[QUOTE="Human-after-all"]
Not sure I am using double hyphen appropriately but: I love roller coasters -- just not when they go in loops -- or straight down. It's used to convey a pause in thought; however, not for lists and I don't know but I think I used it appropriately.
You can use them a few times so sometimes it can look like you are breaking up a complex list of tasks.
I have to mow the lawn -- then maybe clean the garage -- after I get the milk. But I am not entirely sure I have used it correctly. But I have seen it used to make a sentence look like a list.
Also why does GS compress my text together after I submit? I always have to edit it...
GabuEx
Ah, OK, I get you. That's mostly used to indicate an aside, which is the technical term for a thought tangentially but not directly to the current train of thought that is inserted into that current train of thought. An example of a correct usage of this grammatical construct might look like this:
"The mayor - he's always such a busy man - has finally agreed to meet with me today about my proposal."
The sentence, "The mayor has finally agreed to meet with me today about my proposal," stands alone as a full thought, and does not require the aside to convey its full meaning. Similarly, the aside, "He's always such a busy man," also stands alone as a full thought, and does not require its containing sentence to convey its full meaning, either. The two here have been put together to combine the mayor's business with his agreement to meet the speaker in order to convey to the listener the additional point that this agreement is particularly noteworthy due to the mayor's constant business.
I don't believe that the examples you provide are a grammatically correct usage of this construct. The aside and the sentence in which it resides must both be full independent clauses that could stand alone as separate sentences. The correct way to formulate your examples would be as follows:
"I love roller coasters, just not when they go in loops or straight down."
"I have to mow the lawn and then maybe clean the garage after I get the milk."
If you want to show noteworthy pauses in dialog in, say, a piece of fiction, that's the job of ellipses. For example:
"I love roller coasters... just not when they go in loops... or straight down."
Dashes can also be used to separate two independent clauses much in the same way as a semicolon can be used, like this:
"OK, that sounds great - I'll see you tomorrow."
Actually, all of your examples are incorrect. You are using hyphens as dashes. As most people who have been through a writing-intensive academic program know, there are three essential types of dashes in writing: the hyphen (though some authorities don't consider this a dash), the en dash, and the em dash.
The hyphen is the weakest; it merely links combinations of closely related adjectives, adverbs, verbs, and prefixes together for convenience and easier understanding. Examples would be, "He is a lonely-looking boy," or, "Turn to page thirty-two." There are many rules for using hyphens, two of which I just demonstrated.
The en dash is about the length of two hyphens, but it is one line. It is a slightly stronger break and is used to create periods of time, length, distance, or connect certain compounds. Examples are, "Read pages 300--320," or "It happened during 1995--1998."
The em dash is about three hyphens long and is used for all of the miscellaneous purposes discussed earlier in this thread. It can set off a separate thought, replace a semi-colon, a colon, or a number of other things. Examples: "I saw John last night---he was really angry," or, "Last time we went there---after john broke his leg climbing---we had fun."
That's a simplistic overview.
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