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An em dash can be used to replace commas, parentheses, colons, and semicolons, or to show an interruption in a sentence. Remember, that em dashes in place of other punctuation should be used sparingly, but for interruptions it is the primary form of punctuation that is used.

What Is an Em Dash? An em dash (—) is a punctuation mark that we can use in a variety of different situations. It is longer than both the en dash (–) and the hyphen (-) and we use em dashes in sentences in unique ways to the other two. An em dash or long dash (—) is what…

Dates and Time As we’ve already covered the reasons behind using an en dash here, we’ll jump straight in with some examples of how to use them below. We used one of them incorrectly. See if you can spot which one: 1) I work 9–5.       (Correct) 2) Sally’s working hours are from 8–4. …

There should be very few cases in which an individual might confuse the en dash, colon, and semicolon because en dashes are just not used similarly. Em dashes would be more commonly mistakenly used, because they serve similar purposes in a sentence. Colons can create emphasis in a sentence, just like an em dash can. Semicolons are primarily used…

The most common mistake when using en dashes has already been covered, but it is such a common problem. Although we have already warned you about using ‘from’ and ‘between’ and en dashes, we are going to repeat ourselves because it is an issue that many people do without thinking, but it is grammatically incorrect. ‘From’…

As it was already mentioned, there isn’t an en dash key on a typical computer keyboard. Under no circumstances does it mean that you should avoid using this punctuation mark in your writing or replace it with an em dash or a hyphen. Depending on the program you’re using, there are shortcuts you can use.…

The most confusing thing about an en dash is the fact that it is so similar to two other punctuation marks, the em dash and the hyphen. However, they are only similar in appearance. The uses of each of them are very different, so you should be very careful when choosing between these three. En Dash…

The most common mistake people will make when using the en dash is accidentally using it in a sentence when they have already set up the dates or times in a way that requires words to be used, not an en dash. If we look at the correct examples from earlier, we’ll show you how…

When to Use an En Dash Dates and Time We use the en dash between numbers to signal time in terms of dates, like this ‘1987–2020’, it shows that the period spans from 1987 to 2020. When reading en dashes in this context, you can read it as ‘to’. You can also use it to refer to the spanning…

En dashes are the mid-sized dashes (longer than a hyphen, shorter than an em dash) and we use them to either show the span of time, dates or scores, or to show connection or conflict between two words that would not ordinarily be joined. If we have set up the sentence using ‘from’ or ‘between’…