comma or dash: delaying takes time and energy – because when

S

swim4life

Senior Member
Shanghai, China
Chinese, China
Hi there,

Can I use comma instead of dash in the following sentence? Thanks

Delaying things takes time and energy—(,) because when you know that something needs to be done and you’re not doing it—(,) it stays in the back of your mind and silently drains you.
 
    • It seems very odd to use either dashes or commas in that sentence.
    A pair of dashes or a pair of commas is usually used to set of a part of a sentence that is not essential.
    Lets look at this sentence without the clause you have marked out.

    Delaying things takes time and energy <<...>> it stays in the back of your mind and silently drains you.

    That's not a sentence. Apart from anything else, the "it" at the beginning of the second section refers to something within the omitted section.

    For more information on punctuation, and dashes and commas in particular, see the links in the sticky at the top of the forum.
    UK English, University of Sussex
    http://www.informatics.sussex.ac.uk/...on/node00.html

    US English, Capital Community College Foundation
    http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/marks/marks.htm

    US English, the Owl at Purdue University
    http://owl.english.purdue.edu/handou...r/g_apost.html

     
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