By Hyphens, Intonations

I like the dash. It lets one add emphasis and (dramatic) pauses.I think the summary in Webster's Third New International Dictionary is excellent:7. THE DASH7.0 In its function in writing and in the speech intonation to which it corresponds, the dash is similar to the comma and the colon, and a...

1.I have a fishing rod. 2.I read an interesting book. Is {in (1)} fishing a gerund or a participle in 1? OR "In 1, is fishing a ..." JTT: The placement of 'in 1' is unnatural, Hanuman. In (2), interesting is a participle. Am I right? Then why ISN'T "fishing" in (1) a participle....