Em dash, en dash, hyphen
Did you know that a single minus sign is NOT a dash? It's either a hyphen or a minus sign.
HOW TO CREATE DASHES IN A WORD DOC:
Hyphen: type one minus sign to get a hyphen -
En dash: type any word -- another word to get the en dash –
Em dash: type any word--another word to get the em dash —
HOW TO CREATE AN EM DASH IN GOOGLE DOCS:
On a Google Doc, click Tools, click Preferences (in the drop-down menu), click on Special Characters, click on Substitutions,
In the Replace box, type in 2 minus signs without spaces --
In the With box, cut and paste this dash --
Click on OK at the bottom right corner.
I have tried to create both the en dash and the em dash but the two minus signs in Replace will not become differentiated.
I even tried to put a space before and after the two minus signs to denote the en dash but it didn't work. So let's go with the common dash, the em dash.
When your em dash shows up, don't forget to delete the spaces before and after it.
_________________________________
Much of the text below is copied and/or based upon Merriam-Webster's article on dashes and the hyphen.
To see the orignial article, click here.
A Guide to Em Dashes, En Dashes, and Hyphens
Be dashing—and do it well!
Among punctuation marks, dashes have a certain panache. They take the reader aside, and then draw that reader to the next bit like a good dance partner in the lead.
There are various punctuation items that can be described as dashes, and we will get to them all, but we’ll begin with the most useful and most used. It looks like--or sometimes -- when one’s word processing program fails to convert it. It's called the “em dash” or "common dash." The two names are well-earned; this dash is the most common true dash, and it’s the approximate width of a capital M.
The em dash can function like a comma, a colon, or parenthesis. Like commas and parentheses, em dashes set off extra information, such as examples, explanatory or descriptive phrases, or supplemental facts. Like a colon, an em dash introduces a clause that explains or expands upon something that precedes it.
The em dash is sometimes considered a less formal equivalent of the colon and parenthesis, but in truth it’s used in all kinds of writing, including the most formal—the choice of which mark to use is really a matter of personal preference.
Mrs. Elwood would like dashes used infrequently.
Spacing around an em dash varies. Most newspapers insert a space before and after the dash, and many popular magazines do the same, but most books and journals omit spacing, closing whatever comes before and after the em dash right up next to it. Merrium Webster prefers the latter, its style requiring the closely-held em dash in running text.
Mrs. Elwood insists upon no spaces before and after the em dash (M-dash).
How to type one, however, depends on your machine. Try typing a word followed directly by 2 minus signs and then (without spacing, the next word. If your word processor does not create the em dash, leave the 2 minus signs in its stead.
The Em Dash in Action: A New Direction
“Of course you have a point,” Mabel murmured. “That is—I suppose it is concerning.”
The Em Dash in Action: Attention Must Be Paid
The Em Dash in the Company of Other Punctuation Marks
The en dash (Not Nearly so Dashing but Still Useful)
Remembering that the em dash is the length of a capital M, it will surprise no one that the so-called “en dash” is the approximate length of a capital N, –.
To make an en dash in Microsoft Word, type a word, space, type 2 minus signs, space, and continue typing. The 2 minus signs should turn into the smaller dash. If not, use a hyphen.
A Hyphen Can Be Considered a Kind of Dash
The em dash is the most common, but hyphens show up more frequently in text. They have a variety of uses.
HOW TO CREATE DASHES IN A WORD DOC:
Hyphen: type one minus sign to get a hyphen -
En dash: type any word -- another word to get the en dash –
Em dash: type any word--another word to get the em dash —
HOW TO CREATE AN EM DASH IN GOOGLE DOCS:
On a Google Doc, click Tools, click Preferences (in the drop-down menu), click on Special Characters, click on Substitutions,
In the Replace box, type in 2 minus signs without spaces --
In the With box, cut and paste this dash --
Click on OK at the bottom right corner.
I have tried to create both the en dash and the em dash but the two minus signs in Replace will not become differentiated.
I even tried to put a space before and after the two minus signs to denote the en dash but it didn't work. So let's go with the common dash, the em dash.
When your em dash shows up, don't forget to delete the spaces before and after it.
_________________________________
Much of the text below is copied and/or based upon Merriam-Webster's article on dashes and the hyphen.
To see the orignial article, click here.
A Guide to Em Dashes, En Dashes, and Hyphens
Be dashing—and do it well!
Among punctuation marks, dashes have a certain panache. They take the reader aside, and then draw that reader to the next bit like a good dance partner in the lead.
There are various punctuation items that can be described as dashes, and we will get to them all, but we’ll begin with the most useful and most used. It looks like--or sometimes -- when one’s word processing program fails to convert it. It's called the “em dash” or "common dash." The two names are well-earned; this dash is the most common true dash, and it’s the approximate width of a capital M.
The em dash can function like a comma, a colon, or parenthesis. Like commas and parentheses, em dashes set off extra information, such as examples, explanatory or descriptive phrases, or supplemental facts. Like a colon, an em dash introduces a clause that explains or expands upon something that precedes it.
The em dash is sometimes considered a less formal equivalent of the colon and parenthesis, but in truth it’s used in all kinds of writing, including the most formal—the choice of which mark to use is really a matter of personal preference.
Mrs. Elwood would like dashes used infrequently.
Spacing around an em dash varies. Most newspapers insert a space before and after the dash, and many popular magazines do the same, but most books and journals omit spacing, closing whatever comes before and after the em dash right up next to it. Merrium Webster prefers the latter, its style requiring the closely-held em dash in running text.
Mrs. Elwood insists upon no spaces before and after the em dash (M-dash).
How to type one, however, depends on your machine. Try typing a word followed directly by 2 minus signs and then (without spacing, the next word. If your word processor does not create the em dash, leave the 2 minus signs in its stead.
The Em Dash in Action: A New Direction
- An em dash can mark an abrupt change or break in the structure of a sentence: Mabel the Cat was delighted with the assortment of pastries the new bakery featured, but Harry the Dog—he felt otherwise.
- An em dash can indicate interrupted speech or a speaker’s confusion or hesitation.
“Of course you have a point,” Mabel murmured. “That is—I suppose it is concerning.”
The Em Dash in Action: Attention Must Be Paid
- Em dashes are used in place of commas or parentheses to emphasize or draw attention to parenthetical or amplifying material. In this particular task, em dashes occupy a kind of middle ground among the three: when commas do the job, the material is most closely related to what’s around it, and when parentheses do the job, the material is most distantly related to what’s around it; when dashes do the job the material is somewhere in the middle.
- The butteriness of the pastries did say something about an appropriate level of commitment to decadence—at least there was that.
- And the wide range of its hours of operation—6 a.m. to 6 p.m.—certainly showed concern for customers’ manifold circumstances.
- Dashes set off or introduce defining phrases and lists.
- A regular selection of three kinds of croissants—plain, almond, and chocolate—was heartening, both Mabel and Harry agreed.
- The pies changed—apple year-round, for example, but pumpkin in fall and winter, strawberry rhubarb in spring, and peach in summer—as the bakery’s devotion to fresh ingredients dictated.
- And Harry was extremely pleased to see the selection of available cakes—both chocolate and yellow butter cake; carrot cake; pound cake; lemon chiffon; and flourless chocolate cake.
- An em dash is often used in place of a colon or semicolon to link clauses, especially when the clause that follows the dash explains, summarizes, or expands upon the preceding clause in a somewhat dramatic way.
- Harry would never forget the Tuesday that Mabel called him from the bakery, her voice brimming with excitement—the bakery had added cheese Danishes to its selection.
- Nor would Harry forget his first bite of the Danish she delivered to him. It was revelatory—it was a cheese Danish nonpareil.
- An em dash or pair of dashes often sets off illustrative or amplifying material introduced by such phrases as for example, namely, and that is, when the break in continuity is greater than that shown by a comma, or when the dash would clarify the sentence structure better than a comma.
- The bakery was truly phenomenal. Although they did miss the mark somewhat with the pineapple upside-down cake Mabel ordered—that is, the cake had clearly been baked right-side up.
- ”You see,” Mabel averred, “even a moderately keen observer can ascertain—namely from its shape—a baked cake’s oven orientation.”
- An em dash may introduce a summary statement that follows a series of words or phrases.
- Chocolate chip, oatmeal raisin, peanut butter, snickerdoodle, both macarons and macaroons—the panoply of cookie varieties was impressive as well.
- The bakery was also adept at deliciously modifying recipes to meet any variety of dietary restrictions—not an easy feat in many cases.
- A dash often precedes the name of an author or source at the end of a quoted passage—such as an epigraph, extract, or book or film blurb—that is not part of the main text. The attribution may appear immediately after the quotation or on the next line. Note the first space when the attribution follows.
- “One cannot underestimate the effect a good bakery can have on a person’s well-being.” —Mabel the Cat, The Websterburg Reporter
- The bread sublime, the cheese Danish divine.
The Em Dash in the Company of Other Punctuation Marks
- If an em dash appears at a point where a comma could also appear, the comma is omitted.
- Within its first year, Mabel and Harry had sampled all of the bakery’s offerings—all 62 items—and had also decided that the exercise was worth repeating.
- When the bakery closed for the month of August to give its staff a break—no one denied it was much deserved—Mabel was forlorn.
- When a pair of em dashes sets off material ending with an exclamation point or a question mark, the mark is placed inside the dashes.
- Mabel tried, despite her dolefulness—for how could she be otherwise?—to bake her own bread but each loaf that emerged from her oven tasted vaguely of tears.
- When September arrived—finally!—the yeasty perfume wafting through Websterburg’s town square routed her darksome gloom.
- Dashes are used inside parentheses, and vice versa, to indicate parenthetical material within parenthetical material. The second dash is omitted if it would immediately precede the closing parenthesis; a closing parenthesis is never omitted.
- The bakery’s reputation for scrumptious goods (ambrosial, even—each item was surely fit for gods) spread far and wide.
- A two-em dash, ——, is used to indicate missing letters in a word and, less frequently, to indicate a missing word.
- The butter-stained and crumb-embedded note was attributed to a Ms. M—— of Websterburg.
- A three-em dash, ———, indicates that a word has been left out or that an unknown word or figure is to be supplied.
- Years later, it was revealed that the Websterburg bakers had once had a bakery in ———, a city to the south. But the water quality there was prohibitive to the creating of decent bagels.
The en dash (Not Nearly so Dashing but Still Useful)
Remembering that the em dash is the length of a capital M, it will surprise no one that the so-called “en dash” is the approximate length of a capital N, –.
To make an en dash in Microsoft Word, type a word, space, type 2 minus signs, space, and continue typing. The 2 minus signs should turn into the smaller dash. If not, use a hyphen.
- Hyphen is most often used between numbers, dates, or other notations to signify up to and including.
- The bakery will be closed August 1–August 31.
- The bakery is open 6:00 a.m.–6:00 p.m.
- The exceedingly complex recipe spans pages 128–34.
- Mabel and Harry lived elsewhere 2007–2019.
- Note that one does not need words like from and between in the above examples. The phrase “open 6:00 a.m.–6:00 p.m.” can be read as “open between 6:00 a.m. and 6:00 p.m.” or as “open from 6:00 a.m. to/until 6:00 p.m.”
- If you want to be official about things, use the en dash to replace a hyphen in compound adjectives when at least one of the elements is a two-word compound.
- This occured in the post–Cold War era. [The thinking is that using a hyphen here, as in “the post-Cold War era,” risks the suggestion that post attaches only to Cold. It’s unlikely, though, that a reader would truly be confused.]
- The en dash replaces the word to between capitalized names and is used to indicate linkages such as boundaries, treaties, and oppositions.
- a Boston–Washington train
- the Websterburg–Oxfordville border
- the pie–cake divide
- night–day differences or night-day differences
A Hyphen Can Be Considered a Kind of Dash
The em dash is the most common, but hyphens show up more frequently in text. They have a variety of uses.
- AS NOTED ABOVE, A HYPHEN OFTEN DOES THE JOB OF AN EN DASH between numbers and dates, providing this meaning establishes a range of up to and including the next number.
- pp. 128–34 or the years 2007–2019.
- Hyphens are used to link elements in compound words.
- The bakery fan club’s secretary-treasurer is a baker-owner.
- In some words, a hyphen separates a prefix, suffix, or medial element from the rest of the word.
- Websterburg has interesting pre-bakery days. He invented the bread-like scone and jack-o'-lantern sugar cookies.
- A hyphen marks an end-of-line division of a word.
- Mabel and Harry don’t like to linger on their memories of Webster-
- A hyphen divides letters or syllables to give the effect of stuttering, sobbing, or halting speech.
- "M-m-mabel, the cheese Danish is divine!”
- Hyphens indicate a word spelled out letter by letter.
- Let’s not even talk about August when the bakery is c-l-o-s-e-d.