Textbooks and grammar worksheets do not adequately convey to students how readers or listeners are shaped by the language of the writer. The best way to help students understand the emphasis of a dash or another device is to see one used during a suspenseful moment in a dramatic selection. It is up to the teacher to select dramatic works that generate internal conflicts for students, because those literary selections will make them sit up and pay attention to the language that is in front of them. Once they are aware of their physical responses, most readers will note the language and yearn to figure out the ultimate question: "How did the author do that?" This article shows how the language features of Truman Capote's "In Cold Blood" help a high school teacher's students learn more about how authors influence their readers. (Contains 2 figures.)