When it comes to properpunctuation , choose between an exclaiming point and a motion mark is child ’s fun . Thesemicolon - vs.-colon decisionis a second sturdy to make . But even that ca n’t compare to the puzzle of break up the veracious kind of dash or hyphen to drop into a sentence .
you may pick that trouble at least partially on how similar they look . As its name evoke , an em dash ( — ) is around the length of the letterM , while an en bolt ( – ) more intimately matches anN. A hyphen ( - ) is short still . That said , unless they ’re all line up next to each other , it ’s not always well-heeled to identify which one you ’re looking at , so it helps to have a handgrip on which contexts call for which short line .
Em Dash vs. En Dash
In oecumenical , a in force way to recollect whether you call for an em dash or an en dash is to ask yourself some translation of this question : Are you trying to break up whole parts of a sentence , or link individual terminal figure together ?
If the solvent is the former , go with an em dash . It ’s longer than an en dash — just like the elements you ’re separating . When to use an em dash instead of some other punctuation mark marker is for the most part up to you . It can take the place of a semicolon , colon , or comma if you ’re try out to introduce a new clause with slightly more emphasis or dramatic play . For example :
My quat has a pretty revolting habit that I wish well she ’d break — bring me dead animals .
An em style can also set apart an excursus that you might otherwise distinguish with comma or excursus . For example :
My cat — not the same one who delivers me deadened fauna — loves todrown toys in her water bowl .
AsMerriam - Webster explain , em dashes are also used for quote ascription , like so :
“ give thanks you for the mangled shiner corpse ! ” — Me , to mycat .
And to signify that someone got cut off in the centre of a thought or condemnation , as in :
“ What ’s that you have for me ? It looks like a — , ” I said , stopping short as I substantiate the creature clutched between my computerized tomography ’s jaws was my son ’s pethamster .
An en dash , meanwhile , link words or numbers racket that destine a range or score , often replacing the wordto . Instead ofSeptember to Decemberandchapters 12 to 16 , for case , you could writeSeptember – Decemberandchapters 12–16 .
En dashes also come in ready to hand when you ’re unite modifier with heart-to-heart compound words , likeNew York – stylepizza . Sincestyleis modifyingNew York — not justYork — the situation calls for something slightly longer ( and therefore strong ) than a hyphen .
En Dash vs. Hyphen
Chicago - style pizza pie , on the other bridge player , needs a hyphen . So does any other case in which you ’re only connect a word to the one like a shot next to it . This includes compound words likeold - fashionedandleft - give ; longer phrases likemerry - go - roundandrun - of - the - mill ; and number liketwenty - sevenandtwo - thirds .
You should choose for a dash over an en style in these situations , as well :
But with day of the month and number range , it ’s not rare to see a dash rather than an en dash . So you may rest assured that if your favourite team wins theSuper Bowlwith a concluding score of 43–8 , mass probably are n’t going to deal which variety of punctuation mark separates the digits . ( Just do n’t use an em hyphen . )
[ h / tMerriam - Webster ]
