How To Use Long Dashes

Conversely use a shorter en dash to indicate a range of numbers like 10 15.

How to use long dashes. What is an em dash and when should you use it. Typically you shouldn t include a space before or after the em dash. Use a longer em dash to join independent clauses with words like and but as or and for. The long dash is the widest of the three horizontal marks that may be used in the middle of a sentence. When a comma or colon isn t enough or you want to avoid using parentheses the em dash may be the punctuation mark for you.

A dash is a little horizontal line that floats in the middle of a line of text not at the bottom. It is wider than an en dash or a hyphen. The hyphen the shortest of the three marks is familiar sometimes wretchedly so to most writers. Thousands of children like the girl in this photograph have been left homeless. Here are some different situations when you can use an em dash.

Dashes are often used to signal an abrupt change in a sentence. Em dash shortcut windows ctrl alt minus on numeric keypad em dash shortcut mac command m. So is the em dash more often called the long dash or sometimes just the dash. The term em dash comes from the field of typography an em is a width equivalent to the height of a given font. After we buy toenail clippers the dinosaur in that exhibit could use a trim you know we ll stop at the doughnut shop.

In pairs to mark off information or ideas that are not essential to an understanding of the rest of the sentence. Em dash other names. It s longer than a hyphen and is commonly used to indicate a range or a pause. To properly use a dash in an english sentence start by identifying which dash you should use. An em dash also called a long dash or thick dash is approximately the width of the letter m which is where it earns its name.

An em dash can replace commas parentheses and colons. Here are some examples. Please accept my application for the position advertised in the news and observer. Place em dashes around non essential information or a list in the middle of a sentence like you would with commas. 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.