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Em-dash grammar quibble

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LoBagola

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I understand the em dash to be more dramatic and intense than a semi-colon. I'm checking on whether the decision to use the em dash here is also purely stylistic.

“Rights” are a moral concept—the concept that provides a logical transition from the principles guiding an individual’s actions to the principles guiding his relationship with others—the concept that preserves and protects individual morality in a social context—the link between the moral code of a man and the legal code of a society, between ethics and politics. Individual rights are the means of subordinating society to moral law.

I could also construct the paragraph thus:

“Rights” are a moral concept: the concept that provides a logical transition from the principles guiding an individual’s actions to the principles guiding his relationship with others; the concept that preserves and protects individual morality in a social context; the link between the moral code of a man and the legal code of a society, between ethics and politics. Individual rights are the means of subordinating society to moral law.

I don't see a difference between the two, but I'm curious if anyone else does.

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While not a specialist in grammar, I have been a reader all of my life. The first example you give is used in OPAR and more clearly sets apart the three separate, though related, thoughts between the "—'s". The second, using ":" and two ";'s" to separate the same thoughts but subtly different.

 

“Rights” are a moral concept—

a.) the concept that provides a logical transition from the principles guiding an individual’s actions to the principles guiding his relationship with others

b.) the concept that preserves and protects individual morality in a social context

c.) the link between the moral code of a man and the legal code of a society, between ethics and politics.

Per the clarification in the grammar check, these should flow into the rest of the sentence.

the link between the moral code of a man and the legal code of a society, between ethics and politics.

 

This readily follows from case 4 in the section below on using hyphens and dashes.

 

“Rights” are a moral concept:

a.) the concept that provides a logical transition from the principles guiding an individual’s actions to the principles guiding his relationship with others;

b?) the concept that preserves and protects individual morality in a social context; (or is it a1?)

c?) the link between the moral code of a man and the legal code of a society, between ethics and politics.

 

I find myself a bit unclear, so a quick search yielded these grammar distinctions.

 

From using colons and semicolons:

1. Use a semicolon to separate two related but independent clauses. The proper use of a semicolon is similar, but not identical, to that of a period. The semicolon marks the end of one independent clause and the start of another within a single sentence. Note that, if the two clauses are very wordy or complex, it is better to use a period (full stop) instead.

 

2. Use a semicolon to separate a complex series of items. Usually, the items in a written list are separated by commas, but for lists in which one or more items require comment or explanation, semicolons can be used in conjunction with commas to keep the reader from becoming confused. Use semicolons to separate items and their explanations within the list from one another - to separate an item from its own explanation and vice versa, use a comma.

 

3. Use the colon to introduce a list. Be careful, however, not to use a colon when stating an idea that requires naming a series of items. The two are similar, but distinct. Usually, the words following or "below" suggest the use of a colon. Use only after a full sentence which ends in a noun.

 

4. Use a colon to introduce a new concept or example. Colons can also be used after a descriptive phrase or explanation to imply that the next piece of information will be the thing being described or explained. It can help to think of this as introducing a list containing only one item.

 

5. Use a colon to separate parts of a title. Some works of art, particularly books and movies, can have long, subdivided titles. In these cases, each title after the first is called a subtitle. Use colons at the end of each "part" of the title to separate each subtitle from the rest of the title.

 

From using hyphens and dashes:

1. Use a hyphen when adding a prefix to some words. The purpose of this hyphen is to make the word easier to read. For instance, if you were to leave the hyphen out of a word like re-examine, it would be reexamine, which confuse readers. However, some words do not require a hyphen to separate the prefix from the word, such as restate, pretest, and undo. Let a dictionary be your guide for when to use the hyphen after a prefix.

 

2. Use hyphens when creating compound words from several smaller words. If you've ever written about anything that's gold-plated, radar-equipped, or one-size-fits-all, you've used a hyphen in this way. To build a long, descriptive word out of two or more component words, use hyphens to separate the "pieces" from each other.

 

3. Use a hyphen when writing numbers out as words. Separate the two words of any number under one hundred with a hyphen. Be careful with spelling out numbers above one hundred — if the number is used as an adjective, it is completely hyphenated, since all compound adjectives are hyphenated (This is the one-hundredth episode.). Otherwise, a hyphen should only occur if a number lower than 100 occurs within the larger number, e.g., He lived to be one hundred twenty-one.

 

4. Use a dash when making a brief interruption within a statement. The dash ("--" or "—") is slightly longer than the hyphen and is used to convey a sudden change of thought, an additional comment, or a dramatic qualification within a sentence. It can also be used to add a parenthetical statement, such as for further clarification, but this should still be relevant to the sentence. Otherwise, use parentheses. Keep in mind that the rest of the sentence should still flow naturally.

 

5. Use a hyphen to split a word between two lines. Though this use is not as common today, the hyphen ("-") was once a common punctuation mark on typewriters, used when a long word had to be split between two lines. This system is still seen in some books, though computer word processing programs have made this rarer.

Edited by dream_weaver
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