Apr 24, 2009 a dash interrupts the flow of the sentence and tells the reader to get ready for some important or dramatic statement. The chicago manual of style online is the venerable, timetested guide to style, usage, and grammar in an accessible online format. En dash, em dash, figure dash and hyphen englishlanguage books hyphen or no hyphen. Ten grammar rules every writer should know writing forward. Grammar girls quick and dirty tips for better writing by. Using a typewriter, you had to use two dashes for the mdash and spacehyphenspace as a rough replacement for the ndash. The em dash serves an entirely different function than the hyphen and en dash, which i described in the previous blog. The proper formatting of an em dash is a long dash with no spaces on either side. When using the em dash and the en dash you should not leave any spaces between the punctuation and the next word. Depending on the context, the em dash can take the place of commas, parentheses, or colons. I see it every day in my commercial copy editing work. And when you do, place them around the interruption and outside the quotation marks of the dialogue.
The 3em dash which is the width of three ms in the corresponding font most frequently appears in a bibliography when an authors name is cited more than once. Correct em dash formation for ebooks and what about the. The two common dashes are the en dash and the em dash. The two main uses of en dashes are to indicate number ranges and to act as a kind of superhyphen. Use an em dash to indicate a sharp change in tone or subject within speech. Em dashes set apart parenthetical phrases or clauses in a sentence. If you are uncertain how to insert an en dash symbol, you can use a hyphen instead. Long dash vs short dash vs hyphen when to use what. Dashes replace otherwise mandatory punctuation, such as the commas after iowa and 20 in the following examples without 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. Find out when to use dashes and when to use colons with grammar. A hyphen has its own special use to be talked about in a later column. When using the hyphen, the en dash, or the em dash, mostbut not all style books advocate putting space neither before nor after them. Dashes are usually used to set off information that would be in. If you find yourself wanting to throw in a little extra information about a noun in a particular sentence and are not sure whether the parentheses or the emdash is the way to go, read the sentence out loud. Em dash that s the long dash, and as grammarist says, em dashes set apart parenthetical phrases or clauses in a sentence. Dashes versus colons grammar girl quick and dirty tips. Its alphabetical cousin, the en dash, is about the same width as the letter n. It can add a spiceor a dash, if you willto a sentence by adding emphasis to certain words and phrases. Learn more about the difference between em dashes and en dashes here. But in books, magazines and other proper printing, typesetters always. When to use are vs is with useful examples 7 e s l. Specifically, the en dash is used when signifying a range of.
The may 1, 20, edition of the ames sentinel arrived in june. The two hobbies before the colon are defined after the. How to match your message to the situation dummies. In fact, dashes are different from hyphens, and they have a variety of forms. The two main uses of en dashes are to indicate number ranges and to act as a kind of superhyphen for compound modifiers. Jul 22, 2016 the 10 most common errors made by writers and how to fix them the seventh of a tenpart series. The emdash allows you to temporarily break off, then get back on track. If you begin a line with an em dash or ellipsis, the only reason you would insert a space before is to drive your editor nuts. Collective nouns like team making them agree one of my sisters recently got into a debate with coworkers over a grammar issue and emailed me to ask about it.
Later, in the days of the typewriter, there was only the hyphen. You could write the sentence a different way, of course, im heading. Essentially, it is a form of pause punctuation that can take the place of a comma, a. In the period of about 10 minutes it has the power to make you stop and reevaluate your entire life, what you hold important, what your priorities are, what you have done. Today ill explain the difference between dashes, commas, and parentheses. Stever robbins, the host of the getitdone guy podcast, has been writing a book, and. There are two kinds of dashes, the en dash, and the em dash long dash. As you can see, the em dash is the longest of the three, and roughly the width of the letter m, which is how it got its name. Written with the wit, warmth, and accessibility that the podcasts are known for, grammar girl s quick and dirty tips for better writing covers the grammar rules and wordchoice guidelines that can confound even the best writers. The character is called an em dash because it is one em wide, a length that varies depending on the font size.
A writers use of dashes hyphens, em dashes, and en dashes is one of the typographical elements that. The parakeets had gotten loose and were trashing sharons housethat is, until the cat wandered in. Brackets, dashes, ellipses, hyphens grammar and punctuation. The dash, also called the em dash, is the long horizontal bar, much longer than a hyphen. You can use two dashes in the middle of a sentence for anecdotal or parenthetical purposes, which i will address later, but you can also use a single dash in a similar way to how you would use a colon. Jan 29, 2015 writers in business contexts often appear clueless when using ampersands, and they frequently get ampersand usage wrong. Dont replace the second emdash as some tend to with a comma or semicolon.
Figuratively speaking, the hyphen pulled the short end of the stick. The em dash is the widest brother of both the hyphen and the en dash. It is the indispensable reference for writers, editors, proofreaders, indexers, copywriters, designers, and publishers, informing the editorial canon with sound, definitive advice. Hyphens, em dashes, en dasheseverything you need to know. In this sentence you could use a comma, a dash, or a colon. Sep 15, 2016 heres a good strategy to use when trying to decide whether to use emdashes or parentheses in your writing. Oct 02, 2019 the em dash, on the other hand, is a colorful punctuation mark it can be used to make a strong point. Compound terms are those that consist of more than one word but represent a single item or idea. Emdashes allow you to veer off in a different but relevant direction, then return to the initial sentence purpose.
Britishcanadian style guides seem wildly inconsistent on the issue of the em and en dash. One em is the same length as the fonts height which is typically measured in points. Notwithstanding its versatility, the em dash is best limited to two appearances per sentence. For example, em dashes are used when a parenthetical remark contains an internal comma or would otherwise sound awkward if enclosed by commas. We use an em dash, the longer dash, a different way. The en dash is a symbol that is slightly wider than a hyphen. Specifically, the en dash is used when signifying a range of numbers or other values. When and how to use the dash, the en dash, and the em dash. The em dash is the length of a lower case letter m and the en dash is the length of the letter n. Em dashes are often used to set off parenthetical information. When youre listening or reading, you probably note the difference between formal and informal language constantly maybe unconsciously. The en dash is a bit shorter than the em dash and serves a vastly different purpose when it comes to punctuation rules.
In most american print and ebooks, correct em dash formation is done by using two hyphens with no spacing, which then becomes an em dash also. The hyphen is also used for word division, which is briefly explained here. In microsoft word, the en dash is created between alphanumeric characters by entering a space, two strokes of the dash key, and then another space. En dash definition of en dash by the free dictionary. And yes, the en dash is named because its the width of the letter n. The dash is a punctuation mark that is similar in appearance to the hyphen and minus sign but differs from these symbols in length and, in some fonts, height above the baseline. Dash, by kirby larson, tells the story of mitsi, a young japanese american girl, who is taken to live in an internment camp with her family after the bombing of pearl harbor. Sep, 2011 a colon announces that something special is about to appear. A book designers take aug 01 2011 posted by mary elizabeth summer i am overthemoon ecstatic to present my first ever guest post by a good friend of mine and expert book. Its quite janitorial in nature, but i suppose much of editing is. En dashes dashes that are the width of the character n have.
Few keyboards have a dash, but a word processor can usually produce one in one way or another. For most writers, the hyphens primary function is the formation of certain compound terms. Repeat listings by that same author feature a 3em dash rather than the authors name again. Make sure youre using adverbs to modify verbs and adjectives to modify nouns. It is useful and versatile, and too few writers make use of it. Some grammar rules are learnt in elementary schools, and yet they still cause a lot of confusion for many english speakers. Its also important that when you set off a phrase using em dashes that you used one emdash immediately after the noun the phrase is describing and one immediately after the phrase. A hyphen is a standard key on the keyboard of a computer. When to use a hyphen, an en dash or an em dash pr daily. To replace a colon, for instance, compare these sentences. The ndash is most often used to connect numbers, and in that context means up to and including or through e. The comma is great for describing, listing, and linking clauses, but it is easy for commas. En and em dashes and hyphens one thing editors do is to fuss with punctuation, especially dashes.
Guide to grammar and punctuation with 20 resources to help. Dashes, colons, and commas grammar girl quick and dirty tips. If you added a dash to the hobbies sentence it would conceptually read something like this. Its longer than a hyphen and is commonly used to indicate a range or a pause. But, as world war ii rages and people of japanese descent are forced into internment camps, mitsi is separated from dash, her classmates, and life as she knows it. Here youll find current best sellers in books, new releases in books, deals in books, kindle ebooks, audible audiobooks, and so much more.
There are two similar but distinct punctuation marks called dashes. The ndash denotes 1 anything related by distance, and 2 to bridge open compounds. Em dashthats the long dash, and as grammarist says, em dashes set apart parenthetical phrases or clauses in a sentence. When typing, putting two hyphens together, with no spaces before or after, creates a dash. Dashes replace otherwise mandatory punctuation, such as the commas after iowa and 20 in the following examples. A quick guide to using colons, semicolons and dashes correctly will help you improve your grammatical precision and writing. The books homepage helps you explore earths biggest bookstore without ever leaving the comfort of your couch. Written with the wit, warmth, and accessibility that the podcasts are known for, grammar girl s quick and dirty tips for better writing covers the grammar rules and wordchoice guidelines that.
So in 9point type, an em dash is nine points wide, while in 24point type the em. Likewise, if the author types two hyphens to represent an em dash, the double hyphen will be converted to a proper em dash. A dash is a little horizontal line that floats in the middle of a line of text not at the bottom. An em dash is longer than an en dash and three times as long as a hyphen. Where the hyphen and en dash are used to join text, the em dash is used to.
Never use a hyphen in place of an en dash or an em dash. In the eleventh edition of the blue book of grammar and punctuation february 2014, and on our website. A colon informs readers that something more is coming along. I may have pondered i may still be pondering what it really means to be truly happy. Find out whether you need spaces on either side of an emdash. Thousands of childrenlike the girl in this photographhave been left homeless. The double em dash is used to indicate missing letters in a word, either because the material is missing or illegible, or to conceal a name. An em dash, or long dash, is used in pairs, to mark off information or ideas that are not essential to an understanding of the rest of the sentence. It can be helpful, when reading or writing, to think of the word to when you see or use an en dash. Use em dashes to set off parenthetical information.
The em dash, em rule, or mutton is longer than an en dash. To show how to wield this handy punctuation mark, ill start by comparing two sentences. The publication manual shows specific uses for hyphens, en dashes, and em dashes. The words after a colon define or clarify what came before the colon. Mar 10, 2018 later, in the days of the typewriter, there was only the hyphen. It is very versatile as it can replace several punctuation marks like commas, colons, or parentheses in different contexts. This might happen because certain words are misused in popular songs, movies, and tvshows, and everyone who listens to this music or watches these films cannot help getting confused occasionally. Now, not to confuse you but to show a true exception to the rule, a dialogue tag can interrupt a sentence of dialogue.
People sometimes use the terms hyphen and dash interchangeably, but theres a subtle distinction. If we can trust grammar girl s thoroughness of search, then her advice is sound every style guide i checked, except the ap stylebook, stated there should be no spaces between an emdash and the. Dashes, colons, and commas can change the way your sentences feel. Dashes are used to separate groups of words, not to separate parts of words like a hyphen does. The triple em dash is used to indicate missing words. Once upon a time, a girl named goldilocks was walking through the forest and she came across a house that belonged to three types of dash. When we hear the term dash, most of us picture the em dash. The first contained an em dash the width of the letter m, and also known as the long dash.
The em dash, often simply called the dash, is the most commonly used and most versatile of the dashes. Mignon fogarty is the founder of quick and dirty tips and the author of seven books on language, including the new york times bestseller grammar girls quick and dirty tips for better writing. If youre writing for a newspaper, magazine, or website that uses associated. Dashes can render sentences breathlessly hyperactive, sillyor just downright messy. Some say to use the en dash instead of the em dash, while others go so far as to advocate using the hyphen, advice that would lead to confusion for readers, as we have noted above.
A good rule of thumb is to reserve em dashes for those places where the comma simply doesnt provide a strong enough break. We use em dashes to add emphasis to the size of the car. Writers love em dashes as much as hunters love swiss army knives. Its a minefield and wed rather leave this matter to the printers. A colon announces that something special is about to appear. You also need to decide what level of formality to employ when youre speaking and writing.
She is an inductee in the podcasting hall of fame, and the show is a fivetime winner of best education podcast in the podcast awards. In this use, em dashes are similar to commas and parentheses, but there are subtle differences. Em dashes draw attention to the information they enclose or set apart. The em dash is perhaps the most versatile punctuation mark. Hyphens, en dashes, em dashes the chicago manual of style.
The executive director of national novel writing month reflects on the dash. Jan 01, 2008 to the delight of word nerds everywhere, grammar girl s quick and dirty tips for better writing came out yesterday. How to use the hyphen, en dash and em dash ndash mdash, n. By convention we allow dialogue tags preceded and followed by a comma to interrupt an independent clause. How to write fiction em dashes en dashes and hyphens. If you have grammar topics youd like to see covered, please leave a comment about it. It would be a better choice if that sentence were part of a mystery novel where aardvark has been. As grammar girl mignon fogarty so astutely put it, the dash is the yowl of a pirate dashing. I am talking about the emdash, which looks like two hyphens connected into one. The em dash is the widest of the three dashesits the size of an uppercase m. Collective nouns like team making them agree grammar. Oct 31, 2014 use an em dash if the speakers able to complete a word, but someone or something stops them before they finish their thought. In fact, dashes are different from hyphens, and they have a variety of.
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