How To Properly Use Dashes In Writing

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How to properly use dashes in writing. In practice many people use hyphens where they need to use dashes. Revised on february 11 2020. They can be used on their own or in pairs to offset a word or phrase. The en dash may also be used to indicate a connection between two words. This handout explains the most common uses of three kinds of punctuation.

Long dashes in writing. Using the en dash to denote a connection. Em dashes and en dashes vs published on may 31 2019 by amy luo. Here s a hyphen and here s a dash most of us don t normally type out a dash. The two most common dashes are the em dash and the en dash.

What s the difference between a hyphen and a dash. There are three types of dashes in writing used to convey different ideas in an engaging way. The en dash is approximately the length of the letter n and the em dash the length of the letter m. A long dash s primary job is to tell the reader that you ve jumped tracks onto a new though related subject just for a moment. But if you learn how to type dashes correctly it will add a more professional feel to anything you write.

Use a longer em dash to join independent clauses with words like and but as or and for. To properly use a dash in an english sentence start by identifying which dash you should use. When the dash is used in this way it creates a compound adjective. Semicolons colons and dashes. After reading the handout you will be better able to decide when to use these forms of punctuation in your own writing.

The shorter en dash is used to mark ranges. Place em dashes around non essential information or a list in the middle of a sentence like you would with commas. So what s the difference. The big daddy of dashes the em dash is generally twice as long again as the en dash. The sure fire way of creating an em dash is to use alt and 0151 on the numeric keypad.