How To Use A Pair Of Dashes

Take it out and the sentence makes sense.

How to use a pair of dashes. Em en and the double hyphen. For your homework read pages 49 64. The shorter en dash is used to mark ranges. Make sure not to confuse dashes with shorter hyphens which are used to combine words as in well behaved or long running. The en dash is sometimes also used in the same way as an em dash.

Find out more in a bitesize ks2 english guide. Hyphens are shorter than dashes and are used to connect words. It s longer than a hyphen and is commonly used to indicate a range or a pause. Aug 31 2015 updated. No rating 0 customer reviews.

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. The material inside the dashes relates to the information in the rest of the sentence but it acts as an interruption to the main point that you re making. To create this punctuation mark on a macintosh based system hold down the option key and press the minus key. Use an internal series of appositives or modifiers enclosed by a pair of dashes appositives will rename and modifiers will describe something named elsewhere in the sentence. In this case it takes a space on either side.

It s an em dash before peter sellers and an en dash between 1925 and 1980 note. American psychological association notes that you would use the en dash for. Because this kind of series serves as a dramatic interruption within the sentence and may even have commas you must use the dash before it and after it. The words between a pair of dashes may or may not form a complete sentence. Make sure your students are prepared for the spag crusade.

To properly use a dash in an english sentence start by identifying which dash you should use. The most common types of dashes are the en dash and the em dash. You have to use an em dash when crediting. A hyphen should not be used in place of a dash. The information inside the dashes is off topic.