Georgia 8.L.GC.1.60
The Standard
Mechanics: Use dashes appropriately. (Introduce)
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 place dashes where a sentence needs a strong break, interruption, or emphasized detail. They decide when one dash or a pair of dashes is needed.
What Mastery Looks Like
- Students use one dash to show a strong break or shift in thought. They use paired dashes to set off extra information and can explain the effect.
Common Misconceptions
- Students often confuse dashes with hyphens or minus signs. They may overuse dashes, place them where commas belong, or forget the closing dash around inserted information.
How to Assess It
- Give students this prompt: “Rewrite one sentence using a dash to emphasize an interruption or added detail, then explain why it works.”
Lesson moves
Ways to Teach It
Give pairs sentence strips and punctuation cards, then have them place dash cards where a strong break or inserted detail occurs.
Compare comma, parentheses, and dash versions of one sentence, then write which version creates the strongest emphasis and why.
Play Dash Detective by having teams correct sentence cards, earning points for accurate placement and a clear explanation.
Find a dash in a news article, advertisement, or website, then explain what the writer emphasizes or interrupts.
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Printable 8.L.GC.1.60 Worksheet
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