the use of dash (--) in a sentence

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Spetsnaz26

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I understand dash, or --, is sometimes used as interruption in a sentence, but am not sure if I used it correctly in the following sentence.

This highlighted the pitfalls of interpreting realism as simply a measure of accuracy, or worse--sophistication.

What I want to express is that accuracy or sophistication is not what realism is all about. But of the two, misintepreting realism as a measure of sophistication is considered worse. So have I used the correct punctuations?

Thanks in advance.
 

Barb_D

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I wouldn't use it there. I'd keep with the comma and repeat the "as."

"... or (even) worse, as sophistication."
 

Raymott

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I understand dash, or --, is sometimes used as interruption in a sentence, but am not sure if I used it correctly in the following sentence.

This highlighted the pitfalls of interpreting realism as simply a measure of accuracy, or worse--sophistication.

What I want to express is that accuracy or sophistication is not what realism is all about. But of the two, misintepreting realism as a measure of sophistication is considered worse. So have I used the correct punctuations?

Thanks in advance.
I wouldn't use a dash here either. You could use a dash as follows:
This highlighted the pitfalls of interpreting realism as simply a measure of these two concepts -- accuracy, and worse, sophistication.
That's a slightly awkward sentence, but it keeps 'accuracy' and 'sophistication' together, and is a correct use of a terminal dash.
 
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