In this connection DeVinne gives the following excellent example from Sterne:
Nature instantly ebbed again;—the film returned to its place;—the pulse fluttered,—stopped,— went on,—throbbed,—stopped again,—moved, —stopped,—Shall I go on?—No.
Attention may be called to Sterne’s use of the semicolon and the comma with the dash, a use now obsolete except in rare cases.
4. To separate the repetition or different amplifications of the same statement.
The infinite importance of what he has to do—the goading conviction that it must be done—the dreadful combination in his mind of both the necessity and the incapacity—the despair of crowding the concerns of an age into a moment—the impossibility of beginning a repentance which should have been completed—of setting about a peace which should have been concluded—of suing for a pardon which should have been obtained—all these complicated concerns intolerably augment the sufferings of the victims.
5. At the end of a series of phrases which depend upon a concluding clause.
Railroads and steamships, factories and warehouses, wealth and luxury—these are not civilization.
6. When a sentence is abruptly terminated.
If I thought he said it I would—
7. To precede expressions which are added to an apparently completed sentence, but which refer to some previous part of the sentence.