How To Use Long Dashes In Writing
The most common types of dashes are the en dash and the em dash.
How to use long dashes in writing. Sometimes vertical as if to indicate musical phrasing and often elongated periods as if to indicate a slightly different kind of pause dickinson uses dashes musically but also to create a sense of the indefinite a different kind of pause an interruption of. Read also about the difference between dashes and hyphens. The two most common dashes are the en dash and the em dash. Em dash shortcut windows ctrl alt minus on numeric keypad em dash shortcut mac command m. Dashes are used to extend a sentence to replace colons semicolons or three dots.
Use a dash to show a pause or break in meaning in the middle of a sentence. So don t get carried away with your colons. Em en and the double hyphen. To properly use a dash in an english sentence start by identifying which dash you should use. When the list comes first it s better to use a dash to connect the list to the clause.
Em dash other names. Long dashes in writing. This is a punctuation lesson on using dashes. Use an em dash to bring focus to a list. Note that if you use colons this way too often it can break up the flow of your writing.
A good way to remember the difference between these two dashes is to visualize the en dash as the length of the letter n and the em dash as the length of the letter m. A dash may or may not have a space on either side of it. Em dash symbol em dash alt code. Place em dashes around non essential information or a list in the middle of a sentence like you would with commas. Dashes are often used informally instead of commas colons and brackets.
There are three forms of dashes. A long dash s primary job is to tell the reader that you ve jumped tracks onto a new though related subject just for a moment. It s longer than a hyphen and is commonly used to indicate a range or a pause. This grammar lesson offers an explanation on the correct use of dashes and gives examples of dashes used in sentences. You can use a colon to connect two sentences when the second sentence summarizes sharpens or explains the first.