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An en dash is often used to indicate a closed range of values, such as two dates. e.g. The monsoon season is about three months long, April _ June each year. A hyphen is shorter and is used within a hyphenated word or expression such as back-to-back. When using a word-processing program on a computer, generally the computer program itself will automatically insert the correct symbol, according to the context of its use. The above answer was written using such a program.
* For more information about other uses of en dashes and hyphens, see Related Links below this box.
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How do you type in a dash in your computer?
Check your keyboard it's between the number zero and the plus symbol at the top right of the regular 105+ US keyboard. This is a hyphen and not a dash. If you use the hyphen key, you must use it twice to make a dash, but this still is not a dash as there is a space between the two hyphens. There are two types of dashes. The en dash and the em dash. The en dash is bigger than a hyphen, but smaller than a em dash. The em dash is what most would want to use. The way to type is as follows: en dash - hold down the "alt" key and type 0150. em dash - hold down the "alt" key and type 0151 - Note the dash used in each of the instructions. The first is an en dash, and the second is an em dash. The character beneath them is a hyphen.
Where ndash should be use?
"En dash" is a printer's term referring to a punctuation mark that is longer than a hyphen but shorter than an em dash. The words em and en refer to units of length in typography. The en dash has only a few uses:1) In professional book publishing, the en dash is used when indicating a range of numbers, such as dates or page numbers:pp. 5-81894-1969Most people, when writing a paper or a letter, would not bother to use an en dash in this case; a hyphen is just as good.2) When you join two words or terms, and one of them itself consists of two or more words, then you use an en dash instead of a hyphen, because it helps you to visually identify what is being joined to what:a New York-London flightUniversity of California-Berkeleypost-World War II3) Sometimes, in printing, the en dash is used for a minus sign.
Why didn't Paton use quotation marks?
Presuming you mean Alan Paton the author - then the answer is simple *He didn't like them*. He preferred to use an en dash at the start of a paragraph to indicate someone was speaking. An en Dash is similar to a hyphen as wide as the letter *n*. Save
How do you get a non breaking en dash in Word?
Not sure they have one. You might have to choose between a non breaking hyphen (CTRL + Shift + -) and an en dash. The CTRL + Shift combination, which is usually what they use for nonbreaking characters, doesn't work with the en dash. You could try re-wording the text so that the line doesn't break in that exact spot. I know that is a lame work-around, but I really don't think they have a non breaking en (or em) dash in the program.
What is an em dash?
"Em dash" is a printing/typesetting term, and it refers to a dash the width of the capital letter "M". The shorter dash is similarly referred to as an "en dash." There is also the hyphen, which is usually smaller than the en dash. With some modern day fonts, there wouldn't be much difference between the en dash and hyphen.Em dash can be represented numerically using —in HTML, or '\u2014' in Java.En dash can be represented numerically using –in HTML, or '\u2013' in Java.
What is ndash?
An en dash is a mark of punctuation, like a hyphen, but longer. A hyphen is very short, an em dash is long, and an en dash is in between. "En" is a measure of size. An en dash is half the width of an em dash. They are named for the capital letter M, which is the widest letter in a typographic font and thus sets a standard of the font, and the capital letter N, which in traditional type measure is half that width. Ens and ems can also measure spaces. For example, a bulleted list might be set with an em space after each bullet and before the start of text. In use, an en dash is most commonly used for ranges such as with numbers and years. You might see the dates of a person's life listed as, for example, 1875-1960, meaning born in 1875 and died in 1960. In proper typography, that dash between the dates would be an en dash and not a hyphen. Likewise, a range of ages (children 6-8 years old), grades (K-12), sizes (fits size 9-10), and so on would normally be separated by an en dash. Other uses that occur in print are typically more subtle and probably not necessary to understand unless you are interested in publishing conventions.
What are the differences in how the em dash and the en dash should be used?
First of all, lets talk about the difference between the em dash and the en dash. The em dash [--] is longer (about the width of capital M) than the en dash [-] (about the width of capital N). Both are longer than a hyphen. In a non-formatted or limited format medium, such as this web site, the em dash is represented by two hyphens [--]. The en dash is used to indicate range of values, such as between dates and times. Eg. 'This book is written for ages 3-5' The em dash is used to indicate an interruption Eg. "By trying we can easily learn to endure adversity--another man's, I mean." (Mark Twain). Or to show an abrupt change in thought Eg. I wish you would--oh, never mind.
How do you use the dash in grammar?
There are three types of "dash" but none can be illustrated here. A dash is distinct from a hyphen (-) which is used to form compound adjectives, or show separated words from line to line in text. 1) The figure dash, used within numbers, such as phone numbers 2) The en-dash (n dash), which is wider than a hyphen, is used to mark spans of time between dates (e.g 1750-1820) and to mark parenthetical expressions in sentences (widely replaced in non-academic text by parentheses). 3) The em-dash (M dash) which is even wider, is used like the en-dash for parentheticals, and to indicate quotes. (You lose __ Calvin Coolidge). *The formatting of this page reduces these to hyphens as they are not part of the font format. The em-dash can be simulated by an exponential underline, but it ruins the line height.
What is a special character that is used in duration of time or continuation?
This is known as the "en dash", it is the smaller of the dash marks. EXAMPLE: en dash -
Use the word en route in the sentence?
We had an accident en route to the spa and had to spend the day in the ER instead.
In what situations would you use the - sign in between two words other than notifying a cutoff of a word?
The main function of the hyphen is to stop people tripping up while they are reading a sentence when a grammatical ambiguity arises to do with how the sentence will end, for instance, "I am a man eating octopus" versus "I am a man-eating octopus". "Ragged-trousered philanthropists" lets us know that the philanthropists' trousers are ragged, rather than that the philanthropists are ragged and wearing trousers. Hyphens also serve to introduce people to a new combination of words relating to a new unitary idea, e.g. "audio-visual". These hyphens tend to disappear as people get more used to seeing the words together, so nowadays "audiovisual" is fine. A hyphen joins. A dash separates. People when typing will often use the same "-" symbol for both. If it is a hyphen there should be no space either side. If it is a dash you should put a space either side (most word processors will then turn this into an "en" dash), or you can type "--" with no space either side (most word processors will then turn this into an "em" dash). "En" and "em" refer to the width of the dash; either way is fine so long as you are consistent.
When do you put a dash in a sentence?
Dashes ( -- ) serve the writer and the reader by inserting a rather dramatic pause in the flow of the sentence.They can serve to break up a long sentence, or simply to catch the reader's eye in order to make a key point in the narrative.Reference your style guide to determine how dashes are formatted, and when they can be used in your writing.Read more about style guides, below.
