This may even be the first time you’ve heard that there are actually two types of dashes: an en dash (–) and an em dash (—). Hyphenated words tend to become closed compounds (single words with no hyphens) over time. These are words or phrases that don’t change a sentence’s primary meaning or grammatical structure.

Krista heads up Marketing and Content Creation here at INK. Examples include time spans and ranges of numbers.

Ellipses would also work here. When you use an en dash this way, it signals that there is a range. En dashes, which are about the width of an upper-case N, are often mistaken for hyphens. One other alert reader noticed that we used an en dash instead of an em dash. It covers all numbers, dates, or times that fall between the two things on either side of the dash. One method for creating a long dash on a Mac is to press and hold the Shift key, Option key, and minus (hyphen) key. Copyright by Jane Straus/GrammarBook.com. It’s about the size of the letter M. The answer is A. Hyphens are used when writing out two-digit numbers or fractions. Example: Books, paper, pencils—many students lacked even the simplest tools for learning in nineteenth-century America. Hyphens are the shortest, en dashes are a bit longer, and em dashes are even longer. Take a look at these examples: The first sentence says that we watched a baseball game in which the Jays played the Red Sox; it tells us which teams were playing against each other. The en dash (–), a hyphen with a growth spurt, is used to represent the words “to” or “through” when specifying a range. Subtleties of the tools of grammar, such as the use of an ellipsis, em dash, or a hyphen, can be quite difficult to grasp and even harder to get right consistently. However, many compounds do contain hyphens.

This is why em-dash is also sometimes called the double dash as it is longer than en-dash. In the category of “dashes” most style manuals, including APA and the Chicago Style Guide talk about 3 glyphs: What is the difference between Dash and Hyphen? But, outside of formal printed publications, this type of en dash is commonly replaced with a simple hyphen. Correct: Incorrect: 300-325 people Book and newspaper publishers still set type this way, but it’s rarely necessary to manually insert word breaks in your own writing because modern word processors automatically justify and align your text. Use hyphens to create compound words and to express numbers. When an em dash follows a list, it can provide focus.

This is especially helpful when setting apart clarifying information (known as appositives). THAN I never thought I’d settle down-until I met you. 9 Powerful Writing Apps for Any Type of Writing Project, The 5 Best Writing Tools All Writers Need, 5 Clever Ways to Say “Nice to Meet You” in Writing. I was just about to share one of your pages with a colleague, but then I noticed a bit of text that contradicts a rule about hyphens and dashes.

Examples include time spans and ranges of numbers. Examples include time spans and ranges of numbers.

If you’re writing text in a program or on a website where the em dash character is completely unavailable, use two hyphens together (–) to signify an em dash. @media (max-width: 1171px) { .sidead300 { margin-left: -20px; } } Some compound words, such as self-restraint are hyphenated.

Whichever style you choose, use it consistently throughout your document. A Grammar Best Practice is that a sentence should have no more than two em dashes for the sake of clarity. Em dashes are named after the letter “M” (“em” = “M”) because em dashes were the same width as a typesetter’s letter “M.”.

It isn’t as short as the hyphen.But, it’s not as long as the em dash.. In modern fonts, the length of the en dash is not standardized, and the en dash is often more than half the width of the em dash. Examples: We could not wait to meet them — we had missed them so much. I recommend changing your example. I’d actually come here to research the correct use of hyphens, but it’s always good to brush up on the use of en- and em-dashes. Hyphens usually join words together while dashes tend to separate words. Alberto attended the University of Colorado (1981-1985).

For instance, “The longest plane flight in the world—which I’m taking in two weeks—lasts more than 18 hours.” You would also use a dash to abruptly cut off a phrase, when writing dialogue, for instance. A hyphen’s chief function is to merge two or more separate words. However, if you just wanted to make sure that the sentence included information about how long the furniture shipment took, it would make more sense to use commas. They look different on the computer keyboard, sure—but you press the same button on the keyboard to create them, which doesn’t help. as one space and “m” and “w” as two spaces (“l,” “i,””!” would be a half space), you would be able to quickly calculate how much space a given word would take up. Hyphen is a punctuation mark that is smaller than dashes and is always used to fill the space between words such as co-ordination, air-conditioner, and so on.

While magazines and books still use en dashes, they are handled differently by different publishers. Which ones? We have corrected this in our Grammar Blog section of our website and will run a “Correction” alert in next week’s newsletter. Please ensure that your question or comment relates to the topic of the blog post. We do this by providing copywriting, editing, and writing coaching services for website copy, blog posts, marketing materials, personal statements, and much more.

When writing dialogue or transcribing verbal communications, em dashes signal interruptions. Is this intentional guidance or is this an error?

Now, you may be wondering how this way of using an en dash is different from using a hyphen to join words in a compound. And, finally, there is another type of dash, called an en dash, that’s in between the two in size. If you wanted to emphasize how ridiculous it is that it took eight months for the furniture to arrive, an em dash would be the way to go. t.src=v;s=b.getElementsByTagName(e)[0];s.parentNode.insertBefore(t,s)}(window, • There are two different dashes, the em-dash and the en-dash. Use the en dash to connect things related by distance. Elvis Presley–style dance moves Use the en dash to connect things related by distance. “The years 1929–1941 were brutal”, not “The years 1929-1941 were brutal” (sic) We could have used an en dash in the example and been equally correct, particularly among those who refer to CMOS more often. If you’ve ever found yourself confused about the difference between a dash and a hyphen, and when to use each one, you’re far from alone. As to the argument over whether or not an “m” is twice as wide as an “n,” it depends on the type font, I suppose.

The hyphen (-), the shortest, is used to join multiple words that function together as a single concept, a.k.a.

I was just on your website, looking at the Hyphens section.

Thank you for continuing to send me your newsletter. Compound words that have been in use for a while are commonly spelled without a hyphen.

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