7.2 Dashes & Hyphens: Interruptions, Breaks and Compounds

Key Takeaways

• The Guide to Judiciary Policy requires a dash at the point where speech is interrupted and again at the point where the speaker resumes.

• AAERT's sample transcripts mark interruptions and self-interruptions with a double dash (--), with a space on each side.

• When an interrupted speaker picks up again after someone else speaks, the resumed line starts with a double dash: "MR. McHENRY: -- being over what?"

• Compound modifiers before a noun are hyphenated (a 15-minute recess), but not after the noun or after an -ly adverb (a recklessly driven car).

Blueprint topics 20209 (dashes) and 20213 (hyphens) cover two marks that look alike and do opposite jobs. A dash separates: it shows a break in speech. A hyphen joins: it links words into a compound. Blueprint topic 30302 separately asks you to format interruptions with double dashes.

The dash in a transcript

The rule

Guide to Judiciary Policy, § 520.36.40: "Interruptions of speech must be denoted by the use of a dash at the point of interruption, and again at the point the speaker resumes speaking." At the transcriber's discretion, simultaneous discussions may be noted the same way.

AAERT's form: the double dash

AAERT's sample pages and Scalini key type the dash as two hyphens (--), with a space before and after:

Q.   Sometime in -- sometime in about -- I guess it was in --
          THE COURT:  Don't guess, Mr. Lim.  If you don't --
          THE WITNESS:  I don't know.

Why two hyphens? Transcripts are typed in a fixed-pitch format, and "--" is unambiguous in plain text, in the pasted body of the CET practical, and in any software. Turn off the word-processor feature that converts "--" into a single en dash or em dash, so that what you type matches the key.

Three uses of the double dash

1. Interruption by another speaker

          MS. KENNELLY:  I'd like to use numbers, if I may,
unless --
          THE CLERK:  This will be Plaintiff's Exhibit 1.

2. Resumption after the interruption. When the interrupted speaker picks up the same sentence, begin the resumed text with a dash:

          MR. McHENRY:  Judge, I'm going to object to the term
"seemed to be over it."  If Mr. Jefferson can -- or Ms.
Jefferson can specify --
          MS. JEFFERSON:  Oh, he's --
          MR. McHENRY:  -- being over what?
          MS. JEFFERSON:  -- testified that he seemed to have
calmed down.

(Scalini key.) Each speaker's thought continues across the interruption, and the leading dash tells the reader it is a continuation.

3. Self-interruption and change of thought, where the speaker breaks off and restarts:

A. It's the -- actually, it's the identification area.

Q. And what is -- what do those duties entail?

The dash replaces nothing; every word spoken stays.

What the dash is not

• Not a pause. A speaker who pauses and continues the same sentence gets no dash. Long pauses are noted in a parenthetical only if counsel refers to them (Chapter 10).
• Not for trailing off in some styles. Some transcripts use an ellipsis for a voice that fades out uninterrupted (Section 7.3). AAERT's samples use the double dash for unfinished utterances.
• Not a hyphen. A single hyphen never marks an interruption.

The hyphen

Compound modifiers before a noun

Hyphenate two or more words that work together as one adjective before the noun:

• a 15-minute recess, a two-year-old daughter, a well-known witness, a front-end collision

Not after the noun: the recess was 15 minutes; the witness is well known.

Not after -ly adverbs: a recklessly driven car, a clearly marked exhibit.

Numbers and fractions

• Compound numbers twenty-one to ninety-nine: thirty-seven.
• Spelled fractions used as nouns or adjectives: one-half, two-thirds majority.

Prefixes and compound words

• ex-, self-, all-: ex-husband, self-defense, all-inclusive.
• A prefix before a capital letter or number: pre-2020, anti-American.
• To avoid confusion: re-sign (sign again) vs. resign; re-cover vs. recover.
• Many prefixes close up: nonresponsive, pretrial, postconviction, cross-examination (hyphenated in Merriam-Webster). Check the dictionary.

Spelled words and names

A word or name spelled out letter by letter is written in capitals separated by hyphens:

A. Margaret Heller, H-E-L-L-E-R. (Scalini key)

Chapter 10 covers spelling on the record in detail.

Hyphenated names

Keep hyphenated surnames as the case information shows them: SMYTHE-RICHARDS (AAERT's sample title page).

Stutters and suspended hyphens

• A stutter is normally omitted under the Guide's rule on verbal tics. When it must be kept (because it matters to meaning, or the client requires full verbatim), a hyphen joins the repeated sound: I-I didn't.
• Suspended hyphens: first- and second-degree murder.

Dash or hyphen? One test

If the mark joins two words into one idea, it is a hyphen with no spaces. If it breaks the speech, it is a double dash with spaces.

Practice passage

Audio (two speakers overlapping):

Q: were you -- did you ever see the -- A: the gun no not until he took it out Q: -- the gun before that night

Transcript:

Q.   Were you -- did you ever see the --
A.   The gun?  No, not until he took it out.
Q.   -- the gun before that night?

Why:

• The questioner breaks off Were you and restarts: a self-interruption, marked with a double dash.
• The questioner is cut off at the: a double dash at the point of interruption.
• The witness's line is complete, so it ends normally.
• The questioner resumes the same sentence: the resumed line starts with a double dash, as § 520.36.40 requires.

Exam traps