The en dash: Marking a range Other uses of the en dash British style: En dashes in place of em dashes The em dash: Marking a break in a sentence Em dashes can be used in pairs to mark off additional information that is not essential to understand the sentence. Here they function simil...
The em dash (—) is longer than both the hyphen and the en dash. It is named after its approximate width, which is equal to the width of the letter “M”. It offers a more dramatic pause or interruption within the text and serves as a break in the flow of a sentence. Acting as ...
Hyphen use While we said above that the em dash, also called the “common dash,” is the most common of the true dashes, hyphens show up more frequently in text. They have a variety of uses. Hyphens are used to link elements in compound words. a baker-owner In some words, a hyp...
We can also use em dashes to cut off thoughts or dialogue, as in the example below. “Then we went to this really nice café and he—oh! Look at that squirrel!” Examples of Using an Em Dash in a Sentence Here are some more examples em dashes in sentences. He asked—well, more...
How to put the em dash into a sentence Now that you know when you can use an em dash, it's important not to overboard with it. Twice per sentence is plenty. There's no set rule for how many times you can use it per page, use your best judgement. ...
anem dashis the longest of the dashes. it has multiple uses, making it a especially useful in informal writing or fiction. use theem dashto indicate an interruption or an abrupt change in thought. what’s more, anem dashcan also signal a sentence break when you want to clarify something ...
The other type of dash is the em-dash. This dash is longer than the en-dash and is about the size of the letter M in width. This is how it might look in a sentence: “Once the mayor collected all of the votes on the matter—a total of 385—he was then able to get a feel ...
Dashes emphasize information, show breaks or changes in thought, and connect related ideas in a sentence. Writers often use dashes instead of commas, periods, or parentheses. There are three kinds of dashes: en dash, em dash, and double hyphen. The en dash and em dash appear frequently. Wh...
How to use em dashes Em dashes are used in much the same way as commas but indicate a harder break in the sentence. They are the longest dash and generally used sparingly to emphasize an important piece of information or to provide clarity to a long, complicated sentence. For example: ...
Here are the situations you might use an em dash: 1. To insert a phrase into the middle of a sentence as a stronger comma. Em dashes might be used instead of a comma if there are a lot of commas already used in a sentence or paragraph and you want to switch it up, or for a ...