Is my sentence grammatically correct?

Question

"With what jobs can one change the world? Astronaut? Senator? Surgeon? President? But not everyone can occupy these jobs ‒ and not everyone wants to. "

I wrote this sentence for an essay I am writing and I am honestly very confused as to if this is grammatically correct (Specifically if the dash is correct)?

Answer 1

Hi Woody,

Your grammar looks just fine. As to the punctuation issue, I think Tiffany's reworking of your final clause is spot on. Dashes are fine, especially in personal correspondence or journalism, but most academic English teachers will tell you to separate an independent clause ("Not everyone can occupy these jobs") from a dependent clause ("nor do they want to") with a comma.

Answer 2

Croix is spot on with his assessment and I agree. I tend toward using dashes as well when writing, but he is correct in that it is frowned upon by most English teachers and academic research writers.

Answer 3

"What jobs can enable one change the world? How can an astronaut, senator, surgeon, or president change the world? Not everyone can occupy these jobs, nor do they want to. "