"unknown-and ... for-is ..."

[Odessa Dawn]

​

“What remains unknown-and may never fully be accounted for-is how much money secretive ‘shadow money’ organizations spent, with some investing massive sums on ads, but also on unreported and purportedly ‘non-political’ activities, as the election neared. It may take years to determine how much they spent.”
More: PressTV - US election costs taxpayers $6bn

Why do we have hyphens in the underlined parts?
​

 

[bhaisahab]

​

“What remains unknown-and may never fully be accounted for-is how much money secretive ‘shadow money’ organizations spent, with some investing massive sums on ads, but also on unreported and purportedly ‘non-political’ activities, as the election neared. It may take years to determine how much they spent.”
More: PressTV - US election costs taxpayers $6bn

Why do we have hyphens in the underlined parts?
​

I imagine there should be spaces before and after each one, making punctuation dashes. I don't like them, I would have used commas.

 

[Odessa Dawn]

I imagine there should be spaces before and after each one, making punctuation dashes. I don't like them, I would have used commas.

Thank you, bhaisahab, so very much. I think you mean that commas should be used in this way?

“What remainsunknown, and may never fully be accounted for, is how much money ...

 

[bhaisahab]

Thank you, bhaisahab, so very much. I think you mean that commas should be used in this way?

“What remains unknown, and may never fully be accounted for, is how much money ...

Yes.