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The En Dash (–)
What is an En Dash? An en dash (–) is a punctuation mark that is wider than a hyphen (-) but narrower than an em dash (—). It gets its name because typically the en dash is similar in length to the letter N and the em dash is similar in length to the letter M. Many writers neglect the N…
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Examples of Using Hyphens in Sentences
Again, we’ve already looked closely at many different ways to use it, so this section will just include examples of all the ones you will most commonly come across in sentences so you can see the hyphen in action a little more! Compound Words Prefixes Compound Modifiers Numbers Fractions To Indicate A Stammer With High…
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The Key Hyphen Rules
This is the one rule to remember above all others to avoid making grammar mistakes. A hyphen should only be used when a participle is used in a compound adjective when you use the words before the noun you are describing. Because we’ve covered this a couple of times now, we’d like to put you to the test. Decide whether…
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Hyphen vs. Em Dash
An em dash (—) is again, very different from a hyphen (-). Em dashes are used to replace punctuation (such as commas, parentheses, colons, and semicolons) or are used to show an interruption or represent missing words or parts of a word. Hyphens have many uses, but it does not replace punctuation like em dashes do. The…
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Hyphen vs. En Dash
An en dash (–) is very different from a hyphen (-). En dashes are used to show a span or a range, a score, or a conflict/connection between two words. A hyphen would likely be confused with an en dash when joining words. Remember though that the connection/conflict that en dashes are used for are…
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Common Hyphen Mistakes and How to Avoid
There’s really only one rule when it comes to hyphens, but breaking this rule is surprisingly common. Besides that, any mistakes are largely due to confusing hyphens with em dashes and en dashes. First, we’ll highlight the differences between hyphens and em dashes and en dashes, and then we’ll take a closer look at the…
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When not to Use a Hyphen
As we’ve already discussed, if a participle (a verb acting as a noun or adjective) is part of the compound word to describe a noun it should only be hyphenated if it comes before the noun. Here is one more example to make that clearer: When the noun (in this case the officer) that you are describing…
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When to Use a Hyphen
How and When to Use a Hyphen There are many different ways that a hyphen can be used. Unlike the em dash or the en dash, hyphens are far more common in writing and it has a variety of different functions. We’ll try to cover them all throughout this guide, but you may come across…
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“A Hyphen is a Type of Dash?”
A hyphen is indeed a type of dash. But it works very differently from the others, and will only ever be found within words to show that they have been compounded or joined together to form one meaning. Some people may refer to other dashes as a long hyphen, but again this isn’t strictly speaking correct.…