How does a dash end this sentence correctly?

It did seem to me that life was just too lovely to—

From A Dog's Tale by Mark Twain

  • 1
    Please use > to set off quotes and clearly state the question in the body, not just the title. – Andrew Leach Nov 19 '13 at 15:47

A dash used like this signifies a sudden change of mood.

Imagine that the narrator (a dog) is reading her story and breaks off one train of thought abruptly. In this case, the narrator is reminiscing fondly of her puppy, and then remembers the next, less happy, part of the story:



  • Aposiopesis. – Edwin Ashworth Nov 19 '13 at 17:13
  • @EdwinAshworth I can see I'm going to have to compile a list. Wikipedia doesn't appear to list everything it should in the Rhetoric category. – Andrew Leach Nov 19 '13 at 17:30
  • Tell me which ones you're missing, and I'll look in the list that I made.;-) – Edwin Ashworth Nov 19 '13 at 21:32

It indicates that, for some reason, the sentence is unfinished.

  • Remission for good behaviour? – Edwin Ashworth Nov 19 '13 at 19:56

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