Hyphen

English as a Second Language English Vocabulary, Grammar and Idioms
1

Hi,

Could anyone tell me what is the role of hyphen after rich in the last sentence in below sentence is?

And then the fact that it’s been home to native American Navajos and all the social history that goes with that. The hardships they endured trying to save their territory from the invading settlers. Their culture is so rich - all those wonderful stories.

Thanks in advance
Swan

2

It is not a hyphen. It can only be a dash. But, rather than a dash, the sentence ‘Their culture is rich/replete with all those wonderful stories’ would be better here.

3

I think your recast loses some of the emphasis.

Their culture is so rich. They have all those wonderful stories!

4

Yes, that is your version.

5

Thank, now I got the meaning but what is name of that dash? what are some the usages of that?

6

I don’t think there is any other name for ‘dash’. The dash is used in appositional situations like this:
The basic necessaries of life – food, shelter and clothing – cannot be ignored by a responsible democratic government.
I have great admiration for five persons – Abraham Lincoln, Thomas Alva Edison, Mother Teresa, Mahatma Gandhi and Millard Fuller – whom, I think, everyone will recognize.

7

There are two types of dash - an em-dash and an en-dash

thepunctuationguide.com/em-dash.html

thepunctuationguide.com/en-dash.html

As with the hyphen, the growth in the use of keyboards to produce written text has led to a lack of distinction between them, and the three (em-dash, en-dash and hyphen) are often indistinguished from each other in all but the most rigorous of texts.
This is partially because the em-dash is not easily visible/readily available on a keyboard.

8

Thank you so much for your complete answer. But one thing I still can remember from my high school teacher that apposition was an extra information we can add to a noun phrase but just between 2 commas, for example

My older brother,Nicolla, is an engineer.
Do you thing that I can use such a sentences between two dashes?

Thanks
Swan

9

No, that would be bad form.