I don’t think dashes are used nearly enough in writing today. Many a comma, semicolon, or even period could be replaced by a dash, rendering the statement much stronger…but what kind of dash? And how do you type it? That’s what we are going to cover this time.
There’s a key on the keyboard that looks like a dash (actually, two of them), but you can’t type a real dash using it by itself. What looks to be a dash is actually a hyphen…shorter and smaller…but not the same as a dash at all. A hyphen is used to connect words or break words—read more about Hyphens. Dashes on the other hand are much more impressive—they add class!
Two Dashes
Two kinds of dashes exist that differ in size as well as use. The larger one is an em-dash, and the smaller an en-dash. The names were originally based on the size of each font’s letters ‘M’ and ‘n’, though this is no longer true. The em-dash is now defined as the same width as the point size of the font—which is often the same as the width of an upper-case ‘M’ but not always—so in a 9-point font, the em-dash is 9 points wide. In a 24-point font, it is 24 points wide.
The en-dash is half the width of an em-dash, which again may or may not be the width of a lower-case ‘n’. In a 9-point font, it is 4.5 points wide. In a 24-point font, 12 points wide. The problem is that many fonts don’t follow these definitions, so there are varying sizes depending on what font you are using. (For more details on this issue, consult the Wikipedia page.)
How to use them
Besides their size difference, they differ in use as well. The en-dash (the smaller one) is used to indicate a range, such as a set of pages in a book (see pp 135–140) or a time period (open Sep–Dec) or scores in a game (they won 3–1). That’s about all the en-dash does. (Some folks do use a spaced en-dash in place of an em-dash as a style decision.)
The em-dash…now there’s a fellow. Used to interrupt—and add a side comment like this—the em-dash adds flair to your writing. Besides interrupting yourself, you can interrupt dialogue to show that someone else spoke up:
- Bill jumped up and said, “I did not—”
But Amy was quicker. “Yes, you did.”
You can use it to show that the speaker interrupted himself, too.
- Bill tapped a finger on the desk. “I believe I shall—no, I am going to do it.”
A rather useful punctuation mark—the em-dash—one that deserves more recognition and use, so do what you can to encourage its use.
Now that you know how to use these punctuation marks, the only thing left is how to type them: The en-dash is Ctrl-Minus on the numeric pad, and the em-dash is Ctrl-Alt-Minus on numeric pad.
Go forth and dash to it!