Yahoo Answers is shutting down on May 4th, 2021 (Eastern Time) and beginning April 20th, 2021 (Eastern Time) the Yahoo Answers website will be in read-only mode. There will be no changes to other Yahoo properties or services, or your Yahoo account. You can find more information about the Yahoo Answers shutdown and how to download your data on this help page.
Trending News
What does putting an - at the end of a sentence or in the middle of a sentence mean?
I've seen writers do this, at the end of a sentence, or in the middle of a sentence, why?
Examples: "Like, excuse me- did you make it to elementary school?"
"Just- just no."
There's more but I can't find them.
3 Answers
- ?Lv 54 years ago
At the end of a sentence, it means that the person speaking is being interrupted. In the middle of a sentence (A-B C), it means that there is a connection between A and B in regards to C. For example, the US-Mexico border means the border between the US and Mexico, or the Myers-Briggs personality test is the personality test devised by Myers and Briggs. God bless you.
- 4 years ago
"Like, excuse me- did you make it to elementary school?"
^^Using your example, writers will use dashes to indicate a pause in dialogue. I'm assuming your example is of dialogue between two characters.
It's pretty informal, so if you ever decide to do this in your own writing, be careful. There are other ways to use dashes, but for your specific example, that's the reason.
