For those who requested a post on dash v hyphen, here’s an excellent, straightforward explanation from writer and fellow corporate lackey Michelle Proulx. Did I just say “corporate lackey” out loud?
In today’s Writing Tip, we’re going to talk about dashes (—) and hyphens (-). This is a pretty intense topic, so buckle up and prepare yourself for some extreme learning.
Dashes
These cute little guys come in two varieties: em dashes (—) and en dashes (–). Can’t tell the difference? Em dashes are slightly longer. I know it doesn’t look like it, but trust me! I’m a professional. (God help us all.)
So these are the ones you use in lieu of brackets and commas to separate out phrases in a sentence (presumably there are other uses as well). I’ve seen em and en dashes used interchangeably (apparently en dashes are often used in date ranges, i.e. 1994–1998), but I favor em dashes, mostly because I like how they look. Anyway, here’s an example of dashes in action:
The awesome thing about dashes—and here I’m going to get technical, so…
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August 6th, 2014 at 10:20 am
Ok Eric, I clicked on the link and read all that. Really nice 🙂
…..and No! You’re not getting out of doing one of your own 😀
August 6th, 2014 at 11:11 am
**runs and hides**
August 6th, 2014 at 10:47 am
Dash it all!
August 6th, 2014 at 11:12 am
Hi, Phen.
August 6th, 2014 at 4:45 pm
Thanks, Eric!
August 7th, 2014 at 6:52 pm
The dash is one of my favourite forms of punctuation.
August 7th, 2014 at 7:49 pm
“Favourite” is my favourite spelling of “favorite.”