Using m dash how to#
Using m dash software#

But disagreement and inconsistency is not unusual in the English language! That’s okay.

Using m dash how to#

How to spell the names of dashes is not agreed upon. Whether that is right or wrong is a matter of opinion. (Click to read more about how to insert the en dash on your phone.) What is the correct name? En dash, endash, en-dash or ndash? If you are on a phone, go to the punctuation menu, long-press the hyphen and voila – you can choose an em dash or the shorter en dash. If you are writing an article or essay or paper, no.īut in the latter case, you are probably using Word or another program that will automatically replace two hyphens with an em dash, so you’ll be okay. If you are writing an email to your mom, yes!

If you are writing a message to your friend on Instagram, yes! Can I use two hyphens instead of an em dash? If you use the ‘wrong-n’ method and use it consistently, it works fine and seems to keep the greatest number of people happy. You can see this ‘wrong-en’ method used in countless websites, magazines and papers as a replacement for the m-dash. In my writing (as a manager corresponding with government officials and politicians, and also as a marketer communicating with real people) I use ‘space-n-dash-space’ instead of the em-dash – just to keep everyone happy. Some well-trained technical writers think the n-dash is the only one to use.Ĭhoosing between the en dash or em dash is not a big deal. That’s okay – we can find a very good compromise. Sometimes when you use the em-dash, people say, “What is that? I don’t like that big long thing.” I’ve heard that from colleagues and managers. However… Some people prefer the way a “space-en-dash-space” looks. If you are writing formal documents or writing for publication, it’s best to use dashes correctly. “Using dashes is a bit of an ad-n ”, said Jennifer. Here’s another obscure, old-fashioned use for the m-dash: When letters are uncertain or missing from a word that you are quoting or reporting about, you insert two m-dashes where the unknown letters would be. “I reached in and pulled the spray can out of my backpack-” “In front of the police?”

Shows when dialogue has been interrupted:.

“Computers make everyday punctuation-for reasons that we’ll discuss later-more precise yet more confusing.” “Hunter strode into the room-was he mad?-and the family stopped and stared.” “I can’t believe how pedantic Ken is about writing-doesn’t he have anything better to do?”

Separates an inserted thought or clause from the main clause, such as:.

“Sometimes writing for money-rather than for art or pleasure-is really quite enjoyable.”

Works better than commas to set apart a unique idea from the main clause of a sentence:.

There’s a lot more you can do with the en dash – read more below under “break the rules”.

Joins words that describe a range, like “July–October 2010”.

The hyphen does not indicate a range of numbers, like a date range, which is the job of an en dash.

Connects grouped numbers, like a phone number 55.

Connects compounded words like “mass-produced” (Closed compound words like counterintuitive have no hyphen in modern English, except for uncommon combinations that are confusing or ambiguous without a hyphen.).

Indicates breaks within words that wrap at the end of a line.

Using m dash software#

(This image was made with PowerPoint and Photoshop the relative sizes of the dashes look right, however, the en dash and em dash don’t exactly match the width of the upper-case N and M – and they rarely do! It also depends on fonts, software and devices.) When should I use a hyphen, en dash or em dash? Hyphen The en dash is about as wide as an uppercase N the em dash is as wide as an M. Let’s look at those dashes with some text: twenty-five However, they will probably look different in the next example, with some words or numbers adjacent to them. On a phone, the examples above may look wrong. Let’s figure this out! What do they look like? –ĭo the first two look the same to you? It’s because some devices display them inconsistently, when the characters sit all by themselves. The hyphen, em dash and en dash are everywhere, but most of us don’t know when or why to use them – and different writers use the dashes in different ways. The en dash is used inconsistently within lots of writing – regardless of how ‘professional’ the writers are.