Hyphen en dash em dash9/10/2023 ![]() It can be used in phrasal adjectives, to show a range or span, or to show conflict or. Check the Replace as you type “Hyphens (–) with dash (-)” box. The en dash is wider than a hyphen and narrower than an em dash. Choose File, Options, Proofing, AutoCorrect Options, AutoFormat As You Type. If these steps don’t work for you, check your AutoCorrect settings. So, you still need to pay attention when proofreading. Many people know this trick (or they happen upon the correct keystrokes by luck), but they don’t always move off the word in a way that causes the conversion to happen, which then leaves a hyphen or double hyphen instead of the intended en or em dash. As you move off the word (by pressing space or period), AutoCorrect turns the double hyphen into an em dash. ![]() Type a word, two hyphens, and the next word (no spaces around the hyphens).If appropriate, delete those unneeded spaces on either side of the en dash.As you move off the word by pressing space or period, AutoCorrect will convert the hyphen to an en dash.Type a word (or number/letter character), space, hyphen, space, word (or number/letter).(Read more about en and em dashes in this article about common proofreading oversights.) This explanation is not intended to be exhaustive (for much more, see chapter 6 in CMOS), but I do hope that it helps to frame the different potential of each length of dash.In Word you can automatically generate en and em dashes by using the hyphen key and AutoCorrect. In interrupted speech, one or two em dashes may be used: “I wasn’t trying to imply-” “Then just what were you trying to do?” Also, the em dash may serve as a sort of bullet point, as in this to-do list: For example, in a bibliographic list, rather than repeating the same author over and over again, three consecutive em dashes (also known as a 3-em dash) stand in for the author’s name. Its use or misuse for this purpose is a matter of taste, and subject to the effect on the writer’s or reader’s “ear.” Em dashes also substitute for something missing. Basically it only supports the hyphen/minus sign '-'. It allows, in a manner similar to parentheses, an additional thought to be added within a sentence by sort of breaking away from that sentence-as I’ve done here. 1 My font doesnt support all the different kinds of dashes - en dashes, em dashes, figure dashes, hyphens etc. Now, that is a rather fussy use of the en dash that many people ignore, preferring the hyphen. In that example, “pre” is connected to the open compound “World War II” and therefore has to do a little extra work (to bridge the space between the two words it modifies-space that cannot be besmirched by hyphens because “World War II” is a proper noun). En dashes are also used to connect a prefix to a proper open compound: for example, pre–World War II. And in fact en dashes specify any kind of range, which is why they properly appear in indexes when a range of pages is cited (e.g., 147–48). However, when the compound adjective contains an entity that is made up of multiple words, its correct to use an en-dash. The en dash connects things that are related to each other by distance, as in the May–September issue of a magazine it’s not a May-September issue, because June, July, and August are also ostensibly included in this range. The hyphen connects two things that are intimately related, usually words that function together as a single concept or work together as a joint modifier (e.g., tie-in, toll-free call, two-thirds). I frame it this way because the work they do is roughly related to their length (though I don’t think CMOS puts it this way outright). First of all, there are three lengths of what are all more or less dashes: hyphen (-), en dash (–), and em dash (-). I will try to condense the various bits of information scattered throughout CMOS. What is the difference in usage between an em dash and an en dash?Ī.
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