Page 130 - Planning Group Induction Pack_Neat

We expect ministerial approval next week; the work can then start immediately.

Commas
The comma is mainly used to create a pause and emphasis.
Use commas sparingly. Focus on the order of the words to make it logical and helpful for your reader.

Example:
The guests included local members of parliament, community representatives, celebrities and the media.

Commas are not necessary used before an ‘and’ unless you think you need one to clarify meaning.
Expressions such as ‘however’, ‘furthermore’, ‘for example’, ‘for instance’ and ‘on the other hand’ are
followed by a comma when they introduce a statement and are set apart by commas when they appear
elsewhere.

Example:
However, Mrs Jones has written a letter about the water restrictions.

Em (—), En (–) dash and hyphen (-)
Em dash
A dash is useful to introduce asides, create emphasis, provide explanations or add extra information. There
are three main dashes used in English and it’s useful to understand when they can or should be used.
The Em dash can be used to show an interruption, a change of thought, or create emphasis.

The department emphasised that fuel management — mainly through planned burning but also using
other techniques such as mechanical slashing — was crucial to reduce the risk posed by bushfires to
lives, property and the environment.

There is no specific key on a US keyboard for the EM dash. One way to insert an EM dash is to
simultaneously press Control, Alt and the minus key located at the top right hand corner of the keypad.

En dash
The En dash is shorter than the Em dash and is used to join numbers in a range or to join words that
describe a range.

Examples:
The climate data for the period 1997-2017 is now available.
Rainfall for the period May-October was below average.

Hyphen
The hyphen is shorter than both the Em dash and the En dash and has a variety of uses. It is commonly
used for compounded words (otherwise known as hyphenated compound words). It is also used to join pre-
fixes to other words and to connect grouped numbers such as phone numbers, but not for a range of
numbers. It should also be used when a phrasal verb is turned into a noun.

Examples:

10 Writing with style
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