If you are on a phone, go to the punctuation menu, long-press the hyphen and voila – you can choose an em dash or the shorter en dash. If you are writing an article or essay or paper, no.īut in the latter case, you are probably using Word or another program that will automatically replace two hyphens with an em dash, so you’ll be okay. If you are writing an email to your mom, yes! If you are writing a message to your friend on Instagram, yes! Can I use two hyphens instead of an em dash? If you use the ‘wrong-n’ method and use it consistently, it works fine and seems to keep the greatest number of people happy. You can see this ‘wrong-en’ method used in countless websites, magazines and papers as a replacement for the m-dash. In my writing (as a manager corresponding with government officials and politicians, and also as a marketer communicating with real people) I use ‘space-n-dash-space’ instead of the em-dash – just to keep everyone happy. Some well-trained technical writers think the n-dash is the only one to use.Ĭhoosing between the en dash or em dash is not a big deal. That’s okay – we can find a very good compromise. Sometimes when you use the em-dash, people say, “What is that? I don’t like that big long thing.” I’ve heard that from colleagues and managers. However… Some people prefer the way a “space-en-dash-space” looks. If you are writing formal documents or writing for publication, it’s best to use dashes correctly. “Using dashes is a bit of an ad-n ”, said Jennifer. Here’s another obscure, old-fashioned use for the m-dash: When letters are uncertain or missing from a word that you are quoting or reporting about, you insert two m-dashes where the unknown letters would be. “I reached in and pulled the spray can out of my backpack-” “In front of the police?”
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Details
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |