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Hyphen en dash em dash8/17/2023 Use a pair of em dashes to set off an appositive that contains commas. My entire trip -from the delayed takeoff to the bumpy landing-was an experience I would rather forget. My entire trip, from the delayed takeoff to the bumpy landing, was an experience I would rather forget. Parenthetical ideas can be set off by commas, but it can be helpful to use em dashes for emphasis. Nelson -who lives next door to me-is our new teacher. Nelson (who lives next door to me) is our new teacher. Use an em dash to set off parenthetical ideas that you want to emphasize. Note: In American style it is not necessary to put a space on either side of the em dash, but British style does require a space on either side. Remember not to overuse dashes: doing so can cause confusion or make your writing sound choppy. Using em dashes can be an excellent way to add emphasis to an idea (continue reading for more information). The em dash is more dramatic than traditional punctuation but also more informal. In formal writing, avoid using dashes unless they are really necessary. Using the em dash (or a pair of em dashes) to replace other marks is not always appropriate. It is also common to use a pair of em dashes to replace parentheses or a pair of commas. It is often used in place of colons or semicolons. I’ll stop us here, but if you’re interested in learning more about the wonderful world of dashes, I highly recommend checking out Chapter 6 in the Chicago Manual of Style.Definition: The em dash (sometimes just called a dash) is used to set off information from the rest of the sentence, and mimics or copycats other more formal punctuation marks. Em dashes can also serve as bullet points in any type of list. It also can stand in for something that is missing or left out, such as in a bibliography instead of repeating an author’s name over and over, for example, three em dashes can stand in for it, with the rest of the bibliographic information coming afterwards. First off, it serves as a way to insert a separate thought or phrase into a sentence-like this. (An open compound is made when an adjective and noun are combined to make a whole new noun, such as dining room, ice cream, full moon, etc.) So in the case of a phrase like “a living room–sized rug” or “a Brette Warshaw–style outfit,” you’d use an en-dash, since it’s doing the extra work of carrying an additional word along for the ride.įinally, an em dash has many jobs. An en dash is also used when a joint modifier-like the “fine dining” in “fine-dining restaurant”-contains an open compound or a many-worded proper noun. For example: it’d be a April–June issue of a magazine, or pages 50–55, or 5–6 tablespoons. The hyphen-the shortest of the bunch-connects what the Chicago Manual of Style describes as “two things that are intimately related, usually words that function together as a single concept or work together as a joint modifier.” Some examples include phrases like: one-third, father-in-law, and fine-dining restaurant.Įn dashes connect things that denote any sort of range, whether that’s in the form of distance, time, or amounts. Generally, their lengths are indicative of how much “work” they have to do-in other words, the types of things that they’re joining together. Today, we’re tackling one of the more delightful intricacies of the grammatical universe: the world of dashes.ĭashes come in three lengths: hyphens (-), en dashes (–), and em dashes (-).
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