En dash, Em dash, and Hyphen—Oh, my!
Did you realize there are so many choices for adding a tiny little line between letters, numbers, and words on the page? The good news is, your editor and proofreader do. They’ll happily transform one into the other to professionally polish your book. But if you want to understand which dash goes where, keep reading.
The Hyphen –
Let’s start with the tiny little line on the key at the top of your keyboard. It is the smallest mark and all you have to do is hit the key by itself to make your mark.
This dash is most commonly found linking two words together to form a compound adjective when it’s used before a noun.
The red-faced man burned with anger.
The teacher wrote her comments in the right-hand margin.
I’m wearing my navy-blue shoes. BUT (Watch where the noun is.) The shoes are navy blue.
You’ll also find a hyphen at the end of a line when a longer word must break onto the next line (word breaks). Ideally, this will fall either at the hyphen in an already-hyphenated word, or between syllables. (Never allow a word break in a proper noun.)
After putting on his coat, Doug wrapped the dark-
green scarf around his neck.
Callie mixed the wet and dry ingredients together before in-
corporating the chocolate chips.
The Em Dash —
This fancy dash adds drama and spice to a sentence the way a bright yellow wall can add flair to a kitchen. It catches the eye and calls attention to whatever comes next—or sits between them—like a black clock on that bright yellow wall. The em dash is the longest of the dashes, the length of the letter m.
The job of the em dash is to amplify, highlight, or set off explanatory information. It’s used in place of parentheses or commas—or even a colon. It can be a great visual aid to draw the reader’s eye to a phrase.
Exactly how the em dash is placed comes with style options.
Most American publishers follow The Chicago Manual of Style (CMOS) and use no space between the em dash and the letters next to it—it’s a closed dash.
However, British style and some media style guides, such as The Associated Press (AP), use spaced em dashes — like this.
Your publisher might be particular. Professional book publishing follows CMOS, but some publishers have their own house rules. If not, just make sure you (or your trusty editor) keep the style consistent throughout your book—and the next one—by creating a style guide you can follow for every project.
The En Dash –
Em’s little sister (also named after its namesake, the n), en dash looks similar to the hyphen. In fact, some word processing applications will automatically change the hyphen to an en dash in the correct place, like between two numbers as shorthand for “through” or “to.”
Chris read rules 1–3 to the class.
The pastor read John 3:16–17.
Mai charges $200–400 for her original paintings.
This handy dash can also be used when giving directions or showing connection and relation.
The London–Paris train boards next.
Trust is key to a good author–editor relationship.
If you’re still wondering which little line is right for you to use, do not fear. “Ensuring proper use of the en dash … is usually considered the manuscript editor’s responsibility; authors can generally avoid the en dash and use hyphens instead” (CMOS 2.14).
