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Q&A Dashes vs. Commas vs. parentheses?

None of these are correct or incorrect, but my optimal way to say it would be without parentheses or dashes; the former are hard to use well, and the latter are overused in modern fiction. When...

posted 13y ago by Neil‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by System‭

Answer
#3: Attribution notice added by user avatar System‭ · 2019-12-08T01:11:47Z (almost 5 years ago)
Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/2709
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
#2: Initial revision by (deleted user) · 2019-12-08T01:11:47Z (almost 5 years ago)
None of these are correct or incorrect, but my optimal way to say it would be without parentheses _or_ dashes; the former are hard to use well, and the latter are overused in modern fiction.

> When Bilbo sat down for his third meal of the day, he noticed the table was broken.

Parentheses can be enormously effective at conveying _short_ snippets of background information, and in my opinion they will, [in specific situations](http://magnificentnose.com/2011/05/04/parenthetically/), break the flow of the writing less than dashes will. Although I freely admit that seeing text surrounding this example quote could change my answer.

#1: Imported from external source by user avatar System‭ · 2011-05-04T04:37:05Z (over 13 years ago)
Original score: 2