What is the difference between dashes and hyphens, and how should they be used?
The hyphens and dashes used in English writing are often used inconsistently, regardless of whether the writer is a professional or not. Mister Punctual, a blog that posts articles about punctuation and grammar, explains what the correct usage of each is and how to use them properly.
How to use the en dash, em dash and hyphen (also ndash, mdash)
Both hyphens and dashes are symbols similar to Japanese macrons, and even within dashes there is a short 'en dash' and a long 'em dash'. The display may look different depending on the settings and fonts of the smartphone / PC, but basically it looks like the image below.
In addition, Mister Punctual shows the difference more clearly by zooming in and comparing. Looking at the image below, the hyphen is the shortest, the en dash is twice as long as the hyphen, and the em dash is as long as the macron symbol.
The difference between the en-dash and the em-dash is their length. The en-dash is about the same width as a capital letter N in
Mister Punctual explains how to use hyphens, en-dashes, and em-dashes with example sentences as follows.
·hyphen
Hyphens are used to ``indicate breaks in words that wrap at the end of the line'', ``create compound words like mass-produced'', and ``connect grouped numbers like telephone numbers''.
・ en dash
It is used to indicate a range of numbers such as '1993-99' or 'pages 32-37', and has the same role as '~' in Japanese descriptions 'July to October 2010'. In addition, there are other cases where 'how to use beyond the rules' is done.
・em dash
It is used as a more effective symbol than a comma to separate supplements from the main clause of a sentence. In the example below, the adversative phrase 'not for art or pleasure' is separated from the main clause, 'Writing for money can be really fun' with an em dash. The same meaning can be expressed with a comma (,), but the use of the em dash has the effect of emphasizing the main clause.
Sometimes writing for money—rather than for art or pleasure—is really quite enjoyable.
There are also examples of emphasizing additional thoughts or opinions separate from the main clause. The following sentence is the main clause by adding the emotional opinion 'Is there anything else you can do?' It produces an effect that appeals to the clause.
I can't believe how pedantic Ken is about writing—doesn't he have anything better to do?
In addition, as in the example below, it is also used when the conversation is interrupted.
“I reached in and pulled the spray can out of my backpack—”“In front of the police?”
As an old-fashioned usage of em dash, if a letter is missing from a word, it seems that there is also a use to 'insert two m dashes in the missing letter'. It can be used to cover up expressions that are missing in the reported text or that use inappropriate language.
“Using dashes is a bit of an ad——n [addiction?]”, said Jennifer.
When writing formal documents and publications, it is best to use dashes correctly, but in magazines and web media, the appearance of 'space, en dash, space' is often preferred, and the em dash is Sometimes it is avoided as 'long horizontal bars look clumsy'. Mr. Ken Thomas, who runs Mister Punctual, actually uses 'space en dash space' instead of em dash when interacting with customers as a marketing person or when interacting with politicians as a manager. It seems that you may use .
I use 'space-n-dash-space' instead of the em-dash – just to keep everyone happy.
Therefore, Mr. Thomas said, ``It is not a big problem to choose between the en dash and the em dash. Even if you use a different method than the formal rule, if you use it consistently and seems to be the choice that makes the most people happy.” However, he adds that using two hyphens instead of em dashes is fine for messages exchanged with friends and family, but should not be used for formal writing or papers.
In addition, Mr. Thomas explains, ``Trivia about dashes for sentence geeks,'' ``Why can't even highly educated people use dashes correctly?'' According to Mr. Thomas, the difference in types of dashes dates back to the era of letterpress printing , and the size of the letterpress used for printing in letterpress printing is close to a capital letter N is called an en dash, and the one close to an M is called an em dash. I was.
After that, in the era of typewriters, there was only a hyphen on the popular typewriter keyboard, and there were no en dash or em dash keys, so there was no choice but to roughly substitute other symbols. On the other hand, printed materials such as books and magazines always used the correct dash, so it is thought that there was confusion about the correct usage. The basic PC keyboard also has only hyphen keys, but by converting symbols, you can use en dash and em dash properly, and writing software such as Microsoft Word also provides conversion assistance to correctly use symbols properly. so it helps if you want to write formal sentences.
The en dash and em dash are sometimes called 'en rule' and 'em rule'. Mr. Thomas said, 'It's not a rule like'law'or'rule', but a'rule'or'a straight thing','he repeatedly said that consistency is more important than sticking to how to use it. I'm here.
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