Dash usage rules

19 Sep 2016 As a rule, remember to keep the number of em dashes in a sentence limited to two. Yes, em dashes create clarity and emphasis. But too many  More Punctuation Rules: Spacing With Punctuation Periods Commas Semicolons Colons Question Marks Parentheses and Brackets Apostrophes Hyphens Dashes Ellipses Quotation Marks Exclamation Points Slashes Dashes, like commas, semicolons, colons, ellipses, and parentheses, indicate added emphasis, an interruption, or an abrupt change of thought.

13 Dec 2018 But rules are important and made to be followed, especially in academic writing. Putting a comma between two independent clauses will confuse  This is a good thing given how complicated the hyphenation rules are. Occasionally, en-dashes are used in this function, but then they must be preceded and  13 Sep 2019 This is the most important rule regarding dashes that you need to know. Incorrect: John Locke–whose writings strongly influenced The  7 Feb 2020 Learn and understand the correct use of hyphens and dashes to add clarity to your business writing.

Dashes are considered less formal than parentheses; they are also more intrusive. If you want to draw attention to the parenthetical content, use dashes. If you want to include the parenthetical content more subtly, use parentheses. Note that when dashes are used in place of parentheses, surrounding punctuation should be omitted.

30 Dec 2016 A hyphen is a teensy weensy little dash that's typically used to join words. Rules for em dashes in writing. Let's compare with hyphens and en  Rules for Using Dashes. Generally speaking, the dash does not have a unique role. It is usually used as an alternative to another type of punctuation. 5 Apr 2016 There are 2 types of dashes, “em” and “en”. The same rule applies to “Atg8–PE ” because this is also a covalent bond that is formed  Hyphens, en-dashes and em-dashes are frequently used punctuation marks that are just An em-dash is the longest of the three, and is used to indicate a break in thought Read more about typography in her latest literary effort, Type Rules!

European Union – Interinstitutional Style Guide – Uniform stylistic rules and conventions (publishing, copyright, manuscripts, proofreading, States/countries, 

15 Sep 2016 To show how to wield this handy punctuation mark, I'll start by comparing two sentences: one that contains an em-dash (or em-dashes) and  13 Dec 2018 But rules are important and made to be followed, especially in academic writing. Putting a comma between two independent clauses will confuse  This is a good thing given how complicated the hyphenation rules are. Occasionally, en-dashes are used in this function, but then they must be preceded and  13 Sep 2019 This is the most important rule regarding dashes that you need to know. Incorrect: John Locke–whose writings strongly influenced The 

3 em dashes can be confusing. Let's take a look at the different types of dashes and when to use these little punctuation marks. En dash. In ranges. The en 

More Punctuation Rules: Spacing With Punctuation Periods Commas Semicolons Colons Question Marks Parentheses and Brackets Apostrophes Hyphens Dashes Ellipses Quotation Marks Exclamation Points Slashes Dashes, like commas, semicolons, colons, ellipses, and parentheses, indicate added emphasis, an interruption, or an abrupt change of thought. It’s longer than a hyphen and is commonly used to indicate a range or a pause. Dashes are used to separate groups of words, not to separate parts of words like a hyphen does. There are three forms of dashes: em, en, and the double hyphen. The most common types of dashes are the en dash (–) and the em dash (—). 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. Rules for Using Dashes. Generally speaking, the dash does not have a unique role. It is usually used as an alternative to another type of punctuation. When used to extend a sentence, a dash can replace a semicolon (;), a colon (:), or three dots () used as a pause for effect. Under Microsoft Word’s default settings, an en dash is automatically rendered by typing one or two spaced hyphens. Alternatively, you can create an en dash by holding down the control key and typing a hyphen on the numeric keypad, if you have one.

It’s not interchangeable with other types of dashes. Use a hyphen in a compound modifier when the modifier comes before the word it’s modifying. If you’re not sure whether a compound word has a hyphen or not, check your preferred dictionary.

Dashes interrupt your writing to insert an interjection or pause, while The rule is that the parentheses shouldn't affect the punctuation of the main statement:. The common “hyphen”; The Unicode dashes; Line breaking rules; MS Word specialties; Typographic usage; A closer look at  Dashes have three uses: 1. To set off parenthetical material that you want to emphasize; in other words, if you want to include information that is not absolutely  The dash (–) is used to set off additional material within a sentence, often in order English language is very difficult because the rules are often so inconsistent. Always use an en dash, not a hyphen, in a range like 30–40 (only use dashes if you're doing a range of figures – use 'to' for things like 'Monday to Friday'). European Union – Interinstitutional Style Guide – Uniform stylistic rules and conventions (publishing, copyright, manuscripts, proofreading, States/countries, 

5 Apr 2016 There are 2 types of dashes, “em” and “en”. The same rule applies to “Atg8–PE ” because this is also a covalent bond that is formed  Hyphens, en-dashes and em-dashes are frequently used punctuation marks that are just An em-dash is the longest of the three, and is used to indicate a break in thought Read more about typography in her latest literary effort, Type Rules! 12 Apr 2019 Dashes are used to separate two words into statements. It should be noted that dashes are almost never required by the rules of grammar and  31 Oct 2016 As writers, editors and proofreaders the hyphen causes us angst. The rules are, at best, complicated. And hang the rules, usage is complicated