Lastly, the en-dash is used in certain types of compound adjectives. Connection: The train line runs through the Boston–New York–Philadelphia corridor.Direction: The mountain range ran along a north–south line.Conflict: After the election, the liberal–conservative debates continue.It’s also used to express conflict, direction, or connection between groups or concepts, as in the following examples: His sabbatical lasted from May–September.She lived for nearly a century, from 1916–2008.The home team won the game by a final score of 28–14.The en dash is most frequently used to connect numbered ranges, like dates and scores. They can also be used to signify interruptions or changes in the direction of a thought, as in this example:īy comparison the shorter en dash-taking up the same space on the page as the letter “n”-has fewer, simpler use cases by comparison. Em dash: Beautiful weather, great food, and unique landmarks-she couldn’t have asked for more from this weekend vacation.Colon: Beautiful weather, great food, and unique landmarks: she couldn’t have asked for more from this weekend vacation.With em dashes: The zoo was home to a variety of amazing animals-lions, tigers, and even bears-that pleased the crowds that came to see them each day.Ī single em dash can also be used in place of a colon to make connections between a sentence’s clauses and-just as in the other use cases-add further emphasis:.With parentheses: The zoo was home to a variety of amazing animals (lions, tigers, and even bears) that pleased the crowds that came to see them each day.Just as in the example above, em dashes can be used to add emphasis to the content that they section off: Note in this example how the em dashes add emphasis to the phrase they surround.Įm dashes can also stand in for parentheses.With em dashes: In the end, I finally decided-after a great deal of time, thought, and effort-that I no longer wished to attend the party.Commas-only: In the end, I finally decided, after a great deal of time, thought, and effort, that I no longer wished to attend the party.Especially in sentences that would otherwise contain a great deal of commas, substituting em dashes can help make your writing easier to read. One use case for em dashes is as a substitute for commas.
In fact, it might the most versatile punctuation mark there is. The Em Dash (-)Įm dashes get their name from typography: Possessing the same width as the letter “m,” em dashes are a versatile punctuation mark with a variety of uses. Whether you’re writing a cover letter or the next great novel, you’ll soon be an expert on how and when to use dashes. In this guide to the types of dashes, we cover each of them-em dashes, en dashes, and hyphens-and offer examples that you can apply in your own work to communicate your best ideas.
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