If we can trust grammar girl s thoroughness of search. A writers use of dashes hyphens, em dashes, and en dashes is one of the typographical elements that jump out at editors. Dashes, if used incorrectly, can actually confuse readers not just bother detailoriented editors. Dash gives you the freedom to move your money any way you want. When i first read this book, my first thought was oh great, another boring punctuation book.
Jan 01, 2014 the best punctuation book, period includes all that you need to know about punctuation. You have to use an em dash when crediting a quotation. Note that there should be no space around the en dash. Distinguishing among the three the hyphen is the shortest of the three and is used most commonly to combine words compounds such as wellbeing and advancedlevel, for example and to separate numbers that are not inclusive phone numbers and social security numbers, for example. Using the en dash to indicate spans of time or ranges of numbers. Emdashes are longer and more casual in use than the shorter en dash. This useful 48page ebook addresses the most commonly asked questions. Use to in time and date ranges not hyphens or en dashes.
Depending on the sentence, the emdash can have a similar function to parentheses, colons, commas, and even semicolons. Grammar girls quick and dirty tips for better writing by. Learn these names of vegetables and fruits to enhance your vocabulary words in english. The length of the em dash corresponds to the width of the letter m.
Grammar girl s quick and dirty tips for better writing book. Essentially, it is a form of pause punctuation that can take the place of a comma, a semicolon. The en dash is used to represent a span of time or dates, or a range of numbers. When using the hyphen, the en dash, or the em dash, mostbut not allstyle books advocate. The proper formatting of an em dash is a long dash with no spaces on either side.
An emdash is used to show a break in thoughtnot in velocitywithin a. To show how to wield this handy punctuation mark, ill start by comparing two sentences. As dashes do not feature on a standard keyboard, lots of people use hyphens instead of dashes. A fruit is the seedbearing structure in flowering plants formed from the ovary after flowering. Grammar girl xvii introduction xix 1grammar 1 finding subjects and verbs 1. The words after a colon define or clarify what came before the colon. En dash em dash 4 capitalization 70 beginning a sentence or quoted sentence proper nouns titles. An em dash is used as you indicated in your questionto separate out some information. In fact, an em is a typographical unit of measurement. How to climb the ladder of language formality dummies. Otherwise, you may find yourself guilty of making funny punctuation mistakes. The studentthe one dressed in black, sitting in the cornerlet out a cry. Apr 20, 2016 in microsoft word, doing this will automatically change the hyphen into an en dash. A quick guide to using colons, semicolons and dashes correctly will help you improve your grammatical precision and writing.
Punctuation marks are symbols that are used to aid the clarity and comprehension of written language. Dashes 68 en dash em dash 4 capitalization 70 beginning a sentence or quoted sentence proper nouns. So, you have a couple keystrokes to learn because en and em dashes are used quite a bit during the creation of normal copy. Explore our exciting new initiative to build a spanish dictionary and resources for spanish speakers and spanish learners. A dash is a horizontal line that shows a pause or break in meaning, or that represents missing words or letters. En dashes may look similar to em dashes, but they function in a much different way. It is useful and versatile, and too few writers make use of it. It is split into two parts, one of them explaining the uses for specific punctuation, and the other explaining punctuation for specific words. Mignon is the author of the new york times bestseller grammar girls quick and dirty tips for better writing and six other books on writing.
Use both sparingly and only when a comma cant do the job. The only problem with that statement is the definition of proper. En and em dashes and hyphens one thing editors do is to fuss with punctuation, especially dashes. Thats not really such a crime, but its something of a missed opportunity to show off that you know the difference between. Posted in grammar blip tagged book design, dash, em dash, en dash, grammar, hyphen, novel, punctuation, writing 7 responses to en dash vs. Hyphens, en dashes, em dashes the chicago manual of style. Home page for english grammar today on cambridge dictionary. You can use an em dash to credit a quote to someone. Simply paste or write your text below and click check my writing to get feedback on your writing. There used to be a real me, but i had it surgically removed. 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 called the long dash in most word processing programs as you continue typing. The en dash is often used to indicate spans of time or ranges of numbers. Generally speaking, the en dash is used to combine, connect, or set items into proportion.
The length of en and em dashes is no longer as clear cut as it may have been in the past. Learn more about the difference between em dashes and en dashes here. How to use ellipses grammar girl quick and dirty tips. In all of those circumstances, you would be using an en dash.
The grammar girl podcast has also won best education podcast multiple times in the podcast awards, and mignon is an inductee in the podcasting hall of fame. It was a great listen and im going to pick up a hard copy for quick. For example, em dashes are used when a parenthetical remark contains an internal comma or would otherwise sound awkward if enclosed by commas. The en and em dashes are so named because in the days of fixedtype printing presses, they were the width of the capital letter n and the capital letter m, respectively.
We use em dashes to add emphasis to the size of the car. 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. Hyphen, en dash, em dash the difference between the. When and how to use the dash, the en dash, and the em dash. But if the word from precedes the range, the en dash will not work, and it must be replaced by the. Dash simple english wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. The en dash is a symbol that is slightly wider than a hyphen.
Maybe its because of its diminutive size, but the apostrophe tends to be neglected and misused in equal measure. A common myth holds that the en dash is, in fact, the width of a typesetters letter n, whereas the em dash is the width of the letter mthus their names. It can be used as an appositive explanation or for emphasis. The em dash is the widest of the three dashesits the size of an uppercase m. Jan 12, 2018 articles with countable and uncountable nouns image 6 conclusion an article is a very important part of english grammar and how they are used always depends on the noun that they are referring to, unless that noun in being modified by an adjective, in this case the article will correspond with the adjective. It should be noted that dashes are almost never required by the rules of grammar and punctuation. Upon discovering the errors all 124 of them, the publisher immediately recalled the books. The em dash, em rule, or mutton is longer than an en dash. The most common versions of the dash are the en dash, longer than a hyphen.
Though en dashes and em dashes are sometimes confused or even used interchangeably, they have distinct purposes. The camp is a crowded and unfamiliar place, whose dusty floors, seemingly endless lines, and barbed wire fences begin to unravel the strong kashino family ties. Writing 4 unexpected places grammarly premium can help you write company announcing grammarlys investment in docugami company how our tone has shifted during the pandemic company supporting health, safety, and wellbeing during the covid19 outbreak how to 4 experts on communicating your mental health needs company announcing our free offering for nonprofits and ngos worldwide through 2020. Writing principles usagov platform style guide usagov.
The character is called an em dash because it is one em wide, a length that varies depending on the font size. Conventions for spacing vary among languages, and in some languages the spacing rules are complex. It is the indispensable reference for writers, editors, proofreaders, indexers, copywriters, designers, and publishers, informing the editorial canon with sound, definitive advice. Some common punctuation marks are the period, comma, question mark, exclamation point, apostrophe, quotation mark and hyphen. Drive at top speeds through streets all around the world. Insert the proper punctuation marks in the following sections. It is used for periods of time when you might otherwise use to examples. The following explanations offer the most common uses and methods for forming these dashes. I am talking about the emdash, which looks like two hyphens connected into one long line. Do you think you have the hyphen, en dash, and em dash under control.
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 is longer than a hyphen but shorter than an em dash. The dash is a punctuation mark that is usually written in the middle of a line of text. Getting started is simple download grammarlys extension today. It is used for periods of time when you might otherwise use to. So in 9point type, an em dash is nine points wide, while in 24point type the em. The best punctuation book, period by june casagrande. To join words like ecofriendly or timesensitive, use a hyphen. This useful 48page ebook addresses the most commonly asked questions regarding punctuation. In most windows programs, you can simply type 2 hyphens and an em dash will be substituted for you. Many gradations of formality exist, but to make things easier, divide english into three large categories. They are not hyphens, as any competent designer or copy editor will tell you but just like hyphens, en dashes and em dashes make reading easierif you use them properly, that is. Grammar girl xvii introduction xix 1grammar 1 finding subjects and verbs 1 finding verbs.
In modern fonts, the length of the en dash is not standardized. Dash definition in the cambridge english dictionary. Millions trust grammarlys free writing app to make their online writing clear and effective. While, vegetables are certain parts of plants that are consumed by humans as food such as peas. En dash this dash is slightly longer than a hyphen but is still smaller than an em. On the mac and iphone for instance, holding down the hyphen key gives a popup with multiple dash options including the em dash and en dash. Punctuation semicolons, colons, parentheses, dash, brackets, underlining italics, and hyphens worksheet directions. Em dashes set apart parenthetical phrases or clauses in a sentence. Em dashthats the long dash, and as grammarist says, em dashes set apart parenthetical phrases or clauses in a sentence. The two main uses of en dashes are to indicate number ranges and to act as a kind of superhyphen for compound modifiers. The em dash is the same length as the character m uppercase, and the en dash is same length as the letter n lowercase.
You might have relatives aged 252, or a flight to catch from austindetroit, or a baseball game that your team wins 42. And the government worked fastinternet timeto launch it and to keep it. Daily tips for successful writing from grammar girl. 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. Grammar girls quick and dirty tips for better writing by mignon. Dashes are used to separate two words into statements. For example, 10point is the normal point size for book publishers body copy. The following tables list commands that you can use with speech recognition. In writing, a space is a blank area that separates words, sentences, syllables in syllabification and other written or printed glyphs characters. En dash definition is a dash that is onehalf the length of an em dash.
Its a littleknown fact that dashes come in different sizes. Many modern word processors will automatically insert an em dash when you type a pair of hyphens. Iea style guide international association for the evaluation of. The em dash is perhaps the most versatile punctuation mark. Language has many levels of formality, all of which are proper at times and completely unsuitable at others. The en dash is not interchangeable with the hyphen. The en dash is slightly longer than the hyphen but not as long as the em dash. Note that dashes are rather informal and should be used carefully in writing. Dashes are often used informally instead of commas, colons and brackets. Style refers to the forms of spelling, grammar, punctuation, and other elements of. A hyphen is sometimes called a dash, but it is used differently. If you are uncertain how to insert an en dash symbol, you can use a hyphen instead. This book is a distillation of the same accessible and nonjudgmental guide to language usage.
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. Dont replace the second emdash as some tend to with a comma or semicolon. In this use, em dashes are similar to commas and parentheses, but there are subtle differences. How to write fiction em dashes en dashes and hyphens. Insert, symbol and then selecting the dash you require. In general, the use of the em dash to provide additional information is used when the information is surprising, or the. En dashes are longer than a hyphen but shorter than a regular or em dash. There are many uses of the en and em dash and also many ways to form these dashes using your computer.
An en dash, roughly the width of an n, is a little longer than a hyphen. Mignon fogarty, author of grammar girl s quick and dirty tips for better writing invaluable reference work for professional proofreaders, editors, and writers because it is the only book that presents chicago, ap, apa, and mla conventions side by side. There are two kinds of dashes, the en dash, and the em dash long dash. One of my favorite old grammar books, titled punctuate it right, has a. Depending on the context, the em dash can take the place of commas, parentheses. The chicago manual of style online is the venerable, timetested guide to style, usage, and grammar in an accessible online format. Jan 22, 2019 windows speech recognition lets you control your pc by voice alone, without needing a keyboard or mouse. If you are using a typewriter, a pair of hyphens is the closest you can get to an em dash. Mignot fogarty, better known as grammar girl provides the public with an accessible reference on punctuation. Dashes replace otherwise mandatory punctuation, such as the commas after iowa and 20 in the following examples without dash. The blue book of grammar and punctuation an easytouse guide with clear rules, realworld examples. Dont leave the two hyphens if they dont merge to form the em dash. The may 1, 20, edition of the ames sentinel arrived in june. Recall that en dashes are slightly shorter in length than em dashes.
Within links one space is added on either side of the en dash for ease of reading. 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. To replace a colon, for instance, compare these sentences. Date spans december 1011, 2015 use emdashes instead of hyphens. We should learn languages because language is the only thing worth knowing. The en dash, n dash, nrule, or nut is traditionally half the width of an em dash. Most people use the hyphen only, and most of the time thats fine when blogging. Notwithstanding its versatility, the em dash is best limited to two appearances per sentence.
A colon informs readers that something more is coming along. Bishop fox cybersecurity style guide pdf, free download how do you pronounce ascii and. An em dash is longer than an en dash and three times as long as a hyphen. It can add a spiceor a dash, if you willto a sentence by adding emphasis to certain words and phrases. One em is the same length as the fonts height which is typically measured in points. A space is used before and after the endash when used in literary copy. Its an em dash before peter sellers, and an en dash between 1925 and 1980. We use an em dash, the longer dash, a different way. May 30, 2019 the dash is a mark of punctuation used to set off a word or phrase after an independent clause or a parenthetical remark words, phrases, or clauses that interrupt a sentence. The en dash en dash is the slightly wider brother of the hyphen, yet it is narrower than the em dash. Spaniards actually have a bit of a hard time when learning those alternative uses in english precisely because of that. Depending on the sentence, the emdash can have a similar function to parentheses. The en dash is used when connecting ranges, and it replaces to in those ranges.
The en dash is used between equal weighted words in a compound adjective. Online sensation grammar girl makes grammar fun and easy in this new york times bestseller. Most folks know about the hyphen, but fewer are familiar with the em dash and the en dash. App downloads for android download, discover, share on uptodown. Grammar and punctuation the blue book of grammar and. A dashing young man is certainly not an ordinary young man, and if. The en dash and em dash are marks of punctuation that have specific uses. Use spaced em dashes instead of en dashes to break up sentences. Dashes versus colons grammar girl quick and dirty tips.
Thousands of childrenlike the girl in this photographhave been left homeless. Both of these can be found by on ms word by going to. The difference between the hyphen, the em dash, and the en dash. An endash is also used in numerical series as in from tentwenty pieces. Jun 10, 2010 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. Depending on the context, the em dash can take the place of commas, parentheses, or colons. Mignon fogarty, author of grammar girls quick and dirty tips for better writing invaluable reference work for professional proofreaders, editors, and writers because it is the only book that presents chicago, ap, apa, and mla conventions side by side. Jan 01, 2008 to the delight of word nerds everywhere, grammar girl s quick and dirty tips for better writing came out yesterday. En dashes show ranges of numbers or time and reads as to or through, like chapters 38 or from mayseptember. The following is from wikipedia, but there are several other sources with similar information. Apr 04, 2011 dash a mark of punctuation, technically known as an em dash, used to set off a word or phrase after an independent clause or to set off words, phrases, or clauses that interrupt a sentence. The two hobbies before the colon are defined after the colon as cooking and bothering aardvark a dash also introduces extra material, but, well, a dash is quite a dramatic punctuation mark.