Back by popular demand, let’s continue our conversation about hyphens and dashes. Oh, you know you’re excited. I was, anyhow, when last week’s blog prompted multiple requests for more.
Did you know that there are multiple lengths of dashes and different uses for these lengths? There are three basic marks to be aware of:
- The hyphen (-),
- The en dash (–), and
- The em dash (—)
I know, I just blew your mind.
Each of these marks has a different function.
- The hyphen connects closely related words, such as “merry-go-round” or a “devil-may-care” attitude. (This will be elaborated upon in a future post)
- The en dash is used with ranges, commonly dates or page numbers. For example, January – April 2014 or pages 2 – 57. Notice there is a space before and after these dashes. This is present because 1) AP style dictates it to be so, and 2) that’s how Microsoft Word allows you to make this dash. For those of you not writing press releases, keep in mind most other style guides recommend that you remove these spaces.
- The em dash is used pretty much everywhere else you want to make a dash—adding additional thoughts into sentences in a way similar to parenthesis is one of them. It also is the proper dash to use for interrupted speech in dialogue. For example: “How are—” “You’ve got to be kidding me!” Note, according to most style books, except the dear old AP, the em dash has no spaces on either side of it either.
People are very opinionated about dashes—when to use them, when they’re over-used, and when they’re out of season Labor Day–Memorial Day (okay, maybe that last one’s a stretch, but I had to get all three forms in there).
What do you think? Do you have any lingering dash or hyphen questions?
Image courtesy of Idea go / FreeDigitalPhotos.net