Dashes (en – and em —) set off extra info, create emphasis, show ranges, or interrupt thoughts, unlike hyphens that join words. Use em dashes (—) for dramatic pauses or parenthetical info (like commas but stronger), replacing colons/semicolons; use en dashes (–) for ranges (80–90%) or connecting words. For digital text, an em dash is often typed as two hyphens (--).
Use dashes to mark the beginning and end of a series, which might otherwise get confused, with the rest of the sentence: Example: The three female characters—the wife, the nun, and the jockey—are the incarnation of excellence. Dashes are also used to mark the interruption of a sentence in dialogue: Example: “Help!
A dash is expressed as an "em dash" ( — ) in printing, is expressed in plain text as two hyphens ( -- ) and is used in place of a comma, colon or semicolon for greater emphasis. It denotes a major break or pause and should not be overused. President Dunn introduced the plan—the first of its kind—at a public forum.
To set off material for emphasis.
Think of dashes as the opposite of parentheses. Where parentheses indicate that the reader should put less emphasis on the enclosed material, dashes indicate that the reader should pay more attention to the material between the dashes.
She dashed down the hallway to the bathroom. People were dashing inside to get out of the rain. Her hopes of winning a medal were dashed after she broke her leg. I'm sorry, but I must dash.
Examples of Sentences Using Dashes
Here are some sentence examples to show you how a dash can be used in a sentence. My work timings are from 8–5. The trek will be organised from May 12–15. We know one thing for sure — something unexpected is coming our way.
Common Mistakes with the Dash and Hyphen
Common mistakes include confusing hyphens with dashes and spacing errors. Em dashes typically do not have spaces on either side, while en dashes do.
The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline.
The Hyphen
Dashes can be used to add parenthetical statements or comments in much the same way as you would use brackets. In formal writing you should use the bracket rather than the dash as a dash is considered less formal. Dashes can be used to create emphasis in a sentence.
Once used as the equivalent of the modern period and comma, the slash is now used to represent division and fractions, as a date separator, in between multiple alternative or related terms, and to indicate abbreviation.
There are three kinds of dashes: en dash, em dash, and double hyphen. The en dash and em dash appear frequently. While the double hyphen is found within some texts, its use is not as common as that of the en and em dash. En dashes (–) and em dashes (—) each have different functions.
How do you use a hyphen example?
Don't use an em dash in a sentence that already uses “advanced” punctuation. Commas? Sure. But packing an em dash into a sentence that already has a colon or semicolon is a sure sign that you're trying to do too much .
Using a single dash to show an after-thought can be used effectively for many different purposes. For example, to: Instruct: Pick up the pepper – the red one. Persuade: It's incredibly important to make changes – now!
You should not use hyphens:
Never hyphenate compounds including an adverb (generally, a word ending in 'ly'), whether attributive or predicative. 'carefully laid plans' not 'carefully-laid plans'.
Note that, unlike the words early, late, north, south, etc., the prefix mid- always requires a hyphen (except where it forms part of a single word, as in midnight):
10 Types of Hyphenation Errors
There are two types of dash. The en dash is approximately the length of the letter N, and the em dash the length of the letter M. The shorter en dash (–) is used to mark ranges and with the meaning “to” in phrases like “Dover–Calais crossing.”
Again, note that word `pair': in principle, at least, dashes come in pairs, though sometimes one of them is not written. (Remember that the same thing is true of bracketing commas, which set off weak interruptions.)
Begin a sentence with a capital letter. End each sentence with a period, question mark, or exclamation mark. Prioritize the active voice in most sentences. Use the passive voice, selectively, to deemphasize the subject.
Most Common Writing Mistakes
An em dash (—) is longer and is used like parentheses or commas to set off extra information or like a colon or semicolon to indicate a break in a sentence. For example: “My brother—well, technically my half-brother—is coming to visit this weekend.”