{"id":670,"date":"2009-06-02T09:31:37","date_gmt":"2009-06-02T15:31:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/?p=670"},"modified":"2021-05-26T10:21:38","modified_gmt":"2021-05-26T15:21:38","slug":"dashes-vs-hyphens","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/dashes\/dashes-vs-hyphens\/","title":{"rendered":"Dashes vs. Hyphens"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sometimes it can be easy to confuse dashes with hyphens when writing or editing content. For example, you might see text such as 9am-5pm<\/em> in one reference and\u00a09am\u20135pm\u00a0<\/em>in another. Which is correct? The two different marks do not interfere with our understanding of the intended information; however, one mark is more precise than the other. Being able to distinguish dashes and hyphens adds another useful instrument to our communicator’s toolbox.<\/p>\n

Hyphens<\/h2>\n

In formal writing, a hyphen’s main function is to join two or more separate words, as in a compound noun, a compound modifier, or certain terms with a prefix.<\/p>\n

Hyphen in a compound noun:\u00a0<\/strong>well-being, dry-cleaning, hocus-pocus, merry-go-round
\n<\/em>Hyphen in a compound modifier:\u00a0<\/strong>blue-green<\/em> sky,\u00a0much-heralded\u00a0<\/em>activist,\u00a0true-to-form\u00a0<\/em>performance
\nHyphen with a prefix:\u00a0<\/strong>self-help, self-motivated, ex-Marine, mid-Atlantic<\/em><\/p>\n

Other uses of hyphens include:<\/p>\n

clarifying words that are otherwise identical:<\/strong> re-cover\u00a0<\/em>(as opposed to recover),\u00a0re-form <\/em>(as opposed to\u00a0reform<\/em>).
\nseparating vowels that might complicate reading if left together: <\/strong>pre-empt, anti-inflation, pro-ownership<\/em>.
\nspelling out numbers and fractions: <\/strong>twenty-five, seventy-eight, one-third<\/em>.
\nseparating non-inclusive numbers: <\/strong>888-555-2374, edict 74-54-293<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Dashes<\/h2>\n

In formal writing, dashes have two common forms: the em dash and the en dash.<\/p>\n

The em dash<\/a><\/strong> primarily replaces commas, semicolons, colons, ellipses, and parentheses to indicate added emphasis, an interruption, or an abrupt change of thought.<\/p>\n

Examples<\/strong><\/em>
\nYou are the friend\u2014the only friend\u2014who offered to help me. (The em dash replaces commas.)
\nI pay the bills\u2014they have the fun. (The em dash replaces a semicolon.)
\n<\/em>Throughout the game, he was able to rely on his three core pitches\u2014fastball, slider, change-up. (The em dash replaces a colon.)
\nI was considering something more along the lines of\u2014oh, forget it. Your idea is fine. (The em dash replaces ellipses.)
\nHelena wants her diet to contain more fruit\u2014e.g., apples, oranges, and strawberries. (The em dash replaces parentheses.)<\/p>\n

The en dash<\/a><\/strong> is shorter than an em dash but longer than a hyphen. It has two main functions. One is to connect continuing, inclusive numbers.<\/p>\n

Examples
\n<\/strong><\/em>pages 11\u201323
\n<\/strong><\/em>1969\u20131981
\nfiscal year 2020\u201321<\/p>\n

The other function is to punctuate compound modifiers that include an open compound or two or more hyphenated compounds.<\/em><\/p>\n

Examples
\n<\/strong><\/em>ice cream\u2013flavored chewing gum (not\u00a0ice-cream-flavored<\/em>)
\n<\/strong><\/em>Canada\u2013New Zealand flight (not\u00a0Canada-New-Zealand<\/em>)
\npseudo-scientific\u2013pseudo-psychiatric self-help theory (not\u00a0pseudo-scientific-pseudo-psychiatric<\/em>)<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Pop Quiz<\/h2>\n

Choose the correct mark\u2014a hyphen, an em dash, or an en dash\u2014for each of the following sentences.<\/p>\n

1. Alphonso attended the University of Illinois 1981[- \/ \u2013 \/ \u2014]1985.<\/p>\n

2. I never imagined I’d like music so much[- \/ \u2013 \/ \u2014]until I bought and played a Fender Strat, that is.<\/p>\n

3. My brother lives near the California[- \/ \u2013 \/ \u2014]Oregon border.<\/p>\n

4. The new healthcare initiative would cover pre[- \/ \u2013 \/ \u2014]existing conditions.<\/p>\n

5. Scott is stalling on negotiations[- \/ \u2013 \/ \u2014]his modus operandi[- \/ \u2013 \/ \u2014]because he wants us to flinch on pricing first.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Pop Quiz Answers<\/h3>\n

1. Alphonso attended the University of Illinois 1981\u20131985<\/strong>. (en dash)<\/p>\n

2. I never imagined I’d like music so much\u2014until<\/strong> I bought and played a Fender Strat, that is. (em dash)<\/p>\n

3. My brother lives near the California-Oregon<\/strong> border. (hyphen)<\/p>\n

4. The new healthcare initiative would cover pre-existing<\/strong> conditions. (hyphen)<\/p>\n

5. Scott is stalling on negotiations\u2014his modus operandi\u2014<\/strong>because he wants us to flinch on pricing first. (em dashes)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sometimes it can be easy to confuse dashes with hyphens when writing or editing content. For example, you might see text such as 9am-5pm in one reference and\u00a09am\u20135pm\u00a0in another. Which is correct? The two different marks do not interfere with our understanding of the intended information; however, one mark is more precise than the other. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[38],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-670","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-dashes"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/670"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=670"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/670\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4929,"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/670\/revisions\/4929"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=670"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=670"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=670"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}