LONG EM DASH HOW TO

Would be written like this in UK English: Janet really didn’t want the boys to come to her party-especially not Ryan. One downside to space travel is the extortionate cost-one astronaut's space suit can cost $12 billion. That means that the em dash examples above: The convention in UK English is to use an en dash with a space either side instead of an em dash in most cases. If you're writing for a British audience, the rules are a little different. The Egyptian–Hittite peace treaty was signed in 1249.Įn and Em Dashes in UK English vs.The Lee–Lin rivalry took the badminton world by storm.I missed my Newark–Orlando connecting flight.įinally, you’ll see en dashes used to indicate an opposition or an equal partnership:.The north–south divide gets more exaggerated every year.You’ll also use en dashes between directions and destinations:

LONG EM DASH HOW TO

Wondering how to format a sports score? Use an en dash: Please read pages 225–400 by next week.Įn Dashes in Scores, Directions, and Oppositions.When you see an en dash between two numbers or dates, it means to or through. Post + Industrial Revolution = Post–Industrial Revolution.Booker Prize + winning = Booker Prize–winning.However, if one of the adjectives already has a space or a hyphen in it, some writers like to use an en dash for extra clarity. For example:Īs you can see, regular compound adjectives use a hyphen to combine words. Your first question is probably 'What on earth is a complex compound adjective?' Let’s break it down.Ī compound adjective combines two or more adjectives into one. It is used to show date and number ranges, as well as to form complex compound adjectives. Jones - leader of the opposition - is thought by many to have won the debate. Journalists writing in newspapers and magazines should add a space either side of the dash, like this: Remember when we said not to put spaces around your em dashes? If you're writing in the AP style, you need to turn that on its head. How to Use Em Dashes with the AP Style Guide However, if you’re writing something informal-like a blog post-using em dashes can create a more conversational tone. If you’re writing an academic paper, an article, or anything else that has a traditional style guide, it’s probably best to double check before you get too heavy-handed with your em dashes. Using the em dash in place of standard punctuation is widely considered to be less formal. Some editors love the em dash, others might be tempted to annotate your work with this: If you’d like to learn more about how to replace punctuation with em dashes, check out our complete guide to the em dash. You can use more than two dashes, as above, but you shouldn't use more than three em dashes in a row. The secret meeting will take place at - on.

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Some writers use two em dashes to show filtered or censored words in their text. In this example, the em dash helps link the two clauses, but the pause creates a greater sense of cause and effect. If you want to make a statistic or fact stand out, an em dash can help. Semi-colon: One downside to space travel is the extortionate cost one astronaut’s space suit can cost $12 billion.Įm dash: One downside to space travel is the extortionate cost-one astronaut's space suit can cost $12 billion. The first example tells us the same information, but it doesn’t intrigue your reader in the same way. That longer pause lets your reader know that there is a reason Ryan is not invited, and that the reason is something they should want to know more about. In the second example, the end of the sentence really stands apart from the first part. Take a look at these examples.Ĭomma: Janet really didn’t want the boys to come to her party, especially not Ryan.Įm dash: Janet really didn’t want the boys to come to her party-especially not Ryan. The em dash helps improve readability by suggesting a longer pause. The main thing to remember is that you shouldn't leave a space on either side of the dash.īut why do authors use em dashes rather than standard punctuation? The em dash can replace each of these punctuation types. When Do I Use an Em Dash? When Replacing Standard Punctuation MarksĪre you getting bored with commas, parentheses, colons, and semi-colons? The em dash might be your new best friend. How to Use Em Dashes with the AP Style Guide.

Long em dash