Georgia 10.L.GC.1.60
The Standard
Mechanics: Use dashes appropriately. (Master)
Georgia's K-12 English Language Arts Standards · Language (L) · Grammar Conventions
Teacher's field guide
What This Standard Means
What Students Need to Do
- Students use dashes to set off added information, mark a sudden break, or create emphasis. They choose dashes when stronger separation than commas is needed.
What Mastery Looks Like
- A student uses paired dashes correctly around inserted information. The student also uses a single dash for a sharp break or emphatic ending without overusing it.
Common Misconceptions
- Students confuse dashes with hyphens. They may use only one dash around inserted information, add spaces inconsistently, or replace every comma with a dash.
How to Assess It
- Exit ticket: Rewrite “The final speaker, our class president, changed everyone’s mind” using a pair of dashes. Explain how the punctuation changes the emphasis.
Lesson moves
Ways to Teach It
Give pairs sentence strips and two dash cards; students place the cards around an interruption, then read the revised sentence aloud.
Ask students to compare commas, parentheses, and dashes in one sentence, then write which punctuation creates the strongest emphasis and why.
Run a punctuation relay where teams choose commas, parentheses, or dashes for ten sentences and justify each choice.
Have students find three dashes in a news article and annotate what each dash adds to meaning, tone, or emphasis.
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