Use dashes
to mark the beginning and end of a series
, which might otherwise get confused, with the rest of the sentence: Example: The three female characters—the wife, the nun, and the jockey—are the incarnation of excellence. Dashes are also used to mark the interruption of a sentence in dialogue: Example: “Help!
How do you use dashes in academic writing?
- Hyphens are punctuation marks used to link multiple words.
- Use a hyphen to join words together to avoid ambiguity.
- Use a hyphen when two or more words act as a single adjective before a noun.
- Hyphenate spelled-out numbers between 21 and 99 (twenty-one, ninety-nine).
How do you use dashes in writing?
- To set off material for emphasis. Think of dashes as the opposite of parentheses. …
- To indicate sentence introductions or conclusions. …
- To mark “bonus phrases.” Phrases that add information or clarify but are not necessary to the meaning of a sentence are ordinarily set off with commas. …
- To break up dialogue.
Do you use dashes in formal writing?
Did you know that dashes are informal punctuation? When writing a formal letter or another kind of document,
you should always try to avoid informal punctuation symbols
. Dashes are one example; exclamation marks are another. … Dashes can be replaced by several other punctuations including commas, colons and brackets.
When should I use a dash?
A dash is a little horizontal line that floats in the middle of a line of text (not at the bottom: that's an underscore). It's longer than a hyphen and is commonly used
to indicate a range or a pause
. Dashes are used to separate groups of words, not to separate parts of words like a hyphen does.
How do you use dashes in dialogue?
The main things to remember are:
Use an em dash if the speaker stops mid-word
, in the same way as you'd use a hyphen. Put it inside the closing quotation marks. Use an em dash if the speaker's able to complete a word, but someone or something stops them before they finish their thought.
When should I use a dash between words?
Generally, you need the hyphen only
if the two words are functioning together as an adjective before the noun they're describing
. If the noun comes first, leave the hyphen out.
What is an example of a hyphen?
Use a hyphen to join two or more words that stand for a single adjective (describing word) before a noun. Examples:
chocolate-covered donuts
.
well-known doctor
.
How do you use a dash instead of a comma?
Use Dashes in Place of a Comma
Em dashes
can be used in pairs to replace commas when writing a parenthetical or interruptive phrase. The dashes have a slightly more emphatic feel, making the reader focus on this information that is set inside the special marks.
How do you use two dashes in a sentence?
Double dashes are
used instead of commas (or parentheses) to interrupt a sentence
. The phrase separated by dashes must be grammatically inessential, by which I simply mean that the sentence will still work without that phrase.
What does a dash mean in dialogue?
Dashes are
used to show a range or in place of parentheses to show that information has been inserted into a sentence
. Dashes are only used in informal writing; in academic and business writing, use parentheses, commas, or colons instead. Do not put a space before or after a dash.
What does a dash mean in a script?
A dash is
a punctuation mark
. An en-dash is commonly used for ranges, such as “6–10 years.” An em-dash is longer, and used to set off a phrase—often a parenthetical thought, like this—from the rest of the sentence. … And you don't need to put spaces around the dash. Screenplays are set in monospace fonts like Courier.
What does a dash mean after a word?
The dash (—) is a mark of punctuation used
to set off a word or phrase after an independent clause
or a parenthetical remark (words, phrases, or clauses that interrupt a sentence). … “A dash is a mark of separation stronger than a comma, less formal than a colon, and more relaxed than parentheses.”
Why are dashes and ellipses useful in dialogue?
As a format rule, remember that there is never a space before or after an em-dash. The ellipsis is a sign that there is missing text in quoted material. Used in dialogue, it
shows a pause in a character's speech
. In contrast, the em-dash is used to emphasize a phrase or to indicate an interruption in speech.
What words have dashes in them?
| one word two words hyphenated | aircrew air crew air-crew | playgroup play group play-group | chatroom chat room chat-room |
|---|
What kind of dash goes between dates?
An en dash
is a mid-sized dash (longer than a hyphen but shorter than an em dash) that is mostly used to show ranges in numbers and dates.
How do you use emphasis dashes?
A dash is expressed as an “em dash” ( — ) in printing, is expressed in plain
text as two hyphens ( — )
and is used in place of a comma, colon or semicolon for greater emphasis. It denotes a major break or pause and should not be overused.
How do you use dashes and hyphens?
The
dash is often used after an independent clause
. The hyphen, on the other hand, is used to join two words together like yellow-green. It usually does not have a space between the words. Also, the dash tends to be slightly longer than the hyphen, and usually would have spaces before and after the symbol.
Should there be a space before a dash?
Sometimes confused with the hyphen, a dash comes between words as a form of division, whereas a hyphen generally joins words or parts of words to indicate a connection. When typing, use two hyphens together without spaces to form a dash.
Do not put a space before or after the dash
.
What are the different types of dashes?
There are actually three different types of dashes:
the em-dash, the en-dash, and the 3-em dash
. The em-dash can be used to replace parentheses, colons, and commas.
What is AM Dash?
The em dash (—) sets off a word or clause and adds emphasis. Or, it can signal an interruption (see our article on interrupting sentences for more on that!) or amplification (“expanding”) of an idea. It's also the longest of the dashes (e.g., hyphen, en dash).
What do three dots mean in a script?
Whether I'm providing script notes or I'm proofreading scripts, I often find instances where the writer has used three dots (…) where she should have used two dashes (–), or vice versa. When used at the end of a sentence in scene description, there's
a measure of interchangeability
(I'll tackle that in another post).
Can you use ellipses in a screenplay?
3. Don't Overuse the Ellipse. The ellipse (…) can be used in place of writing pause within a parenthesis,
yes
. But with that knowledge, most screenwriters are tempted to overuse them to, once again, direct the actor's performance of the line.
Why do writers use em dashes?
Em dashes are often used
to set off parenthetical information
. Using em dashes instead of parentheses puts the focus on the information between the em dashes. … Use one before the parenthetical information and one after it. Putting spaces before and after an em dash is a matter of preference; just be consistent.
How do I create an em dash in Word?
- For Mac: press “option+shift+hyphen key”. …
- For desktop PC: press “alt+ctrl+minus” on the numeric keypad (the number section on the far right of your keyboard).
