The Three Different Kinds of Dash

The Three Different Kinds of Dash 

In English, there are three dash-like punctuation marks: the hyphen, the en dash, and the em dash. Although these punctuation marks appear quite similar, each of them has a slightly different purpose.

The hyphen (-) is the shortest of the dashes. It has a number of different uses:

• To connect the two parts of a word when one part of the word is on one line and the other part is on the next line. You don’t usually see this anymore since most word processors automatically adjust to avoid splitting words across lines.
• To connect parts of a compound word (e.g., son-in-law, well-being, twenty-one).
• To connect groups of numbers or characters, such as phone numbers or number plates (e.g., 555-555-555, ABC-123).

The en dash (–) is longer than the hyphen. It is mainly used to connect numbers, dates, and other similar things that provide a range of values:

• To connect numbers which form a range (e.g., World War II took place during 1939–1945).
• To join months which form a range (e.g., He worked at the hotel June–October).

The em dash (—) is the longest of the three dashes. It has a variety of uses:

• It can be used in place of commas to set off parts of a sentence (e.g., John drew his gun—a single-action Colt—and levelled it at the sheriff; John drew his gun, a single-action Colt, and levelled it at the sheriff).
• It can be used in place of parentheses to emphasise what would have gone in parentheses (e.g., Amy was a wonderful teacher—her students always improved; Amy was a wonderful teacher (her students always improved); Michael liked a bit of mischief—who didn’t? —but he always took it too far; Michael liked a bit of mischief (who didn’t?), but he always took it too far).
• It can be used to replace a colon to draw attention to the conclusion (e.g., The test results were in—she passed; The test results were in: she passed).
• It can be used to indicate when speech is being interrupted (e.g., “Don’t—”)
• It can be used to denote missing words or letters (e.g., Agent J — — was sent to spy on the targets).
• It can be used to provide bullet points for lists.

As you can see, all three of these dashes serve a different purpose. However, there has been some disagreement about whether or not it is acceptable to use one particular kind of dash over the other. 

Traditionally, the em dash is used without a space on either side of it (as you can see from the examples given above). However, there are style guides (e.g., the AP and most newspapers) that suggest flanking the em dash with spaces (i.e., having a space on either side of it).

One of the issues that has been raised with the em dash is that it looks rather hideous. The em dash can be quite disruptive from a visual perspective, drawing the reader’s attention away from the actual words of the text. Simply flanking the em dash with spaces does not solve this issue. It may, in fact, even make it worse.

My preference – and the preference of quite a few others – is to abandon the em dash in favour of using an en dash flanked by spaces (i.e., an en dash with spaces on either side). Indeed, that is what I have just done. Those who have adopted this approach typically do so because they feel that an en dash flanked by spaces is less intrusive but still manages to do the job. 

You might be surprised by my stance on this issue, given my support for correct grammar. However, one of the purposes of correct grammar is to aid communication, and I believe the en dash does this by being several million times easier on the eye than the em dash.

If you found this little jaunt into punctuation interesting, you can find more of my thoughts on writing and grammar here.

I also write original fiction (mostly fantasy), which you can find here.