The en dash (–) is one-half the width of an em. En dashes are incredibly useful punctuation marks, used to add extra emphasis to a sentence or statement. To create the em dash on a Macintosh-based system, hold down the Shift and Option keys and press. 2. The en dash is spaced so screen readers don’t mistake an unspaced en for a hyphen. Learn how to use each type in a sentence with these examples and best practices. Included marks are the period, comma, semi-colon, colon, question mark, exclamation point, quotation mark, parenthesis, and dash. Press the spacebar. An em is simply a unit of measurement within the field of typography. En dash ( –) When connecting two words to signify a range, Chinese generally uses an en dash occupying the space of one character (e. The em-dash would indicate something like raising the eyebrows right at the end, or tilting the head down and looking up from under the eyebrows. In Unicode, the em dash is U+2014 (decimal 8212). , long-term, red-haired). Both Word and Scrivener automatically convert two consecutive hyphens (--) to an em-dash (—), the technical name for this punctuation mark. It is longer than a hyphen (-) or an en dash (–). An em dash (—) is a punctuation mark. The punctuation mark should not be confused with dashes (–, —), which are. Examples. For Example: Weeding, planting, and watering — that’s all we did this weekend to clean up the garden. Press the space bar. ] There’s even more explanation: If the break belongs to the surrounding sentence rather than to the quoted material, the em dashes must appear outside the quotation marks. En dashes are slightly shorter than an em dash and are used to connect numbers and words: 2000–2020, Paris–London, the score was 5–3. It’s not interchangeable with other types of dashes. Actual output : 1993 1995 Expected output : 1993 – 1995 I have done the UTF-8 encoding in Java but still getting the same output in the excel. Consider the difference between the sentence above and the one. Dashes are used to separate two words into statements. In the case of an actual question being asked I feel the mark would go before the em-dash. Check out all the nuances of this tricky punctuation mark. An en dash is. This usage explains the dialog part of your question. 2. — Question Mark. What is the difference between en and em dashes? The shorter en dash (–) is used to mark ranges and with the meaning “to” in phrases like “Dover–Calais crossing. It may be used in place of commas, a semicolon, a colon, or parentheses. The question mark needs to go after Language. Whenever I have text surrounded by a dash symbol i. The en-dash is commonly used to show range as in dates (e. 8. Type another word. At the word level, hyphens differentiate parts of words to help in readability. The em dash triggers readers’ brains to insert a slightly longer pause, which can aid in reading comprehension. This method can get messy if you have more than two speakers in a conversation, so use it with care. A dash can usually be distinguished from a hyphen in print by its greater length. The Dash. However, you can use dashes or em-dashes. 89: "In modern usage, a question mark or an exclamation point—but never a comma, a colon, or a semicolon—may. It is used to indicate a range of values, such as numbers, dates, and times. Some word-processing programs have a mark called an em-dash (longer than a hyphen), which can be used with no space before or after it. Sometimes, a character might stutter or stammer over certain words. ”. Have you a reason why you think curved brackets should be abandoned in favour of dashes in this particular example? The linked article doesn't contrast differences in availability or effect between the punctuation variants available. Writers have three choices of punctuation to set off sentence interrupters—commas, parentheses, and em dashes. In the image below (1) is a hyphen, (2) is an en dash and (3) is the em dash. The Mac command to make an em dash. -->if the information being set off is at the end of the sentence, use just one em dash. This technique is best suited for creative or informal writing. g. Interrupters—like this right here—are words, phrases, or clauses that break the flow of writing. For windows, you can hold down the ‘Alt’ and ‘-‘ key and you will get an en dash. . Collingwood as Mr. An en dash (the shorter dash) expresses a range of values (times, years, dollar amounts). When the dash is used, the change in the thought or sentence structure should be evident and distinct. Dashes are generally more abrupt and can signify a rapid change of topic. Type another word. 2. As shown above, em dashes are often left unspaced when used in this way. And the final em dash before the question mark does nothing but to emphasize the distraction, in my opinion. The em is the longest in the dash suite. 6. The en dash will appear in the text field where your cursor is. In Unicode, the em dash is U+2014 (decimal 8212). Consider the examples below:3. It is longer than both the en dash and the hyphen, and its length is equal to the width of the letter “M” in the given font. 1986–1998Tip. The report covers the period 1998–1999. Although the en dash and em dash are the most commonly used types of dashes, there is another type of dash called the 3-em dash (the size of three em dashes). College communications rarely require the formal four-point ellipsis. An em dash or colon is part of the same toolkit, but they serve slightly different purposes. There are two alternatives: (1) shitted, which appears about once for every instance of shat; and (2) shit, uninflected in the past tense. The shift from em dash to en dash reflects contemporary writing practice and the new focus on digital content. The colon in Spanish is used for enumeration, explanation, or quotes, just like in English. Em-dashes in Place of a Semicolon. Mark said: “I am confused if I should finish them with one of the final stop punctuation marks (when, as I read, 1- every sentence must be finished by an appropriate punctuation mark [the final stop], and 2- neither the dash nor the ellipsis are the final stop punctuation marks). k. The following list shows some of the most. The em dash “—” and the en dash “–” are the two most popular dash forms. Ah, the ol’ 疑問符 (ぎもんふ ) — gimonfu, a. Our Rule 1 of Spacing with Punctuation states, “With a computer, use only one space following periods, commas, semicolons, colons, exclamation points, question marks, and quotation marks. Here’s a trick to help you remember which is which. CORRECT: The score right now is 3–1. Em dashes are used to replace commas, parentheses, colons, and semicolons. The above shortcuts are all valid ways you can use to type the em. Technically, the mark designating feet is a prime; the mark designating inches is a double prime. HTML Escape Characters. Type the keyboard shortcut or caret code into the Find what text box (see figure 4). Workaround. Em dashes also substitute for something missing. Below are lines of five each of em dashes, en dashes, minuses, and hyphens, all separated by a normal space. The exclamation point and question mark denote strong emotion or a question, respectively. On a Mac: En dash—press option+hyphen key. In English, there is no space between the word preceding the punctuation mark and the punctuation mark itself. Since code page 437 does not include the en dash character, any system using that code page will have to resort to a fallback mechanism to render the file names, such as a question mark. ”. apostrophe. 2. Waggon was preferred in British English until a century ago, 1 and it still appears occasionally, but it is fast becoming archaic. Em dashes are compelling punctuation marks, rich with punctuation possibilities. Here’s how to master the em-dash, exclamation point and question mark. How might I swap the dash -and underscore _ keys so that underscore is shift-less?. The Oxford Manual of Style once stated, “If you take hyphens seriously, you will surely go mad. Upon firing the company’s non-salaried employees—and. A colon is a more formal but weaker punctuation mark than an em dash. The other function is to punctuate compound modifiers that include an open compound or two or more hyphenated compounds. To illustrate, I’m going to reproduce the first sentence of this paragraph, but with a semicolon:Question Marks, Exclamation Points, and Em Dashes. Use em-dash for denoting a break or a clarification within a sentence: “Three authors—John Grisham, Danielle Steele, John Updike—have between them written eighty-nine books. Alternatively, pairs of em dashes are used to mark off additionalMy question is the same as keymap swap underscore and dash, but for Windows instead of Linux. It gets its name from its size which is the. ” Correct. Just consider the following guidelines: • Note that em-dashes are more emphatic than commas. Here are some rules for how to use interrupters. A hyphen (-) is a punctuation mark used to connect two or more words (or parts of words) to show that they form one unit of sense—e. An em dash is preferred to divide elements within a sentence and pack a punch. There are two kinds of dashes, the en dash, and the em dash (long dash). Punctuation Em-dash before question mark. ". If a sentence ends with quoted material, the period is placed inside the closing quotation mark, even if the period is not part of the original quotation. One other exception is dialogue, where authors will. left single quotation mark: 146 ’ right single quotation mark: 147 “ left double quotation mark: 148 ” right double quotation mark: 149 • bullet: 150 – en dash: 151 — em dash: 152 : ⃜ : small tilde: 153 ™ trade mark sign: 154 : š : Latin small letter s with caron: 155 › single right-pointing angle quotation mark: 156 : œ. Em dashes (also known as m-dashes or em rules). 2, Period, Question Mark, Exclamation Point, Question Mark, Placement], is never combined with another exclamation point, question mark, period, semicolon, colon, or comma; thus, there is no comma in the first example below. Use em dashes instead of commas and parentheses if you want to make information stand out. Use a dash instead of a comma when you want to strongly set off an idea. The change in the second description of the clock's sounds emphasizes Isaac's unease. Type a word. Question marks, exclamation points, and em dashes can go inside or outside the quotation mark, depending on whether they’re part of the quote or not. The ellipsis suggests that Isaac cannot concentrate. Select the Replace, Replace All, or Find Next button (see figure 6). If the parentheses include an exclamation or question mark: Our road trip to Florida — we love to drive to see all the sights on the way! — took three days to. When you type the hyphen, en dash, and em dash, no spaces should appear on either side of the punctuation mark. Always follow the punctuation rules in formal writing to make your work clearer and more readable. An ellipsis may be preceded or followed by other punctuation. When injecting a descriptive clause into a sentence, you are free to use em dashes, commas, or parentheses. These sentences can be in the form of a direct question or an indirect question. Just like in narrative, dashes can be used in dialogue to set off clauses within sentences. To create an em dash on a PC, hold down the Alt key while typing 0151 on the numberpad of the keyboard. Original text in html page Click the Edit button to change a field's label, width and type-ahead options Replace text in html page Click the Edit button to change a. The en dash is less well known than. Technically, the mark designating feet is a prime; the mark designating inches is a double prime. Examples: James opened the door and was surprised to see her. My WPF application is reading a text file and populating a listbox. It’s equal to the specific point size in any given typeface. An em dash (—) is used to mark an interruption, as mentioned above (“What the—”), or material set off parenthetically from the main point—like this. em. The en dash, which is slightly shorter, and the em dash, which is the one you can see in the previous paragraph. The em dash is even longer and is used in place of a comma, parenthesis, or colon for emphasis. )The dash (—) is a mark of punctuation used to set off a word or phrase after an independent clause or a parenthetical remark (words, phrases, or clauses that interrupt a sentence). It is used in place of ‘to’ or ‘through’. (2) Em dashes can replace semicolons. C-----. dashes Use a true em dash inserted from the symbol menu (not one or two hyphens), and use spaces around dashes (“Jo — a Washingtonian — hates rain”). AP style calls for a space on both sides of an em dash, but most other styles, including MLA and APA, omit the spaces. The general rule is that a sentence ends with only one terminal punctuation mark. On a typewriter, a comma or a period takes the same amount of space as any other letter. g. ) when I included the Insert statement to store data retrieved from the final select statement to a table, the dash character is being replaced with another character. g. “Yes, you did!”. Comments. 1. Please read pages 70–77 in your text. Signo de interrogación (Question Mark) 7. The term “em dash” comes from the field of typography—an “em” is a width equivalent to the height of a given font. There are enough exceptions to this general rule, however, to warrant the following chart, which shows nearly all of the scenarios you are likely to face. b) The Kingdom of Bahrain has a settled well-educated population. Use dashes and ellipses to cut sentences off. It is the doppelgänger of the. The question mark needs to go after Language. In fact, em dashes can find an even greater role in dialog: they can replace quotation marks, though this is less common in English than in other languages. To create interrupted dialogue that everyone will recognize as such, use an em-dash where you want to end the dialogue. Perhaps the most versatile punctuation mark, the em dash can take the place of commas, parentheses, or colons. For instance, we could use em dashes in place of commas or parentheses: One of the twins—she couldn’t tell them apart—ran to greet her. An en dash is. ” Stutters, Stammers, and Pauses. Period, question mark, exclamation mark, comma. If you format it properly—like this—it counts the words on both sides of the dash as just one word. The em dash is created by typing two hyphens on a computer keyboard. NVDA is the least likely. Alt codes only work on the. Most commonly, a dash connects an independent clause with another, with a related thought plus a conjunction like or, but, yet, as, for, and after the second dash. That may occasionally appear in old writing, where em dashes after commas and semicolons are more common. pages 11–23. The em dash (—) is a versatile punctuation mark used to enhance the readability and clarity of written text. This is a common editing mark and has several uses, but its primary purpose is to separate clauses and huge parts of the sentence. Many programs also automatically create an em dash when you type two single hyphens together. This is also true for the dot part of the question mark, and exclamation mark. This is a good example of when to use such as dash in a sentence. nouns followed by numerals or letters. g. The en dash is approximately the length of the letter N, and the em dash the length of the letter M. However, The Oxford Style Manual notes that “many British publishers use an en rule with. This is more of a life lesson rather than a question of if an em dash is formal or informal. There is a space before the first period and after the last period. Em dash —, in Windows, with the number keypad: Alt (hold)+ 0 1 5 1. is omitted in deference to the question mark". parentheses. If the interruption occurs at the. This is really useful if you're a few words over the 650 word limit and need to trim a bit. The em dash is perhaps the most versatile punctuation mark. It is used to break up a longer sentence, usually to insert a phrase into the middle or end of a. ] There’s even more explanation: If the break belongs to the surrounding sentence rather than to the quoted material, the em dashes must appear outside the quotation marks. —dijo María con calma. 1. The English language has several easily-confused horizontal-line punctuation symbols: Hyphen: –. In this example, the speech ends with a question mark, prioritising a comma that would normally be placed to frame the speaking phrase. When a quotation is presented as a single sentence made up of material from two or more original sentences, ellipses should be used for all omitted segments. . E. An ellipsis here would show a delayed change in thought and is not correct. But OP is asking about "correct use of the em dash," not whether he should use it. you might notice em dashes and commas getting along just fine. When it comes to usage, the ellipsis resembles a couple of other punctuation marks: the dash and the colon. 🙽. Proofreading marks and symbols Although a significant amount of editing and proofreading is now done using tools such as Microsoft’s track changes feature and Adobe’s commenting tool, you may find yourself faced with traditional proofreading marks and symbols on a printed document someday. On a PC, the em-dash is made by holding down the ALT key and typing 0151 on the number pad. This suggests that a question mark is "stronger" than a period and is the mark that is retained. In almost every instance, you should place the footnote marker after the punctuation. g. punctuation. That doesn't change the fact that in 60 years of reading, I've never come across a trust-worthy writer using any dash directly after a comma, nor. Like parentheses, the em dash can set off nonessential elements; but it does the parentheses one better—it can also set off essential elements. In general, the em dash is seen as being more interruptive or striking than other. Hyphens might look like dashes, but they aren’t dashes. A colon is quieter; a dash is more emphatic and dramatic. Em dash: 2015 ― Horizontal bar: 2017 ‗ Double low line: 2018 ‘ Left single quotation mark: 2019 ’ Right single quotation mark: 201A ‚ Single low-9 quotation mark: 201B ‘ Single high. There are also some other rules regarding what to do if the title includes a question mark, ellipsis, or a colon already. Within moments of our first interaction — over. The hyphen is used to connect words, such as in compound adjectives or to divide words at the end of a line. The em dash is the chameleon of punctuation marks. Hyphens and dashes. SQL*Plus inherits character set from. Use an en dash for ranges and an em dash to separate non-essential information. W he n u sed i n pl a ce o f p a rentheses at t he end of a sentence, only a single dash is used. m. Learn how to use em dashes in a sentence with these examples and best practices. If you're including terminal punctuation (period, question mark, exclamation mark), your speaker's sentence isn't being interrupted, so you wouldn't use em dashes at all. Trademark ™ : ALT 0153;There are three types of dashes in writing used to convey different ideas in an engaging way. The British practice (followed in most of the world) is to put the. To insert an interjection in the middle of a sentence, place one em dash on both sides of the interjected phrase. In traditional Japanese, questions were simply punctuated with a full stop rather than a question mark. Another way to create them is to press and hold Alt and type 0151 on a Windows device or select Option, Shift, and the hyphen key ( ‐) on a Mac. It can also be used to indicate each person’s speech in a dialogue. Anything powerful enough to cross the Wall usually retained enough magic to assume the shape of a soldier, or to become invisible. To show a break in narration or conversation in place of an ellipsis. The hyphen (-) should be used in compound names and words as follows: In phrasal adjectives, which follow “three basic rules: (1) Generally, if it is placed before a noun, you should. Interjections can stand alone as minor sentences, punctuated with a period, exclamation point, or question mark. Wave dash ( ～) Sorted by: 58. Learn more about punctuation. The raya is used to clarify something, in a similar way to parentheses. Em dash—hold down the Alt key and type 0151 on the numeric keypad. S. The em dash is perhaps the most versatile punctuation mark. In the native Mac word processor, Text Edit, you’ll have access to the. 3. Examples:A Quick Guide to Punctuation. • Dashes are often used to introduce an. " Wikipedia has a descent overview on dashes, especially noting the differnet ways to reflect either and em-dash or an en-dash. The em dash is used when an idea is being interrupted, when clarification is needed, when elaboration is needed, or when items are being listed in a sentence. I went out with a guy based on his use of dashes once. It was first. After three weeks of deliberation, the jury finally reached a verdict: guilty. The different styles of dashes include the en dash “–”, the em dash “—”, and the horizontal bar “―”. It’s a long dash, the length of two connected hyphens. A dash is a break in thought, from one focus to another. ] There’s even more explanation: If the break belongs to the surrounding sentence rather than to the quoted material, the em dashes must appear outside the quotation marks. If you use it in academic writing, you might look unsure of yourself. If you’re adding extra information to clarify a sentence, you’re using a parenthetical expression. Examples: 2009–2019. As a reminder, scare quotes are used to show when a phrase is being used in an ironic or nonstandard way—or perhaps it’s not a. However, I can't recall an em dash being used according to your first case in modern publishing. Em dashes can be used to replace pairs of commas and parentheses. The em dash is used to represent how the first speaker is being interrupted by the second. Guion Largo o Raya – Em Dash. — Lo siento, no lo sabía. It shows continuity between numbers and indicates that a multiword term is part of a compound adjective: “The conference runs January 2–3”; “The Pulitzer Prize–winning journalists were applauded. (The exclamation point, like the question mark [see 8. While closely related to other dashes—like the en dash (–) and hyphen (-)—the em dash serves a unique role in typography. ” The slash is sometimes used to convey the same meaning. These, along with the other 12, are all listed neatly and explained for you here. (An em dash, or long dash, is used: in pairs, to mark off information or ideas that are not essential to an. Modern Japanese uses the question mark in the same way English speakers do to denote a question, be it typed or handwritten. However, you can use dashes or em-dashes. Although en dashes look similar to hyphens, they have a specific purpose and meaning – en dashes connect words in place of the word “to” or “through”. Many authors and publications choose to use a space either side of the dash, and even sometimes an en dash in place of an em dash. A dash is a punctuation mark that resembles a hyphen, but longer. An em dash (—) is the longest of the three dashes and can be used to set off a break in the sentence, as well as add emphasis. I've found questions asking about an em dash in quoted speech, and punctuation rules for em dashes in quotes, but this question is quite different. In something called an appositive—a phrase that provides more information—you can use an em dash instead. Another way to create them is to press and hold Alt and type 0151 on a Windows device or select Option, Shift, and the hyphen key ( ‐) on a Mac. On cell phones running Android’s Gboard or iOS operating systems, press and hold the hyphen on the onscreen keyboard. 2. Style guides often let you skip them. 1月—7月 "January to July", which can also be written 1月到7月, with the character 到 in place of the dash). A hyphen (-) is the shortest “dash” and. Perhaps the most versatile punctuation mark, the em dash can take the place of commas, parentheses, or colons. What Are Dashes? – or — There are two types of dashes: en dashes and em dashes. I have to warn them—no, no what am I doing? An ellipses indicates omission, which is what I think you are looking for. It has three primary functions: to connect two words and make them into a compound, to separate parts of a word at the end of a line, and to separate a prefix or suffix from a root word. We met during the 2011 – 2012 school year. You’ve probably heard of hyphens and em dashes, but what about en dashes? Learn what they are and how to use them with this helpful article. em. British authors often prefer to use an en-dash ( – ) with spaces on either side rather than the em. In British usage, we use only a single hyphen to. Em Dashes The em dash is the longest line among these marks of punctuation (—). The president’s speech both began and ended with the word “freedom. Depending on the context, the en dash is read as “to” or “through. A dash is a little horizontal line that floats in the middle of a line of text (not at the bottom; that’s an underscore). Em Dashes Besides being my favorite piece of punctuation, an em dash (—) is used to indicate a break in thought or sentence structure, to introduce a phrase added for emphasis, definition, or explanation, or to separate two clauses. For your example: “Well, I thought you—” He stopped himself. That is much better than the translation witnessed in other systems, where a bullet in a bulleted list was changed to &bull. An em dash or a pair of em dashes may indicate a sudden break in thought or sentence structure or an interruption in dialogue. However, despite its flexibility, it can only be used. The following example from Toni Morrison’s Beloved shows both uses: “Nothing bad can happen to her. ago • Edited 2 yr. At the risk of being pedantic, an ellipsis is a single symbol, not three dots. The main difference between them is that at least some. Dashes. Don’t be confused: punctuation can change!) Also, em dashes don’t get along with periods at all. You create an em-dash by typing two hyphens, and most word processing programs will tie them automatically into the longer dash. as you would the phrase and the rest. The question mark can be followed with a dash where necessary: He left—would you believe it?—immediately after the ball. For the the complete list of the first 256 Windows ALT Codes, visit Windows ALT Codes for Special Characters & Symbols. Consider the examples below: 3. (Check out more punctuation. When typing, a hyphen looks like this: (-). Rule #5. If the second clause starts with who then it will become dependent and therefore won't be preceded by a semicolon. The em dash can be used in place of commas, colons, semicolons, and parentheses to increase sentence variety and readability. ] There’s even more explanation: If the break belongs to the surrounding sentence rather than to the quoted material, the em dashes must appear outside the quotation marks. In informal writing, feet and inches are sometimes expressed as, for example, 5′ 10″ (read: five feet and ten inches). However, I can't recall an em dash being used according to your first case in modern publishing. This eliminates option B. To format an em dash in Word, type two hyphens, with no spaces, between the words—the dash will automatically form as you continue typing. When Your Punctuation Says It All (!) 364. Of course, some may prefer the HTML markup method, where they can use it. . The patient reported taking 15 (?) milligrams of alprazolam. An em dash is a punctuation mark used in writing to denote a break or pause. However, some style guides, such as the Associated Press. The verdict was unanimous — guilty. For example, “the years 2020–2022” or “the hours 9:00 a. Actually, the rules are fairly set on spaces before or after an "em-dash" -- you don't use them. Who doesn’t like dashes as emphasis techniques? Just consider the following guidelines: • Note that em-dashes are more emphatic than commas. . Most commonly, a dash connects an independent clause with another, with a.