![]() But you can use em dashes to mark any interruption in a sentence. In this instance, the em dashed phrase is an elaborating point. Even though this elaboration contains information of value-perhaps even information necessary for the reader to grasp the writer’s message-the sentence is still sound without the em dashed phrase there. The hyphen is, of course, directly on your keyboard. Note how in the above example, the point between the em dashes elaborate on the subject mentioned: dark, leafy greens. If you want to use the correct dash or hyphen in Stack Exchange comments, just use the appropriate HTML entity: - for em-dash, – for en-dash, and &minus for the minus sign. Allow me to illustrate:ĭark, leafy greens-such as spinach, kale, and chard-are an important part of a healthy Use em dashes when a sentence contains an elaborating point, but would still make sense linguistically had that point be gone. The primary use of em dashes are to mark a break in a sentence. Whereas en dashes often unite/combine elements in a sentence, em dashes deal more with the sentence’s structure. The main purpose of an en dash is to denote a range.Įn dashes can also replace the conjunctions of to or and in certain instances. Em dashes serve as signposts, indicating a shift in thought or introducing a related but distinct element. Much like a hyphen, the en dash combines two units. Not to be confused with the tiniest hyphens (-), en dashes can be typed on a mac using option +. Two of my favorite punctuation marks are the en dash and the em dash.Įn dashes (–) are the shorter of the two. For this parenthetical usage, the em-dash is more common in US typography, while the en-dash is more common in UK typography. This also works well with kerning (see above). The en-dash in this usage is always surrounded by spaces. Being able to have control of the reader, through strategic use of punctuation, makes me giddy. The en-dash (-) has two frequent usages: As a modern punctuation mark for parenthetical phrases. ![]()
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