bear
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Joe, I felt the need to copy all of this...and then answer the rationale at the bottom[/]
bear: 7/15/13 page 107
bear is at a place I was - not long ago - and I truly fear for her as there were extreme feelings of horror to endure on this path of realizing a more accurate perception of current political economy; bear does have the advantage of a safe place.
changed dashes from single to double for consistency. And if we choose to go with single dashes, that is fine by me. You already had these single dashes before I started with the double dashes...
bear is at a place I was -- not long ago -- and I truly fear for her as there were extreme feelings of horror to endure on this path of realizing a more accurate perception of current political economy; bear does have the advantage of a safe place.
bear: Joe, now I really need your help...with the dashes/hyphens or whatever they are called. I think you have used - often in your writing, and then I started with the -- bit. From what I remember ready a style should be chosen and stuck with. I am inclined at this day and hour to change the 18 or so -- to - .
I don't know why I started using the -- and didn't even consider that you had already been using - .
So, do you care if I change the -- I started making to - ?
Joe: I am not so inclined to step back from something that appeared to add richness to the writing. I can offer a deal where you keep going without stepping back on this one thing, and the next time you feel like double dashes, try to zero in precisely on why you want double dashes.
Another option is to zero in on each use of double dashes already done, but again that is going backwards in my view, which is not as competitive, to me, as going forward.
You started changing to double dashes, I saw an initial problem, then I saw a richness in at least one sentence, an improvement, so that can be retraced by me, if possible, or you can go on with more editing and in any case where there is an inspiration to question the use of dash, double dash, comma, or three dots, or parenthesis, at that point, that time, that place, zero in on the question, and start a list.
Like here:
Dash or Double?
I can learn to write better, you can learn to edit better, anyone reading our work can learn, or there are other, better, things to do with our time.
Our time is not one thing, you have your time, I have mine, so our time is a convenience of using less words instead of using more words to say the same thing.
I can learn to write better, you can learn to edit better, anyone reading our work can learn, or there are other, better, things to do with your time, my time, and anyone else who has time.
Joe: Your grandchild may be setting a fine example if it does not get too hot, and if he does not wither, and if he does not become like the pod people. One of them, I mean, without any ambiguity - become a person who shares the lie that THINGS are accountable for the actions of people.
modified as follows:
Your grandchild may be setting a fine example, if it does not get too hot, if he does not wither, and if he does not become like the pod people - one of them, I mean, without any ambiguity - one of those people who share the lie that THINGS are accountable for the actions of people.
There is a use of single, not double dash, and without going back to find double dashes in past sentences, to compare, I am not able to understand the reasoning. Since you are current in this work, and since you appear to have -- in mind -- reasons for going back to single dashes only, then your decision may be based upon specific reasons that lean toward that decision for those reasons.
I would not worry about it, at all, and if there is inspiration to go forward, or back, then go forward, or back, as if finding a challenge, meeting that challenge, and then offering a workable competitive solution to that challenge in time and space.
Like gardening, I suppose, there are no good things to eat before you met the challenge, and the proof of the validity of your offered solution is, in fact, things to eat. Who is to say those things to eat are good or not?
I only feel the need to be consistent between single dashes (short dashes referred to as "en") or double dashes (long dashes referred to as "em") because the "rules" say to be consistent. I think when I started using double dashes, I didn't remember your use of single dashes...and now of course, I am finding that I am not using em dashes correctly...they are to be used WITHOUT SPACES:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dash#Rendering_dashes_on_computers
A dash is a punctuation mark, similar to a hyphen or minus sign but differing primarily in length and serving different functions. The most common versions of the dash are the en dash (–) and the em dash (—), named for the length of a typeface's lower-case n and upper-case M respectively.
Usage varies both within English and in other languages, but the usual convention in printed English text is:- Either version may be used to denote a break in a sentence or to set off parenthetical statements, although writers are generally cautioned to use a single form consistently within their work. In this function, en dashes are used with spaces and em dashes are used without them:[1]
[Em dash:] In matters of grave importance, style—not sincerity—is the vital thing.
[En dash:] In matters of grave importance, style – not sincerity – is the vital thing.
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I think at this time, I will not go back and edit or change what when we used single dashes and when I started using double dashes. I guess because I like the way we have been doing things so far, and if you are not worried about mixed style, then I won't be either. After all, you are the author 
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...are called ellipsis
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