Punctuation: Hyphen and Dash (2024)

FAQs

What is the rule for dashes and hyphens? ›

Quick Usage Guideline

Em dashes are longer (—), so they are used between phrases or clauses (groups of words). Hyphens are shorter (-), so they are only used between prefixes and words to make compound words such as self- esteem. Of these three marks of punctuation, the en dash is used the least frequently.

Expert-Verified Answer

A dash should be used to join prefixes and suffixes, provide additional information, and join complete sentences together.

They are used to create a slight sense of drama or suspense. Grammatically, this use is more or less interchangeable with #2: a full, standalone sentence must come before the dash, but either a sentence or a fragment can follow.

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 hyphen joins two or more words together while a dash separates words into parenthetical statements. The two are sometimes confused because they look so similar, but their usage is different. Hyphens are not separated by spaces, while a dash has a space on either side.

When the combination of words is used after the noun, do not hyphenate the words. Examples: The well-known actress accepted her award. (Hyphenate: Well is an adverb followed by another descriptive word. They combine to form one idea in front of the noun.)

Learning the mechanics–the complex, detailed structural components–of the English language is very difficult because the rules are often so inconsistent. 3. Use a dash to indicate an abruptly unfinished thought or remark. Do not include a period or comma after the dash.

What is the long dash rule? ›

Use em dashes to set off parenthetical information

Use one before the parenthetical information and one after it. Putting spaces before and after an em dash is a matter of preference; just be consistent.

The dash has only one use: a pair of dashes separates a strong interruption from the rest of the sentence. (A strong interruption is one which violently disrupts the flow of the sentence.) Again, note that word `pair': in principle, at least, dashes come in pairs, though sometimes one of them is not written.

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.

Examples of dash in a Sentence

Verb I'm sorry, but I must dash. I'm late. She dashed down the hallway to the bathroom. People were dashing inside to get out of the rain.

Depending on the context, an em-dash—so named because its width matches a typesetter's capital M—can take the place of a comma, parenthesis, or a colon in a sentence. Because it signals an abrupt break in the text, the em-dash is used best when you want to emphasize the material that follows it.

There are two types of dashes in APA style: en dashes and em dashes. The en dash is shorter, named after the width of the letter "n," and the em dash is longer, named after the width of the letter "m." Each has distinct uses in writing. For both en dashes and em dashes, do not put any spaces before or after the dashes.

Use the dash carefully: overuse of dashes will give your writing a breathless and disjointed appearance. And don't use a dash for any purpose other than setting off a strong interruption: the dash is never used in place of a hyphen, after a colon or after a heading.

A hyphen joins two or more words together while a dash separates words into parenthetical statements.