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Dashes

There are many uses of the en and em dash and also many ways to form these dashes using your computer. The following explanations offer the most common uses and methods for forming these dashes.

En Dash: An en dash, roughly the width of an n, is a little longer than a hyphen. It is used for periods of time when you might otherwise use to.

Examples:
The years 2001–2003
January–June

An en dash is also used in place of a hyphen when combining open compounds.

Examples:
North Carolina–Virginia border
a high school–college conference

To form an en dash with most PCs, type the first number or word, then hold down the ALT key while typing 0150 on the numerical pad on the right side of your keyboard. Then type the second number or word.

To form an en dash with most laptops, type the first number or word, then hold down the Fn and Ctrl keys while depressing the semicolon/colon key. Then type the second number or word.

Most authorities recommend using no spaces before or after en or em dashes.

Em Dash: An em dash is the width of an m. Use an em dash sparingly in formal writing. In informal writing, em dashes may replace commas, semicolons, colons, and parentheses to indicate added emphasis, an interruption, or an abrupt change of thought.

Examples:
You are the friend—the only friend—who offered to help me.

Never have I met such a lovely person—before you.

I pay the bills—she has all the fun.
A semicolon would be used here in formal writing.

I need three items at the store—dog food, vegetarian chili, and cheddar cheese.
Remember, a colon would be used here in formal writing.

My agreement with Fiona is clear—she teaches me French and I teach her German.
Again, a colon would work here in formal writing.

Please call my agent—Jessica Cohen—about hiring me.
Parentheses or commas would work just fine here instead of the dashes.

I wish you would—oh, never mind.
This shows an abrupt change in thought and warrants an em dash.

To form an em dash on most PCs, type the first word, then hold down the ALT key while typing 0151 on the numerical pad on the right side of your keyboard. Then type the second word. You may also form an em dash by typing the first word, hitting the hyphen key twice, and then typing the second word. Your program will turn the two hyphens into an em dash for you.

While there are many more possible uses of the em dash, by not providing additional rules, I am hoping to curb your temptation to employ this convenient but overused punctuation mark.

Pop Quiz

Which type of dash, an en dash or an em dash, should be used in each of the following sentences?

1. Alberto attended the University of Colorado from 1981-1985.

2. I never thought I’d settle down-until I met you.

3. Kansas City straddles the Kansas-Missouri border.

Pop Quiz Answers

1. Alberto attended the University of Colorado from 1981–1985. En dash

2. I never thought I’d settle down—until I met you. Em dash

3. Kansas City straddles the Kansas–Missouri border. En dash

Posted on Tuesday, June 2nd, 2009, at 9:31 am

4 Comments

4 Responses to “Dashes”

  1. Gordon says:
    April 26, 2012 at 10:14 am

    Dear Jane Straus Grammarbook
    Thank you for continuing to send me your newsletter.
    Just a suggestion.
    In your most recent newsletter relating to parentheses you give the following example:

    Example: He finally answered–after taking five minutes to think–that he did not understand the question.

    In my view there should be spaces before and after each Em dash. This avoids the possibility of confusing the Em dashes with hyphens,

    The example should read:

    Example: He finally answered – after taking five minutes to think – that he did not understand the question.

    I hope you find this suggestion constructive.

    Reply
    • Jane says:
      April 26, 2012 at 10:22 am

      Interestingly enough, we do have an error there but not the one you mention. One other alert reader noticed that we used an en dash instead of an em dash. We have corrected this in our Grammar Blog section of our website and will run a “Correction” alert in next week’s newsletter. Most authorities recommend using no spaces before or after en or em dashes.

      The difference between the two dashes is subtle, but noticeable. I hope that this looks better:
      He finally answered—after taking five minutes to think—that he did not understand the question.
      THAN
      He finally answered–after taking five minutes to think–that he did not understand the question.

      Reply
  2. Lars says:
    January 12, 2013 at 7:55 am

    In your section on dashes, you say that an em dash is the length of an “m”;
    in fact, it is the length of an “M.”

    Reply
    • Jane says:
      January 12, 2013 at 7:57 am

      The length of en and em dashes is no longer as clear cut as it may have been in the past. The following is from Wikipedia, but there are several other sources with similar information:

      The en dash, n dash, n-rule, or “nut” (–) is traditionally half the width of an em dash. In modern fonts, the length of the en dash is not standardized, and the en dash is often more than half the width of the em dash. The widths of en and em dashes have also been specified as being equal to those of the upper-case letters N and M respectively, and at other times to the widths of the lower-case letters.

      Reply

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