No Commas, Colons, or Semicolons With Dashed Material
The Dash
Rulebase Summary
Commas, colons, and semicolons are not used to introduce or end dashed material, even though they might have been used if no interruption had occurred. A period may precede a dash only if the period is part of an abbreviation. The dash replaces whatever punctuation would have appeared at the point of interruption.
Examples
A. I called Mr. Whitfield, -- well, I tried to call him -- but he was not available.
A. I called Mr. Whitfield -- well, I tried to call him -- but he was not available.
No comma before a dash; the dash replaces whatever punctuation would have appeared.
A. She worked for Acme Corp.; -- at least that is what she told me -- and she was there for five years.
A. She worked for Acme Corp. -- at least that is what she told me -- and she was there for five years.
No semicolon before a dash. The abbreviation period for 'Corp.' is retained because it belongs to the abbreviation.
Transcript Notes
Sometimes a numerical expression is dashed in a way that could change the meaning. For example, when a witness says 'nineteen ninety' and is interrupted, writing '1990 --' followed by '-- 97' could look like 'negative 97' rather than 'nineteen ninety-seven.' The reporter may want to spell out the expression to avoid confusion.
Style Guide References (1)
Morson's