Dashes are used much more frequently in a GC than in regular jobs. The main uses of dashes include interruptions, changes in thought, and incomplete/cut-off sentences.
Interruptions
An important part of our GC verbatim policy is that all speech must be typed in the exact order it is spoken in order to capture an accurate record of how the conversation proceeded. This includes when a speaker is interrupted. If one speaker interrupts the other mid-sentence, do not wait until the first speaker finishes before you type the interruption.
Dashes are used to denote that a speaker was interrupted. Put a dash where the speaker was interrupted, and start their continuation with a dash as well.
Example:
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In many interviews, the interviewer will continually make short insertions, like “yeah”, “mm hmm”, etc. as the interviewee is speaking. Do your best to insert these in the correct spot, using dashes to show any interruptions that occur. |
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| If a speaker is interrupted but the next time they speak, they begin a different sentence (rather than continuing from where they were interrupted), do not use a dash at the beginning of the new sentence. Example: Speaker 1: He said his name was – Speaker 2: His name was Jerry, right? Speaker 1: Yes, that's what he told me. |
Changes in Thought
Although commas are used when a speaker repeats or changes their wording, if the speaker has a complete change in thought, a dash is used to denote this as well.
An example of what would be considered a change in thought can be found in the picture below.
Incomplete or Cut-Off Sentences
In addition to the uses listed above, dashes are also used to show incomplete or cut-off sentences. If a speaker begins a sentence but trails off and doesn't complete it, use a dash rather than a period.
Example:
Speaker 1: Yeah, but then –
Speaker 2: What happened next?
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Reminder: It is important to make sure you are using regular dashes, not hyphens (-) or extra-long dashes (––). Although Word's autocorrect will insert a dash automatically when two hyphens are typed, it can be tricky to insert dashes at the end or beginning of a line, so here are a few easy ways to do itTypeEasy V2 has a built-in autocorrect to correct two hyphens into a dash. If you type "space hyphen hyphen space", it will autocorrect into the proper type of dash. NOTE: If you need to type two hyphens in a row, you will need to undo this autocorrect. Simply hit undo or ctrl+z after the hyphens autocorrect into a dash, and it will turn them back into hyphens. Alternative ways to insert dashes easily in a document:
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Conditional hyphens are hyphens that are invisible when show/hide is turned off unless a word breaks across lines, so they do not serve the same purpose as a dash and will not show up in the final document. Conditional hyphens should never be used in SpeakWrite work. A conditional hyphen is formed when you hit ctrl + hyphen on the regular keyboard, so never use this key combination to insert a dash into a Group Conversation. Only use ctrl + the hyphen on the numerical keyboard to insert a dash. |
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