On ACT English, extra information inside a sentence usually takes a pair of dashes. If you see one dash, look for its partner. A single dash can still introduce a list or an explanation, like a colon. Dashes as a whole are in dashes on ACT English.
Count the dashes
Lift the words between the two dashes. If the sentence still stands, the pair is doing the extra-information job, the same job as a pair of commas or a pair of parentheses. Mixing a dash with a comma around that chunk is wrong. Both ends need the same mark.
Parentheses are the quieter version, in parentheses. Colon jobs for a single mark are in colons. STOP versus GO is in STOP versus GO punctuation.
The bottom line
Extra information: two dashes. One dash with no partner is a colon-style intro, or it is wrong.
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