Standard English ConventionsHardMatched dashes around a supplement
Standard English Conventions practice question
Three of the founders ____ left the company within a year.
Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?
- A. founders — all of them engineers — leftCorrect
- B. founders — all of them engineers, left
- C. founders, all of them engineers — left
- D. founders all of them engineers — left
Answer: A. founders — all of them engineers — left
'all of them engineers' is an aside dropped into the sentence. Opened with a dash, it must be closed with a dash.
Why the other answers are wrong
- B. founders — all of them engineers, left
- Opened with a dash but closed with a comma — the pair doesn't match.
- C. founders, all of them engineers — left
- Opened with a comma but closed with a dash. Use the same mark on both sides.
- D. founders all of them engineers — left
- There's no mark to open the aside, so it reads as one run-on phrase.
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