What does the Dash mean in reading comprehension passages

Mr.lopez

I know this may be a bit silly to ask, but I don't see this used anywhere else. What does the dash mean in reading comprehension passages? for example "Indeed, certain notables even called for the enslavement of unemployed laborers who roamed the british countryside -------- an acceptance of coerced labor that Eltis attributes to a preindustrial desire to keep labor costs low.......

what does that dash mean between countryside and the word AN

Alex

@Mr.lopez said:
I know this may be a bit silly to ask, but I don't see this used anywhere else. What does the dash mean in reading comprehension passages?

I'd have to see en entire context, but I believe this is is what is called a "Pause Dash." It just tells the reader to take a pause and pay attention to the clause following it. Its purpose is to provide extra emphasis.

Q.E.D

"Use a dash to set off an abrupt break or interruption and to announce a long appositive or summary."

-Oliver Strunk

An apposite clause is relevant but not essential to the sentence. Look at the clause beginning with "whose" below.

(1) Show me the dead man whose mother came to pay her respects.

(2) Show me the dead man, whose mother came to pay her respects.

It's essential for singling out the man discussed in (1). To the question "
Which dead man?" it answers "Why, the one whose mother came to pay her respects." In (2), it's just extra information.

Supposing the appositive in (2) were a mouthful - perhaps with further appositives of its own - you might set it off with a dash, as in (2').

(2') Show me the dead man - whose mother came to pay her respects after three months traversing the Alps, wondering whether she would finally lay eyes on her son's face one last time or simply perish like so many of Hannibal's men millennia before.

The dash usually "sets off" an apposite clause, esp. when it's really awkward to fit into the sentence, grammatically. You would not see a dash setting off a clause or phrase vital to the preceding sentence. You would not see (3) in formal writing.

(3) He was always - showing up unannounced.

Maybe you'd see that in a fictional dialogue where the speaker takes a long pause, but otherwise it's nonsense. However, you can break up a complete sentence with a dash IF you return to it with another dash, as in (4).

(4) He was always - like a feral cat prospecting for food - showing up unannounced.

That's not the whole story about dashes, but I hope it helps.

Good luck.