How To Properly Use Dashes In Writing
But if you learn how to type dashes correctly it will add a more professional feel to anything you write.
How to properly use dashes in writing. So what s the difference. Examine these useful hyphen em dash and en dash examples. Semicolons colons and dashes. The en dash is approximately the length of the letter n and the em dash the length of the letter m. After we buy toenail clippers the dinosaur in that exhibit could use a trim you know we ll stop at the doughnut shop.
To properly use a dash in an english sentence start by identifying which dash you should use. There are three types of dashes in writing used to convey different ideas in an engaging way. Us publishers and the oxford university press in the uk choose to use closed up em dashes em dashes without any spaces where other uk publishers might use spaced en dashes. This handout explains the most common uses of three kinds of punctuation. What s the difference between a hyphen and a dash.
Using the en dash to denote a connection. Em dashes so called because they are at least historically the width of the character m are used for emphasis or interruption. The sure fire way of creating an em dash is to use alt and 0151 on the numeric keypad. They can be used on their own or in pairs to offset a word or phrase. Use a longer em dash to join independent clauses with words like and but as or and for.
The en dash may also be used to indicate a connection between two words. There are two types of dash. Although many people call the hyphen a dash dash refers to another group of horizontal lines in text. The two most common dashes are the em dash and the en dash. Here s a hyphen and here s a dash most of us don t normally type out a dash.
Long dashes in writing. The big daddy of dashes the em dash is generally twice as long again as the en dash. After reading the handout you will be better able to decide when to use these forms of punctuation in your own writing. In practice many people use hyphens where they need to use dashes. Revised on february 11 2020.