How To Use Long Dashes

A colon can be used immediately after the greeting in a formal letter less formal letters tend to use a comma in this location.

How to use long dashes. The long dash is the widest of the three horizontal marks that may be used in the middle of a sentence. To whom it may concern. To properly use a dash in an english sentence start by identifying which dash you should use. An em dash also called a long dash or thick dash is approximately the width of the letter m which is where it earns its name. Use a longer em dash to join independent clauses with words like and but as or and for.

Place em dashes around non essential information or a list in the middle of a sentence like you would with commas. An em dash can replace commas parentheses and colons. Em dash symbol em dash alt code. Long dashes in writing. Conversely use a shorter en dash to indicate a range of numbers like 10 15.

Please accept my application for the position advertised in the news and observer. A dash is a little horizontal line that floats in the middle of a line of text not at the bottom. 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. Thousands of children like the girl in this photograph have been left homeless. Em dash shortcut windows ctrl alt minus on numeric keypad em dash shortcut mac command m.

Here are some examples. The hyphen the shortest of the three marks is familiar sometimes wretchedly so to most writers. Em dash other names. What is an em dash and when should you use it. Dashes are often used to signal an abrupt change in a sentence.

Dashes are used to separate groups of words not to separate parts of words like a hyphen does. Here are some different situations when you can use an em dash. So is the em dash more often called the long dash or sometimes just the dash. How to use an em dash an em dash or long dash is used. Typically you shouldn t include a space before or after the em dash.