How To Use Long Dashes In Writing

As one commentator has noted dashes in her work are either long or short.
How to use long dashes in writing. Dashes are used to separate groups of words not to separate parts of words like a hyphen does. The most common types of dashes are the en dash and the em dash. Here are some examples. Use a longer em dash to join independent clauses with words like and but as or and for. You can use these dashes in your writing to signify breaks dialogue and much more.
Em dash symbol em dash alt code. Note that dashes are rather informal and should be used carefully in writing. Note that if you use colons this way too often it can break up the flow of your writing. The two most common dashes are the en dash and the em dash. It s longer than a hyphen and is commonly used to indicate a range or a pause.
A good way to remember the difference between these two dashes is to visualize the en dash as the length of the letter n and the em dash as the length of the letter m. This is a punctuation lesson on using dashes. Do not confuse a dash with a hyphen which is shorter. Em dash other names. When a sentence begins with an independent clause and ends with a list you can use a colon between the clause and the list.
A dash may or may not have a space on either side of it. Place em dashes around non essential information or a list in the middle of a sentence like you would with commas. They are named as such because the en dash is as long as a lowercase n and an em dash is as long as an uppercase m. Dashes are used to extend a sentence to replace colons semicolons or three dots. There are three forms of dashes.
Use an em dash to bring focus to a list. Dashes can also be used as parenthesis. So don t get carried away with your colons. After we buy toenail clippers the dinosaur in that exhibit could use a trim you know we ll stop at the doughnut shop. Both sentences should be complete and their content should be very closely related.