An Editor's Tips for Writers
Saturday, September 30, 2006
Tip #5: Those darn dashes - which to use where?
Well, I'm back from a summer full of travel - short trips around our lovely province, mostly, editing work and laptop in tow - and a wildly busy month of editing this September. It's been some time since I've updated this blog, but I maintain the excuse that I'm not really the blog type.
Having said that, today I'm going to address what is largely a subject of annoyance and confusion to many writers. That is, the three common kinds of dashes, and where to use each of them properly.
First, there's the hyphen. The smallest member of the dash family, it's used primarily for - you may have guessed it - hyphenation of compound words. If you follow this simple rule, you can't really go wrong. It's also used to separate numbers (such as in a phone number), or to separate letters in a word that is spelled out. Try to avoid hyphens in URLs; they can create ambiguity at line breaks.
The second-longest dash is called an en dash (in the olden days of typesetting, this was considered the length of the letter n). The main use of an en dash is to connect numbers and indicate ranges, including date ranges (1943-2006) and page ranges (pp. 167-179). The Chicago Manual of Style - 15th Edition, says, "In this use it signifies up to and including (or through). For the sake of parallel construction the word to, never the en dash, should be used if the word from precedes the first element." The same goes for and and between.
The en dash can also be used with spaces on either side to serve in place of a comma or brackets, as a pause in the sentence, or to insert and amplify or explain a related idea. Chicago doesn't recommend this, however, and neither do I. I prefer the em dash - I think it simply is more aesthetically pleasing - but it's your choice.
The third kind of common dash is the aforementioned em dash, which is the most common and versatile of all the dashes (in the olden days of typesetting, this was considered the length of the letter m). Use a pair of em dashes in the same way I described in the preceding paragraph - to amplify or elaborate on a related idea in a sentence. In dialogue, use an em dash in particular to indicate if the speaker is interrupted or if there is a sudden break in the speaker's idea (say, for example, a loud thundercap) or sentence structure. Use three dots (an ellipsis) only when the speaker's voice is trailing off.
Both the en and em dash can be found in "Symbols" under the Insert pulldown menu in Microsoft Word. When editing, I use a carat mark and simply write "N" or "M" above it to indicate the insertion of this mark.
Finally, you may have noticed that I'm rather ironically not using en or em dashes in this blog. I only wish I could! Some computer software and e-mail programs simply do not allow for their use, so I have to resort to using a hyphen - or two hyphens in a row - with spaces on either side, to indicate a longer dash. I've been known to copy and paste em dashes from MS Word into my e-mails simply to make my meaning clearer. Perhaps you already do this too!
Having said that, today I'm going to address what is largely a subject of annoyance and confusion to many writers. That is, the three common kinds of dashes, and where to use each of them properly.
First, there's the hyphen. The smallest member of the dash family, it's used primarily for - you may have guessed it - hyphenation of compound words. If you follow this simple rule, you can't really go wrong. It's also used to separate numbers (such as in a phone number), or to separate letters in a word that is spelled out. Try to avoid hyphens in URLs; they can create ambiguity at line breaks.
The second-longest dash is called an en dash (in the olden days of typesetting, this was considered the length of the letter n). The main use of an en dash is to connect numbers and indicate ranges, including date ranges (1943-2006) and page ranges (pp. 167-179). The Chicago Manual of Style - 15th Edition, says, "In this use it signifies up to and including (or through). For the sake of parallel construction the word to, never the en dash, should be used if the word from precedes the first element." The same goes for and and between.
The en dash can also be used with spaces on either side to serve in place of a comma or brackets, as a pause in the sentence, or to insert and amplify or explain a related idea. Chicago doesn't recommend this, however, and neither do I. I prefer the em dash - I think it simply is more aesthetically pleasing - but it's your choice.
The third kind of common dash is the aforementioned em dash, which is the most common and versatile of all the dashes (in the olden days of typesetting, this was considered the length of the letter m). Use a pair of em dashes in the same way I described in the preceding paragraph - to amplify or elaborate on a related idea in a sentence. In dialogue, use an em dash in particular to indicate if the speaker is interrupted or if there is a sudden break in the speaker's idea (say, for example, a loud thundercap) or sentence structure. Use three dots (an ellipsis) only when the speaker's voice is trailing off.
Both the en and em dash can be found in "Symbols" under the Insert pulldown menu in Microsoft Word. When editing, I use a carat mark and simply write "N" or "M" above it to indicate the insertion of this mark.
Finally, you may have noticed that I'm rather ironically not using en or em dashes in this blog. I only wish I could! Some computer software and e-mail programs simply do not allow for their use, so I have to resort to using a hyphen - or two hyphens in a row - with spaces on either side, to indicate a longer dash. I've been known to copy and paste em dashes from MS Word into my e-mails simply to make my meaning clearer. Perhaps you already do this too!
# posted by Arlene Prunkl @ 10:33 AM 
