When to use a dash or hyphen in a sentence?
A hyphen joins two or more words together while a dash separates words into parenthetical statements. The two are sometimes confused because they look so similar, but their usage is different. Hyphens are not separated by spaces, while a dash has a space on either side.
How do you know when to hyphenate a word?
Generally, you need the hyphen only if the two or more words are functioning together as an adjective before the noun they’re describing. If the noun comes first, leave the hyphen out. This wall is load bearing. It’s impossible to eat this cake because it is rock hard.
What is the rule for dashes?
1. To set off material for emphasis. Think of dashes as the opposite of parentheses. Where parentheses indicate that the reader should put less emphasis on the enclosed material, dashes indicate that the reader should pay more attention to the material between the dashes.
What is the difference between an en dash and a hyphen?
En dashes, which are about the width of an upper-case N, are often mistaken for hyphens. But, traditionally, en dashes function as a kind of super hyphen. They’re meant to give you a little extra glue when you have a compound modifier that includes a multi-word element that can’t easily be hyphenated.
What is an example of dash?
A dash can be used between times and dates. (A dash will usually replace the words from…to or between…and.) For example: USSR existed 1922–1991….(1) Using Dashes with Ranges (e.g., Times and Dates)
| Time | Event |
|---|---|
| 0830–0930 | Lesson 1 |
| 0930–1230 | Lessons 2–3 |
What is a hyphen used for?
A hyphen is used to join two or more words that together form an adjective, where this adjective is used before the noun it describes. The hyphen is omitted when the adjective so formed comes after the noun or pronoun it describes.
What is the purpose of a dash in a sentence?
What is the difference between a dash and a hyphen?
Hyphens: A hyphen is a punctuation mark that’s most commonly used to join compound nouns or a compound noun and a gerund into a single word — for example, dog-friendly restaurants or speedy check-ins. A hyphen is its own thing and shouldn’t be interchanged with other dashes. Which is longer — a hyphen or a dash? A dash is longer than a hyphen.
What is a dash in English grammar?
Dashes: A dash is used to separate words or groups of words. They essentially stand for a pause or a range. There are two types of dashes: the em dash and the en dash. We’ll go into detail about these two later in this guide.
When do you use a hyphen in English grammar?
An em dash is about the same width as the letter M, and the en dash is just about the same width as the letter N. There are multiple scenarios in English grammar where hyphens are necessary. Here are the different times you’ll need to use a hyphen and examples of each. Connecting two words with a hyphen can be done with compound modifiers.
Is it an en dash or an em dash?
It’s a minefield and we’d rather leave this matter to the printers. In the eleventh edition of The Blue Book of Grammar and Punctuation (February 2014), and on our GrammarBook.com website, we are letting the hyphen do the work of the en dash, and the em dash is simply now the dash or long dash.