No, no, not the sprint you do when you’re at the grocery store, have one item, an are trying to beat the dude trying to sneak eleven items into the œten only line. I’m talking about the dash you use in writing, when you want to set something apart”a part of the sentence that’s important and connected”but that’s also an aside:
I went to Perth”thinking I’d find love”but all I found was fish.
The thing I’ve noticed about the stuff in between the dashes (when it’s written in the format above), is that you can take it out and the sentence will still make sense (I went to Perth but all I found was fish).
You can almost use commas, but a dash is used to set the sentence fragment apart”it’s a sign, saying to the reader: important information coming up.
So, in other words, use the dashes wisely, else you’ll numb the reader (it’s a bit like using the exclamation point all the time. It wears down readers).
