{"id":617011,"date":"2023-03-12T08:57:21","date_gmt":"2023-03-12T13:57:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.sellorbuyhomefast.com\/index.php\/2023\/03\/12\/punctuation-matters-how-to-use-the-en-dash-em-dash-and-hyphen\/"},"modified":"2023-03-12T08:57:21","modified_gmt":"2023-03-12T13:57:21","slug":"punctuation-matters-how-to-use-the-en-dash-em-dash-and-hyphen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2023\/03\/12\/punctuation-matters-how-to-use-the-en-dash-em-dash-and-hyphen\/","title":{"rendered":"Punctuation Matters: How to use the en dash, em dash and hyphen"},"content":{"rendered":"<article aria-label=\"En dash, em dash and hyphen; what\u2019s the difference? (also ndash and mdash, or n-dash and m-dash)\">\n<div>\n<p>The en dash is used inconsistently within lots of writing \u2013 regardless of how \u2018professional\u2019 the writers are.<\/p>\n<p>The hyphen, em dash and en dash are everywhere, but most of us don\u2019t know when or why to use them \u2013 and different writers use the dashes in different ways. Let\u2019s figure this out!<\/p>\n<h3>What do they look like?<\/h3>\n<table readabilityDataTable=\"0\">\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td><strong>\u00a0\u2013<\/strong><\/td>\n<td><strong>\u00a0hyphen\u00a0<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td><strong><span>\u00a0\u2013<\/span><\/strong><\/td>\n<td>\u00a0<strong>en dash<\/strong>\u00a0(or ndash, en-dash or n-dash)<strong><br \/>\n<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td><strong><span>\u00a0\u2014<\/span><\/strong><\/td>\n<td>\u00a0<strong>em dash<\/strong>\u00a0(or mdash, em-dash or m-dash)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<p>Do the first two look the same to you? It\u2019s because some devices display them inconsistently, when the characters sit all by themselves. On a phone, the examples above may look wrong. However, they will probably look different in the next example, with some words or numbers adjacent to them.<\/p>\n<p>Let\u2019s look at those dashes with some text:<\/p>\n<table readabilityDataTable=\"0\">\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td><span>\u00a0twenty-five<\/span><\/td>\n<td><strong>\u00a0hyphen\u00a0<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td><span>\u00a011\u201325<br \/>\n<\/span><\/td>\n<td>\u00a0<strong>en-dash<\/strong> <strong><br \/>\n<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td><span>\u00a0Well\u2014yes<strong>.<br \/>\n<\/strong><\/span><\/td>\n<td>\u00a0<strong>em-dash<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<p>Let\u2019s make that even more clear.<\/p>\n<figure><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" title=\"what-does-n-dash-look-like\" src=\"https:\/\/www.punctuationmatters.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/what-does-n-dash-look-like-300x225.png\" alt=\"difference between the en dash and em dash\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\"><figcaption><strong>The en dash is about as wide as an uppercase N; the em dash is as wide as an M.<\/strong> <br \/><span><em>(This image was made with PowerPoint and Photoshop; the relative sizes of the dashes look right, however, the en dash and em dash don\u2019t exactly match the width of the upper-case N and M \u2013 and they rarely do! It also depends on fonts, software and devices.)<\/em><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<h2>When should I use a hyphen, en dash or em dash?<\/h2>\n<h4>Hyphen<\/h4>\n<ul>\n<li>Indicates breaks within words that wrap at the end of a line<\/li>\n<li>Connects compounded words like \u201cmass-produced\u201d (Closed compound words like counterintuitive have no hyphen in modern English, except for uncommon combinations that are confusing or ambiguous without a hyphen.)<\/li>\n<li>Connects grouped numbers, like a phone number 555-860-5086<\/li>\n<li>The hyphen does not indicate a range of numbers, like a date range, which is the job of an en dash<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h4>En dash<\/h4>\n<ul>\n<li>Joins numbers in a range, such as \u201c1993\u201399\u201d or \u201c1200\u20131400 <span>B.C.<\/span>\u201d or \u201cpages 32\u201337\u201d or open-ended ranges, like \u201c1934\u2013\u201d<\/li>\n<li>Joins words that describe a range, like \u201cJuly\u2013October 2010\u201d<\/li>\n<li>There\u2019s a lot more you can do with the en dash \u2013 read more below under \u201cbreak the rules\u201d.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h4>Em dash<\/h4>\n<ul>\n<li>Works better than commas to set apart a unique idea from the main clause of a sentence:<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>\u201cSometimes writing for money\u2014rather than for art or pleasure\u2014is really quite enjoyable.\u201d<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Separates an inserted thought or clause from the main clause, such as:<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>\u201cI can\u2019t believe how pedantic Ken is about writing\u2014doesn\u2019t he have anything better to do?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHunter strode into the room\u2014was he mad?\u2014and the family stopped and stared.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cComputers make everyday punctuation\u2014for reasons that we\u2019ll discuss later\u2014more precise yet more confusing.\u201d<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Shows when dialogue has been interrupted:<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>\u201cI reached in and pulled the spray can out of my backpack\u2014\u201d \u201cIn front of the police?\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>Extra:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Here\u2019s another obscure, old-fashioned use for the m-dash: When letters are uncertain or missing from a word that you are quoting or reporting about, you insert two m-dashes where the unknown letters would be.\u00a0 For example:<\/p>\n<p>\u201cUsing dashes is a bit of an ad\u2014\u2014n [addiction?]\u201d, said Jennifer.<\/p>\n<h2>Break the rules!<\/h2>\n<p>If you are writing formal documents or writing for publication, it\u2019s best to use dashes correctly.<\/p>\n<p>However\u2026 \u00a0Some people prefer the way a \u201cspace-en-dash-space\u201d looks. Sometimes when you use the em-dash, people say, \u201cWhat is that? I don\u2019t like that big long thing.\u201d I\u2019ve heard that from colleagues and managers. That\u2019s okay \u2013 we can find a very good compromise.<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>Some well-trained technical writers think the n-dash is the only one to use.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><strong>Choosing between the en dash or em dash is not a big deal.<\/strong> In my writing (as a manager corresponding with government officials and politicians, and also as a marketer communicating with real people) I use \u2018space-n-dash-space\u2019 instead of the em-dash \u2013 just to keep everyone happy.<\/p>\n<p>You can see this \u2018wrong-en\u2019 method used in countless websites, magazines and papers as a replacement for the m-dash.<\/p>\n<p>If you use the \u2018wrong-n\u2019 method and use it consistently, it works fine and seems to keep the greatest number of people happy.<\/p>\n<h2>Can I use two hyphens instead of an em dash?<\/h2>\n<p>If you are writing a message to your friend on Instagram, yes!<\/p>\n<p>If you are writing an email to your mom, yes!<\/p>\n<p>If you are writing an article or essay or paper, no.<\/p>\n<p>But in the latter case, you are probably using Word or another program that will automatically replace two hyphens with an em dash, so you\u2019ll be okay. If you are on a phone, go to the punctuation menu, long-press the hyphen and voila \u2013 you can choose an em dash or the shorter en dash. (Click to read more about <a href=\"https:\/\/www.punctuationmatters.com\/n-dash-and-m-dash-on-iphone-smartphone-or-tablet\/\">how to insert the en dash on your phone<\/a>.)<\/p>\n<h2>What is the correct name? En dash, endash, en-dash or ndash?<\/h2>\n<p>\u201cEn dash\u201d is the most common. Whether that is right or wrong is a matter of opinion.<\/p>\n<p>How to spell the names of dashes is not agreed upon. But disagreement and inconsistency is not unusual in the English language! That\u2019s okay.<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>Whether someone writes en dash, endash, n-dash or ndash, they are always spoken the same way and refer to the same thing.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<h2>How to type the en dash and em dash in Microsoft Word<\/h2>\n<p><strong>Endash:<\/strong><br \/>\nAutomatically created in Word when you type \u201csomething \u2013 something\u201d <em>(word-space-hyphen-space-word)<\/em>. It becomes \u201csomething \u2013 something\u201d. See the difference?<\/p>\n<p><strong>Emdash:<\/strong><br \/>\nAutomatically created in Word when you type \u201csomething\u2013something\u201d <em>(word-hyphen-hyphen-word)<\/em>. It becomes \u201csomething\u2014something\u201d.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Take control of your dashes in Microsoft Word! <\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Link: See how to <a title=\"Quickly insert an n-dash or m-dash in Microsoft Word\" href=\"https:\/\/www.punctuationmatters.com\/quickly-insert-an-n-dash-or-m-dash-in-microsoft-word\/\">insert an n-dash or m-dash in Microsoft Word<\/a>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Can I insert an en-dash or em-dash on a phone? (or Twitter or Facebook?)<\/h2>\n<p><span><strong>[Updated]<br \/>\n<\/strong><\/span><strong>Yes!<\/strong> With\u00a0a\u00a0simple trick for touchscreen keyboards, it\u2019s easy to use the<a title=\"Type an n-dash or m-dash on a tablet, iPhone or Android phone\" href=\"https:\/\/www.punctuationmatters.com\/n-dash-and-m-dash-on-iphone-smartphone-or-tablet\/\"> n-dash and m-dash on a phone or tablet.<\/a><\/p>\n<p><span><strong>[Old advice]<\/strong><\/span><br \/>\n<span> <strong>Yes!\u00a0 \u2026<\/strong>write your post or tweet in Microsoft Word, then copy it and paste it into Twitter or Facebook when logged in on a computer. When you paste an n-dash or m-dash from Word, it will be an n-dash or m-dash in your tweet. Added bonus: When you post or tweet by pre-writing in Word, you can find spelling or grammar mistakes before you post. Drawback: Not convenient, especially if you\u2019re using a phone or tablet.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3>Trivia about dashes, for writing geeks<\/h3>\n<p>Why don\u2019t educated people use dashes correctly?\u00a0Did we all skip the same grade-5 English class?<\/p>\n<p>No. The problem is that printing presses, then typewriters, then computers, have changed how we use punctuation.<\/p>\n<p>These dashes go back to an earlier era of printing. The n-dash is named for its width in print typesetting (when people lined up little metal blocks for each letter, which would press ink onto paper). \u00a0The n-dash was about as wide as an upper-case N; the m-dash was as wide as an M. That\u2019s how they got their names.<\/p>\n<p>Later, in the days of the typewriter, there was only the hyphen; the typewriter keyboard had no keys or buttons for the n dash and m dash. Using a typewriter, you had to use two dashes for the m-dash and \u2018space-hyphen-space\u2019 as a rough replacement for the n-dash. <span><span>But\u00a0<\/span><\/span>in books, magazines and other \u2018proper\u2019 printing, typesetters always used the \u2018proper\u2019 dashes.<\/p>\n<p>The hyphen is still the only type of dash on a normal computer keyboard. However, computers let everyone use the n dash and m dash in their writing. We can all use dashes and other \u2018non-basic\u2019 punctuation just like a professional printing typesetter does. \u00a0Programs like Word make this easy. (Professional designers and typesetting snobs think Word is awful, but it works very well for most people.)<\/p>\n<p>There are even more names for the dashes. The en dash is also known as the en rule; the em dash as the em rule. This seems to be an even more old-fashioned way of referring to the dashes.<\/p>\n<p>Why \u2018rule\u2019? Well, it\u2019s not \u2018rule\u2019 like \u2018law\u2019, it\u2019s \u2018rule\u2019 like \u2018ruler\u2019 or, \u2018straight thing\u2019.<\/p>\n<h3>More info about the n-dash and m-dash:<\/h3>\n<p><a title=\"Insert an n-dash or m-dash on a web page or blog\" href=\"https:\/\/www.punctuationmatters.com\/insert-an-n-dash-or-m-dash-on-a-web-page-or-blog\/\">Use the em-dash and en-dash in WordPress, a web page or blog<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a title=\"Insert an n-dash or m-dash on a web page or blog\" href=\"https:\/\/www.punctuationmatters.com\/insert-an-n-dash-or-m-dash-on-a-web-page-or-blog\/\">The difference between hyphen, dash and minus symbols<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a title=\"Quickly insert an n-dash or m-dash in Microsoft Word\" href=\"https:\/\/www.punctuationmatters.com\/quickly-insert-an-n-dash-or-m-dash-in-microsoft-word\/\">Learn to insert en-dash quickly in Microsoft Word<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a title=\"Type an n-dash or m-dash on a tablet, iPhone or Android phone\" href=\"https:\/\/www.punctuationmatters.com\/n-dash-and-m-dash-on-iphone-smartphone-or-tablet\/\">Type an en-dash or em-dash on an iOS or Android phone (or tablet)<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.punctuationmatters.com\/en-dash-em-dash-hyphen\/\" class=\"button purchase\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Read More<\/a><br \/>\n Rubi Mcnaught<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The en dash is used inconsistently within lots of writing \u2013 regardless of how \u2018professional\u2019 the writers are. The hyphen, em dash and en dash are everywhere, but most of us don\u2019t know when or why to use them \u2013 and different writers use the dashes in different ways. Let\u2019s figure this out! What do<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":617012,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32801,33970,46],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-617011","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-matters","8":"category-punctuation","9":"category-technology"},"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/617011","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=617011"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/617011\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/617012"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=617011"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=617011"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=617011"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}