\[ **BT: [[English language]]** ] --- # On the hyphen, en dash, and em dash > [!quote] > ‘The dash—to put it formally—is mark of separation stronger than a comma, less formal than a colon and more relaxed than parentheses.’ > > — Mark Tredinnick, *The Little Green Grammar Book*, p. 159. ## hyphen (-) - compound names (e.g. ‘student-teacher’ for a teacher who is still being trained) - attaching prefixes to *proper* adjectival phrases ## en dash (–) - numerical span and range (e.g. 1990–2020) - scores/results (e.g. ‘the matched ended 5–4’) - coordinate nouns (e.g. ‘the China–US situation’, ‘the Murray–Darling Basin’, ‘a doctor–patient relationship’) — ==this shows that both words are equal/retain their original meaning== - compound adjectives (e.g. ‘pre–World War II’, ‘saint–like attitude’) — ==this makes it clear that all of the words in the adjective are connected== > [!info] > By default, screen readers don’t read out dashes. This can cause confusion. It’s better to express numerical span and range with words, e.g. “she travelled from 9 to 11”. ## em dash (—) - with parenthetical statements, *with or without a space on either side of the em dash* — important to be consistent, however, and *no spaces* is, overall, the ‘mainstream’.[^1] They often come in pairs. - to indicate a sudden interruption of speech (e.g. ‘Wait, don’t touch that—’) - to indicate the absence of something (e.g. in bibliographies whose style mandates the use of the three em dashes together rather than repeat the same author’s name in subsequent items) - in place of a colon (e.g. ‘the girl chose two lollies: chocolate and vanilla’ vs ‘the girl chose two lollies—chocolate and vanilla’) --- ## bibliography Commonwealth of Australia. ‘Dashes’, *Style Manual*, December 2022. https://www.stylemanual.gov.au/grammar-punctuation-and-conventions/punctuation/dashes ‘Hyphens, En Dashes, Em Dashes’. *The Chicago Manual of Style Online*, 2017. https://www.chicagomanualofstyle.org/qanda/data/faq/topics/HyphensEnDashesEmDashes/faq0002.html ‘Punctuation Tips: What Is an En Dash?’. *Proofed*, 28 May 2020, https://getproofed.com.au/writing-tips/punctuation-tips-what-is-an-en-dash/](https://getproofed.com.au/writing-tips/punctuation-tips-what-is-an-en-dash/ ‘The Untimely Death of the Em Dash— Or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Defend the Em Dash’. *Capstone Editing*, 4 Aug. 2020, https://www.capstoneediting.com.au/blog/the-untimely-death-of-the-em-dashor-how-i-learned-to-stop-worrying-anddefend-the-em-dash. Tredinnick, Mark. *The Little Green Grammar Book*. University of New South Wales Press, 2008. Weber, Pam. *A Punctuation Guide: Em Dash or Colon*, 28 May 2022. https://inkforall.com/copy-editing/punctuation/em-dash-or-colon/ [^1]: The Chicago Manual of Style dictates there should be *no spaces* on either side of an em dash when used parenthetically. The AP Stylebook seems to be the only US style guide to put spaces on either side. The Aus Gov Style Manual removes the em dash for an en dash with spaces, but the entire reasoning is… slightly questionable (CapstonePublishing, Commonwealth of Australia); it is also the *only* Australian style guide to have proposed this (CapstonePublishing).