Thursday, March 15, 2012

punctuation - Is this dash correct?



I’m hoping someone can give me some feedback/advice on the dash below.




The site also supports a mobile
version that allows you to easily
check whether a book is in your
collection—a feature inspired after

purchasing already-owned books one too
many times.




I guess I could also split this into two sentences.




The site also supports a mobile
version that allows you to easily
check whether a book is in your

collection. This feature was inspired
after purchasing already-owned books
one too many times.




Is the first version is correct, and if so, is it preferable to the second?



This link makes me think it's correct, but I thought I'd ask the community; I always seem to get fantastic feedback here.


Answer



The first version is correct. You've used a dash to separate the appositive from the main sentence, which is acceptable. Usually, this is considered better than the second version; one independent clause is better than two, stylistically speaking. I myself would probably have used a comma instead of a dash, since I think commas give a much nicer flow.



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