The mighty mighty em dash

Oct 25th, 2006 by Accidental Thinker

Today, boys and girls, we take a brief time out from normal blogging for a little lesson in punctuation. Today, I’m going to educate you about the underutilized mark known as the em dash. Never to be confused with the lowly hyphen.

Folks, way too many people out there are using a hyphen or two (like this â€‹-â€‹ or this -â€‹-) when they mean an em dash (like this â€”) or maybe its cousin, the en dash (like this â€“).

So what is an em dash and why should you care? Humor me for a moment while I explain the difference. Then I’m going to teach you how to create these misunderstood punctuation marks for yourself.

A hyphen (-) is the smallest dash, except that technically, it’s not a dash at all. The hyphen, as it is accurately called, is used for compound words, to hyphenate words at line breaks, and to separate strings of numbers that don’t represent a range, such as your phone number (800-555-1234) or social security number (123-45-6789). Or you might use it when spelling out a word, like h-y-p-h-e-n. That’s pretty much it. Just about any other use of this key on your keyboard is incorrect, typographically speaking.

An en dash (â€“) is slightly longer than a hyphen. Often the same width as the letter N, to be exact. Hence the name “en” dash. It is generally used to connect ranges of numbers or related text. If you can substitute the word “to” in place of the dash, an en dash is your correct choice. For example, you would use an en dash for:

pages (pp. 28â€“35)
dates (Mondayâ€“Friday; November 2â€“5)
times (8:00 a.m.â€“5:00 p.m.)
Bible verses (Matthew 28:18â€“20)
a relationship between two locations (New Yorkâ€“Los Angeles flight)
sports scores, vote counts, and other number relationships (we won 27â€“2)

Sometimes the en dash can even be used instead of a hyphen, but consult your handy dandy reference manual for the precise rules around this. This blog post is not titled “The mighty mighty en dash,” after allâ€”though there is a correctly used example of en dash as hyphen within this post, if you can spot it. In any case, only the punctuation nazis (that might be me) are going to notice if you sneak in a hyphen where an en dash is required. I’ve been known to do it myself, out of sheer laziness.

An em dash (â€”) is the longest dash, the width of the letterâ€”say it with meâ€”M. My beloved em dash is a super comma of sorts. It sets off a thought or phrase within your sentence in a way that is stronger than a comma, less severe than a colon or semi-colon, and less interruptive to your flow than parentheses. It’s not right for every parenthetical or explanatory thoughtâ€”or even most such thoughtsâ€”but it has its place in the annals of punctuation. And it’s been overlooked by far too many people.

But that’s okay, you deprived nonâ€“em dash users. You have a good excuse. Do you even know how to create an em dash on your keyboard? I didn’t think so. Not many people do, unless they are power em dash users like me. You really have to love the em dash to go to all the trouble of adding one to your document. Lucky for you, I’m going to show you how. It turns out that our good friend Bill Gates has given us a few cumbersome, but not too difficult to remember, ways to do this.

EM DASH (in MS Word)

EN DASH (in MS Word)

From the menu:

select Insert
select Symbol…
select the Special Characters tab
Select Em Dash
Select Insert
Select Close

From the menu:

select Insert
select Symbol…
select the Special Characters tab
Select En Dash
Select Insert
Select Close

Using Autocorrect:
(if you have this feature turned on)

Type two hyphens (-â€‹-) with NO spaces on either side.
When you finish the word after the second hyphen, the hyphens will automatically correct to an em dash.

Using Autocorrect:
(if you have this feature turned on)

Type two hyphens ( -â€‹-Â ) with ONE space on either side.
When you finish the word after the second hyphen, the hyphens will automatically correct to an en dash.
In most uses, the en dash should not be surrounded by spaces. You’ll need to go back and delete the spaces.

Keyboard shortcut:

Ctrl+Alt+Num-
(Num- is the minus sign on your number keybad, NOT the hyphen/underscore key)

Keyboard shortcut:

Ctrl+Num-
(Num- is the minus sign on your number keybad, NOT the hyphen/underscore key)

By now, the observant ones among you are asking, “But what happens when I’m not using Word?” I feel your pain, fellow bloggers. I feel your pain. Like right now, for instance, as I write this blog in an application not dreamed up by the fine minds of Microsoft. Friends, now you know. For every em dash you have ever viewed on this website, I have painstakingly typed out the arcane combination of Alt+0151 (Alt+0150 for the en dashes). It was not easy, but for you, I have committed these cryptic numbers to memory.

Why do I bother, you might ask? True, it’s hard to be pro em dash in a blogging world, but I’m sticking to my guns. I care because I’m a perfectionist. Case in point: I have a friend who told me recently that she’s never seen a typo in my blog. Ever. While that’s giving me more credit than I deserve (but go ahead and try to find a typo that hasn’t already been found and corrected by me, I double dog dare youâ€”a prize might be involved for whomever finds one first), I AM a stickler for the rules. Allowing for creative license, of course.

And also because I happen to like the beauty of the em dash. Two hyphens? Well, that’s just ugly. It’s fractured punctuation in need of repair.

A final thought on the em dash before I depart the subject. The use of spaces surrounding the em dash is often considered a matter of stylistic preference. My reference of choice, The Chicago Manual of Style, 15th edition, says no to a space between the em dash and the surrounding words. Others say differently. It’s up to youâ€”just be consistent with whatever you choose. Your readers will thank you.

Posted in Favorites, Writing |

27 Responses to “The mighty mighty em dash”

on 25 Oct 2006 at 8:12 pm1Dad

I swear I have nothing to do with this. It must be your mother’s genes. Dad
on 25 Oct 2006 at 11:46 pm2Paul N.

I’ll bet you left the word Bible uncapitalized, just so I’d see it and win this hard-fought “find the typo” contest.

What do I win? Huh? Huh? Ice cream, maybe? Or how about a free trip to the World Series Web site?

And by the way, have you noticed that I use em dashes on my blog posts? Can you even open my blog? I can’t right now. (Go Blogger!!)
on 25 Oct 2006 at 11:48 pm3Paul N.

But otherwise, an outstanding post. Good job; well done. I want you on my team.
on 26 Oct 2006 at 12:04 am4Monique

Daddy: All those years of lectures in the car (I smell a blog post in that somewhere) when you thought I wasn’t listening? I took away an important lessonâ€”to do the best I could at whatever I did, including, apparently, punctuation. (And notice my clever use of the em dash in that sentence.) Unless it has to do with cooking or cleaning, in which case my best is to let someone else do it. I know my own limitations.

Paul: Uh, I did it on purpose, uh, yeah, that’s it, uh… rats. Duly noted and corrected. Ice cream… you win ice cream. Good choice.

Now let’s see if I scared off all my other readers with the word “punctuation” in the first sentence.
on 26 Oct 2006 at 8:28 am5Chepin

Your ‘hyphen’ and ‘en dash’ characters look suspiciously the same, to my untrained eye. Maybe I need to break out the ruler!! 🙂
on 26 Oct 2006 at 8:58 am6Karen

Ah, the power of the em dash! I learned about it in English and have all my Word programs (at home and two at work) set for the — to be turned to an em dash. You rock and thank you for your extra work in making this wonderful character come to life in your blog 🙂 Now, what I want to know is, how do I get it to work in the comments?
on 26 Oct 2006 at 10:47 am7Monique

Chepin: Blame the typographer who created the font used in this blog. Had the typographer accurately rendered the en dash character, it would indeed be the same width as the letter N and visibly longer than the hyphen. Rest assured that the en dashes are really en dashes. If you need more than just my word, check out the HTML source code (which you should be able to do in any browser). You will see some funny looking code like this (–) wherever an en dash appears.

Karen: Hold down the Alt key and while keeping it depressed, type 0151. This is a universal code that works in all PC/Windows applications. Iâ€™m not sure about the Mac.
on 26 Oct 2006 at 3:45 pm8Jennifer

This made me laugh out loud. I’m a perfectionist myself, but after reading this? Well, I now understand that editors do serve a purpose, after all.

I’ll write. Let *them* worry about these details. If someone must! 🙂
on 26 Oct 2006 at 10:01 pm9Miss Cellania

I never knew any of this stuff! You’d think they’d give us a key for it.

ÂºÂ¡âˆžÂ¡

No, that Alt stuff doesn’t work on a Mac.
on 27 Oct 2006 at 9:50 pm10Coll

Wow.. I learn something new everyday. 🙂
on 28 Oct 2006 at 7:32 am11Herb

One of my favorite books is “Eats, shoots and leaves.” I found your post interesting and will bookmark it to try to remember. I don’t like typos in my stuff either.
on 28 Oct 2006 at 8:29 pm12Mike

Huh. 😉
on 29 Oct 2006 at 3:03 am13Muzik

…and this is why I’m such a huge fan of the ellipsis…
on 31 Oct 2006 at 5:33 pm14Paul N.

Monique, I just posted the solution to the “Save and Close” dilema in MS Lookout. Thought you’d be interested.
on 01 Nov 2006 at 1:10 pm15Jess

Wow. I bow before your grammatical excellence. 🙂

Signed, Another Fan of the Ellipsis
on 01 Nov 2006 at 7:01 pm16LAZY Blogger

Monique ~ My daughter-in-law is a college English teacher and she is forever wincing at my blog post contents for all the WRONG punctuation and poor grammar, but I can’t say she’s “NOT RIGHT”, but I think she has just quit trying to teach ME! ~ jb///
on 01 Nov 2006 at 7:11 pm17Fred

I’m glad I don’t teach English. Too much detail for me.

I won’t look back on my former posts. I think I may have made a few errors.
on 09 Nov 2006 at 11:55 am18Marisa

I’m buying you a pocket protector for Christmas!
on 19 Nov 2006 at 4:31 pm19EF

Thanks for the two keyboard shortcuts for the “en” and the “em” dashes. Back in the early ’90’s I had a list of several short cuts using the “Alt” key along with 4 digits but lost the folder containing them about 6 years ago. When I sat down today, some years later, I tried to create the “em” dash again but couldn’t.

I remembered the 0151 along with one of the keys (Shift, or Alt, or Ctlâ€”couldn’t remember which), but got stuck on the Ctl key for some reason) would bring up the “em” dash but was using the “Ctl” key instead of the “Alt” key and being doubtful of my memory regarding the 4-digits, when that combination didn’t work, I gave up, assuming I had just forgotten, then decided to use Google to see if there may be a link to anyone or anywhere that I might find it. Lo and and behold, I found this site. ALT + 0151!!!! GREAT!!!

Thank you! Using the two hyphens used to work on my word processor, but for some reason, it no longer does, and like the blogger here, I do not like to see two hyphens posing as an “em” dash! 🙁

I guess this just goes to show that it really doesn’t take much to make this lady happy!
on 19 Nov 2006 at 6:02 pm20EF

I see my errors. Pardon me. That’s what happens when one tries to cook and surf the Internet at the same time.
on 17 Jan 2007 at 6:06 am21Mark

Monique,

on October 25th, 2006, you wrote:

â€œWhile thatâ€™s giving me more credit than I deserve (but go ahead and try to find a typo that hasnâ€™t already been found and corrected by me, I double dog dare youâ€”a prize might be involved for whoever finds one first), I AM a stickler for the rules.â€

Shouldn’t that be â€œfor whomever finds one first?â€ Kind of an ironic sentence in which to confuse nominative and objective case….

Anyway, do I get a prize?
on 17 Jan 2007 at 8:10 pm22Monique

Mark is correct. I failed to apply my standard who/whom test. Yikes! I have corrected my error and all is right with the world.
on 04 Jun 2007 at 10:28 am23Accidental Thinker » Happy Blog-iversary to me!

[…] The mighty mighty em dash (22 comments) […]
on 24 Sep 2008 at 12:05 pm24Accidental Thinker » Blog Archive » National Punctuation Day

[…] Punctuation Day. In honor of this special occasion, please join me in once again celebrating the merits of the em dash. This classic punctuational post receives frequent Google hits from visitors desperate to learn […]
on 14 Jan 2009 at 1:47 pm25Sarah

THANK YOU so much for this information!!
I can not tell you how helpful this knowledge is. The codes are especially key to implementing these rules day to day.
on 14 Jul 2009 at 6:00 pm26Marti

My mom recently sent me a shirt that displays, “I am the grammarian about whom your mother warned you.”
Anyone who would write a thousand-word post (yes, that’s a hyphen) on the merits of the em-dash deserves similar attire.

I told our critique group the other day that I was a reformed comma addict. I will confess that this holds true for the em-dash as well. Its (not it’s, ) most appropriate use isâ€”despite what general use might revealâ€”to mark interruptions of thought. And yes, I used it intentionally in the previous sentence.

BTW, if you can’t deal with the Alt + stuff (I couldn’t make it work), you can always cut and paste from Word. Works for me.
on 25 Jul 2011 at 2:52 pm27Jenn

I can’t get the em dash to appear when I use the keyboard combination on my laptop. It’s driving me nuts! I blog using Blogger, and I know I can copy and paste using my character map, but that’s really a pain in the rear. Is there any reason you know of that might be causing it not to work? I am following the keystroke instructions EXACTLY when I am writing my blog in draft mode, but absolutely nothing appears when I use the key combination.

Could it be my browser? I’m using Firefox. Anyone have any thoughts?

I know I could theoretically copy and paste the entire blog from Word, but I don’t have Word licensed on my laptop, which is what I use for blogging. Suggestions? Thanks! I want to stop doing the stupid “–” that I’ve been using so far in place of the em dash!

Thanks, Jenn
-Jenn