ULTY DASHES.

Dashes needlessly inserted, or substituted for other stops more definite,
are in general to be treated as errors in punctuation; as, "Here Greece
stands by _itself_ as opposed to the _other_ nations of antiquity--She was
none of the _other nations_--She was more polished than they."--_Lennie's
Gram._, p. 78. "Here Greece stands by _herself_, as opposed to the _other_
nations of antiquity. She was none of the _other nations_: She was more
polished than they."--_Bullions, E. Gram._, p. 114. If this colon is
sufficient, the capital after it is needless: a period would, perhaps, be
better.

OBSERVATIONS.

OBS. 1.--The dash does not appear to be always a rhetorical stop, or always
intended to lengthen the pause signified by an other mark before it. As one
instance of a different design, we may notice, that it is now very often
employed between a text and a reference;--i.e., between a quotation and the
name of the author of the book quoted;--in which case, as Wm. Day suggests,
"it serves as a _connecting mark_ for the two."--_Day's Punctuation_, p.
131. But this usage, being comparatively recent, is, perhaps, not so
general or so necessary, that a neglect of it may properly be censured as
false punctuation.

OBS. 2.--An other peculiar use of the dash, is its application to
_side-titles_, to set them off from other words in the same line, as is
seen often in this Grammar as well as in other works. Day says of this,
"When the _substance_ of a paragraph is given as a side-head, a dash is
_necessary_ to _connect_ it with its relative matter."--_Ibid._ Wilson also
approves of this usage, as well as of the others here named; saying, "The
dash should be inserted between a title and the subject-matter, and also
between the subject-matter, and the authority from which it is taken, when
they occur in the same paragraph."--_Wilson's Punctuation_, Ed. of 1850, p.
139.

OBS. 3.--The dash is often used to signify the omission of something; and,
when set between the two extremes of a series of numbers, it may represent
all the intermediate ones; as, "Page 10-15;" i. e., "Page 10, 11, 12, &c.
to 15."--"Matt, vi, 9-14."

IMPROPRIETIES FOR CORRECTION.

FALSE PUNCTUATION.--ERRORS CONCERNING THE DASH.

UNDER RULE I.--ABRUPT PAUSES.

"And there is something in your very strange story, that resembles ... Does
Mr. Bevil know your history particularly?"--See _Key_.

[FORMULE.--Not proper, because the abrupt pause after