in the state." Here, the dash serves the same purposes as parentheses. You really don't use parentheses on formal occasions such as GMAT test day.

Hope that helps!

Brett


Brett, my question concerns the example that you've used - "My high school football team -- who hasn't won a game in 40 years -- just beat the best school in the state." Can you use 'who' to refer to the football team? Shouldn't 'which / that' be used?
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Re: What is dash meant for..? [#permalink] What is dash meant for..?   18 Nov 2010, 19:41
oh...i nearly forgot. Can you use 'whose' to refer to non person things?
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Re: What is dash meant for..? [#permalink] What is dash meant for..?   21 Nov 2010, 10:51
Great catch! That's what I get for copying and pasting!

Yes, you would want to use "which" here. There is some debate about where you can use "whose" to refer to an inanimate object, but certainly we should have used "which" here.

You can only use "that" if there is no comma before it, because "that" indicates a restrictive clause. For example:

I don't like the dog that lives next door. --> Correct. Which dog don't you like? The one that lives next door.

I don't like the dog, that lives next door. --> Incorrect.

Thanks for pointing that out!

Brett
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Re: What is dash meant for..? [#permalink] What is dash meant for..?   12 Aug 2017, 19:17
BKimball wrote:
Raths,

Although the dash is pretty rare on the GMAT, it certainly does show up and is therefore worth discussing. Most often, the dash can take the place of a comma under a few specific scenarios:

1. The dash can serve to see off a list:

"I went to the mall with my friends -- Jim, Joe, and Jerry -- and bought a new pair of pants." Here, my friends names are "Jim, Joe, and Jerry." Often, people use commas here. The issue with commas is that it would be slightly ambiguous:

"I went to the mall with my friends, Jim, Joe, and Jerry, and bought a new pair of pants." Here, it's not clear whether Jim, Joe, and Jerry ARE the friends or if they went to the mall WITH me and my friends.

2. The dash can serve to set off a parenthetical:

"My high school football team -- who hasn't won a game in 40 years -- just beat the best school in the state." Here, the dash serves the same purposes as parentheses. You really don't use parentheses on formal occasions such as GMAT test day.

Hope that helps!

Brett



you said dash is pretty rare in actual gmat.
i got 2 consecutive dash sc's on real gmat and that too ques #1 and #2.
completely freaked out.
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Re: What is dash meant for..? [#permalink] What is dash meant for..?   23 May 2018, 04:34
BKimball wrote:
Raths,

Although the dash is pretty rare on the GMAT, it certainly does show up and is therefore worth discussing. Most often, the dash can take the place of a comma under a few specific scenarios:

1. The dash can serve to see off a list:

"I went to the mall with my friends -- Jim, Joe, and Jerry -- and bought a new pair of pants." Here, my friends names are "Jim, Joe, and Jerry." Often, people use commas here. The issue with commas is that it would be slightly ambiguous:

"I went to the mall with my friends, Jim, Joe, and Jerry, and bought a new pair of pants." Here, it's not clear whether Jim, Joe, and Jerry ARE the friends or if they went to the mall WITH me and my friends.

2. The dash can serve to set off a parenthetical:

"My high school football team -- who hasn't won a game in 40 years -- just beat the best school in the state." Here, the dash serves the same purposes as parentheses. You really don't use parentheses on formal occasions such as GMAT test day.

Hope that helps!

Brett


Hi Brett,

Please help me understand the hyphen here

Some anthropologists believe that the genetic homogeneity evident in the world's people is the result of a "population bottleneck"—at some time in the past our ancestors suffered an event, greatly reducing their numbers and thus our genetic variation.

(B) that at some time in the past our ancestors suffered an event that greatly reduced their numbers

This is correct answer choice but i really didnt understand

Thanks for ur help

Cheers
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Re: What is dash meant for..? [#permalink] What is dash meant for..?   25 May 2018, 17:19
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zanaik89 wrote:

Hi Brett,

Please help me understand the hyphen here

Some anthropologists believe that the genetic homogeneity evident in the world's people is the result of a "population bottleneck"—at some time in the past our ancestors suffered an event, greatly reducing their numbers and thus our genetic variation.

(B) that at some time in the past our ancestors suffered an event that greatly reduced their numbers

This is correct answer choice but i really didnt understand

Thanks for ur help

Cheers


A dash can be used to introduce a modifier. In this case, 'that at some time...' is a modifier describing the term "population bottleneck". It's most often used for very long modifiers that would otherwise be confusing.
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Re: What is dash meant for..? [#permalink] What is dash meant for..?   17 Apr 2020, 08:06
In computational neuroscience, it is generally accepted that human motor memory contains neural representations - representations known as “internal models” - of the physics of the musculoskeletal system and objects in the environment.

question1: why representations is repeated when it could have been right without repeating the word as you mention phrase after "-"

Quote:
A dash can be used to introduce a modifier. In this case, 'that at some time...' is a modifier describing the term "population bottleneck". It's most often used for very long modifiers that would otherwise be confusing.


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Re: What is dash meant for..? [#permalink] What is dash meant for..?   17 Jul 2021, 20:15
dash explanation :
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Re: What is dash meant for..? [#permalink] What is dash meant for..?   27 Jul 2022, 00:56
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Re: What is dash meant for..? [#permalink]
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