Different types of dashes have different uses. We can connect words or syllables, create a pause, or even show a continuation. Here are the different dashes and how to use them.
The Hyphen (-)
The hyphen connects words. The English language is an evolving language. Many words, like tonight, originality started out as two words, “to” and “night.” They then became joined with a hyphen into “to-night” and finally the words became one. That is why in older texts you can see “to-night” instead of “tonight.”
The oxford English Dictionary actually went through the dictionary and removed hyphens from 16,000 entries. So the Hyphen is dying out a little. It still has other uses, of course, to connect words.
- At the end of a line, if the word doesn’t fully fit, we can write part of the word and then use a hyphen to show that the word continues on the next line. This usage is common in newsprint where line spacing is important.
- Certain prefixes and suffixes get the hyphen treatment as well. Prefixes include: co-, pre-, mid-, etc. For common words we have lost the hyphen (example: preheat). These days using a hyphen in this way is a style option. Many people write “co-worker” just so people don’t read “cow-orker.”
- Spelling out words in writing. When we need to spell out a word, we capitalize the letters and use hyphens in between the letters. For example: W-R-I-T-E.
- Hyphens can be used as compound modifiers. This is the adverb-adjective combination that comes before a noun. For example:
American-Football player, little-known artist, etc. The adverb and adjective are joined into one group with a hyphen. It makes the writing more clear and easier to read.
Hyphens are also used in object-verbal noun groups. In this instance, the noun is grouped with the verb so that we can tell the difference between the object and noun. Wikipedia has a good example:
... "they stood near a group of alien lovers", which without a hyphen implies that they stood near a group of lovers who were aliens; "they stood near a group of alien-lovers" clarifies that they stood near a group of people who loved aliens, as "alien" can be either an adjective or a noun."
- Hyphens can be used as a conjunction. This is harder to describe, but it can link words of a phrase together, link names, link two separate adjectives, etc. Check out Wikipedia’s page on examples of hyphens here.
The En Dash (–)
This dash often gets interchanged with a hyphen sometimes as there is no standard size for this dash. It used to be that the en dash was the length of a typeface letter “n,” but now with the different fonts out there, it’s hard to differentiate what length it should be.
- En dashes really only get used with numbers. It is used in ranges of time, date, money, or other amounts. If you have a party that goes from 3pm to 5 pm, we can write it: 3–5pm. Nowadays, we can use a hyphen in this case as well, as there is no em dash key on the keyboard. However, word processing programs like Word or LibreOffice can auto-adjust this for us.
- The en dash can also join words, but for the most part, the hyphen has stolen the en dash’s job. The en dash can still be use to join differing words like love–hate.
- The en dash can also be use when joining open compound words. For example:
The North Carolina–Virginian Boarder.
The Em Dash (—)
It’s called an em dash because it is the approximate length of the letter “m.” It is suggested that you use em dashes sparingly in formal writing, but in informal writing, em dashes can be used in place of commas, parentheses, semicolons, and colons.
Examples:
You are the first — and only — friend I can rely on.
“Go away or I’ll—”
I need three items from the supermarket— cat litter, rice, and limes.
I wish I could—never mind.