Hyphens, Dashes, Parentheses

sets off a dramatic interruption or abrupt change in thought

• dash

• hyphen

• parentheses

connects words and numbers

• hyphen

• dash

• parentheses

a long line, sometimes shown as two short lines: --

• dash

• hyphen

• parenthesis

a shorter line, like this:

the most-improved student

• dash

• hyphen

• parenthesis

Which of the following is punctuated correctly?

• My dog Spot, a dalmatian- weighs nearly 60 pounds.

• My baby who is eight months old just learned to walk.

• Titanic (my favorite movie of all time) won an Academy Award. 

Fill in the blank using hyphens, brackets, or parentheses: Beethoven____1770-1827____was a German composer.

• Hyphens

• Brackets

• Parentheses

My head was pounding, so I took some fast acting medicine.

• fast-acting

• fast-acting-medicine

• acting-medicine

• NO CHANGE

Add the correct hyphen(s) or dash(es) to the below sentence: 
There are fewer Italian American communities these days.

• There are fewer Italian-American communities these days.

• No change necessary.

• There are fewer Italian—American communities these days.

• There are fewer Italian —American communities these days

Which of the following options uses proper punctuation?

• The blond-haired boy loved the beach--until he was stung by a jellyfish.

• The blond--haired boy loved the beach until he was stung by a jelly-fish.

• The blond haired boy loved the beach--until he was stung--by a jellyfish.

• The blond-haired boy loved the beach--until--he was stung by a jellyfish.

Which sentence uses dashes correctly?

• My little brother-- who annoys everyone will not be there-- tonight.

• My little brother--who annoys everyone--will not be there tonight.

• My little--brother who annoys--everyone will not be there tonight.