Dashes - and Brackets (!)

100 19 23
                                    

Mmm

When you want a sharp fierce break in your sentence, it is often effective to use a dash —

'Thor is quite the man for the task of King for this fine realm' — Or at least he thinks so! But that's the problem no? He doesn't think...

Brackets are always used in pairs (🍐) Urgh. A selection below.
Types of brackets include:
Round brackets" ( )
Square brackets" [ ]
Curly brackets" { }
Angle brackets" < >

Soft people (the dimwitted ones in particular) are exceptionally easy to coerce into committing such heinous crimes for me.

You can equally use dashes for the above admission of guilt too. It really is up to you to decide.

Don't disappoint me...

Simply put, there is no real rule about this except for the most important one: Whichever makes your meaning clearer and more concise

Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.

Simply put, there is no real rule about this except for the most important one: Whichever makes your meaning clearer and more concise.

The following ominous yet completely innocent sentences suggest how you might decide which style to use:

'Baldr died, strangely enough, last week when he fell down with a mistletoe arrow in his chest.'

'Her hair - lovely, I may say - was cut off in entirely suspicious circumstances

Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.

'Her hair - lovely, I may say - was cut off in entirely suspicious circumstances.'

'He was born in Jötunheimr (The frozen realm inhabited by frost giants).

The first example shows only a slight pause in the sentence; the second shows more of a purposeful break. Although it is still very much part of the sentence. The third example is a true parenthesis. The statement, to reiterate is: He was born in Jötunheimr. The definition of Jötunheimr as a frozen realm inhabited by giants is considered an 'extra', and as such is thusly written in brackets.

Loki lectures 💚Where stories live. Discover now