In MS Word, enable Num Lock and press Ctrl + Minus Key. On a Mac: En dash—press option+hyphen key. g. Most commonly, a dash connects an independent clause with another, with a related thought plus a conjunction like or, but, yet, as, for, and after the second dash. The employee—hoping to go home early—rushed her tasks. Typesetters will most likely try to track you down and beat you to death if they discover you're using the wrong term :-) Share. Your specific issue regards "smart quotes," "em dashes" and "en dashes. ”. Em dashes can be used to. I now seem to be able to do this if I type a character - any character - after the dash, then type the curly end quote mark, and then backspace. Depending on the context, the en dash is read as “to” or “through. It's difficult for me to judge the tone of the sentence examples you used, so I can't give a specific suggestion. It can function like a comma, parenthesis, or colon. Thanks very much for your reply, Jennifer. Hyphen. Use an en dash for ranges and an em dash to separate non-essential information. This means we only use one em dash instead of two when the interruption comes at. If the action is in the middle of a sentence, use em dashes outside the quotation marks. 1月—7月 "January to July", which can also be written 1月到7月, with the character 到 in place of the dash). The em dash triggers readers’ brains to insert a slightly longer pause, which can aid in reading comprehension. Style guides often let you skip them. Parenthesis, em dash, and en dash - Create sentences that need parenthesis, em dashes, and en dashes but leave them out. But if you use them, you’ll find they can show up near a lot of punctuation marks besides dashes. I'm working on being able to read transcripts of dialogue into R. An em dash (—) is the longest of the three dashes and can be used to set off a break in the sentence, as well as add emphasis. Em-dashes. The question mark can be used to indicate editorial uncertainty, either in parentheses or in brackets. Yeah, it could be seen as completed, but in that case the em-dash adds a bit of expression that wouldn't be there without it. Comma. Looking at the other commend where u/xlrod has a fix; what you have instead is char 65533 or - not a question mark, but a placeholder Unicode "I dunno what this is" character - that suggests your export wasn't right, and has mangled some characters. Some word processing programs read the two hyphens automatically as the single mark of punctuation known as. On cell phones running Android’s Gboard or iOS operating systems, press and hold the hyphen on the onscreen keyboard. The final, foolproof way to type an em dash in Word is to go to the. Infographic: How to use an em dash. Also, "overuse of the em dash weakens the flow of material" (APA, 2020, p. April 5–June 4. Although en dashes look similar to hyphens, they have a specific purpose and meaning – en dashes connect words in place of the word “to” or “through”. — Question Mark. Most of the time you will see a space before and after this dash. Dashes are used to separate groups of words, not to separate parts of words like a hyphen does. The em dash helps separate the parts of a sentence. The word-processing program may form this automatically when two hyphens are typed together. ” No spaces on either side of the em dash. (stenoscript) When used as punctuation, an en or em dash is doubled, like a long ⹀, to distinguish it from its phonetic use. When a pair of em dashes sets off material ending with an exclamation point or a question mark, the mark is placed inside the dashes. In AP style, the dash should be set off with spaces on both sides. An ellipsis is a punctuation mark consisting of three periods in a row. ex. Etc. – this would be the correct answer because the question is asked within the quotation marks so the question mark must appear here too. While closely related to other dashes—like the en dash (–) and hyphen (-)—the em dash serves a unique role in typography. In this century, the shorter one is preferred in all main varieties of English. To help indicate this “cut” between the two parts, many poems use punctuation, typically an em dash (—) or an ellipsis ( . The em dash is used to represent how the first speaker is being interrupted by the second. Clark went to the Miami Heat – Boston Celtics game. NVDA is the least likely. It can separate independent clauses. En & Em Dashes While sometimes used in other styles to indicate a range of time, AP Style does not use en dashes. You will find this material in chapters 8–12. Character escapes used in markup include numeric character references (NCRs) and named character references. Em dashes for interruptions: Use em dashes when you are interrupting the main idea of a sentence. An em dash is the width of the letter "m" in the font and type size being used, and should never be used in place of an en dash or hyphen. But OP is asking about "correct use of the em dash," not whether he should use it. Question Mark (?) In grammar, a question mark is a familiar punctuation used to end interrogative sentences. Alternatively, pairs of em dashes are used to mark off additionalAn en-dash is also used in numerical series as in from ten–twenty pieces. The August–September issue of a magazine. In this example, the speech ends with a question mark, prioritising a comma that would normally be placed to frame the speaking phrase. Or simply type two hyphens one after the other, type the word that is supposed to appear after the em dash, and press Space—the hyphens magically turn into an em dash. In Unicode, the em dash is U+2014 (decimal 8212). 2. ". To type an em dash in Microsoft Word, press the Option + Shift + hyphen keys (on Mac OS). Follow the end quotation mark with an em dash and the action or thought and then another em dash. Follow. An em dash can also mark dialogue, signify an interruption, indicate a sudden break in thought, and introduce a list. The em-dash would indicate something like raising the eyebrows right at the end, or tilting the head down and looking up from under the eyebrows. Hyphens are used to create compound words like: Load-bearing; Well-loved; Great-looking; Less-commonly used punctuation marks Interrobang. parentheses. The question mark needs to go after Language. It is the doppelgänger of the. We met during the 2011 – 2012 school year. Em dash character is not a part of ASCII character set. If you want to stop -- from being turned into — (emdash) you need to use the + button and add a new rule to replace -- with -- (replace with itself) Or, right click in a text field and go to "Substitutions" and disable "Smart. 7. Depending on the context, the em dash can take the place of commas, parentheses, or colons —in each case to slightly different effect. ” The slash is sometimes used to convey the same meaning. 1. This type of dash is usually used to omit a person's name or. An em dash is preferred to divide elements within a sentence and pack a punch. It thus performs many of the same functions as commas, parentheses, and colons, but with a bit more drama—a “wait for it” tension that tends to lend emphasis to whatever it introduces. Aether still appears as a poetic affectation, especially in reference to the word’s ancient Greek and Latin senses, but. In MS Word, enable Num Lock and press Ctrl + Minus Key. F. Workaround. ColonsFrom The Punctuation Guide : “The em dash is perhaps the most versatile punctuation mark. C. To be effective, the exclamation point should be used in moderation. Use a question mark after a direct question. Em dash—press option+shift+hyphen key. En dashes are shorter than em dashes, and they indicate a range or connection between numbers or words. En-dash The medium-length dash (–) is called an en-dash (so called because it is approximately the width of a capital letter N in the typeface being used). The text won't look as good, but realistically, most people won't notice. 51). And an example:There are 14 punctuation marks that are used in the English language. It is longer than both the en dash and the hyphen, and its length is equal to the width of the letter “M” in the given font. Use em dashes instead of commas and parentheses if you want to make information stand out. The good news is that the ACT isn’t going to test you on the differences between the two. These, along with the other 12, are all listed neatly and explained for you here. (I would even have removed to in that construction, so that the parallel starts at the verbs assume and become. The hyphen is used to connect words, such as in compound adjectives or to divide words at the end of a line. Imagine someone saying the line, rather than it being inner monologue. Example. The “slightly different” part is, to me, the em dash’s appeal summarized. Go to the system preferences and choose "Language & Text". The common editing choice, again supported by Chicago (6. Em-dashes in Place of a Semicolon. quotation mark. You would simply end the line of dialogue, have a sentence of narration, and then have a new line of dialogue, even if it's the same speaker continuing. They also can be used to focus a reader or highlight tone within a. ) If I run the sql statements of the stored procedure until the final select statement only, the data look fine, dash character is still a dash character. This appears when you move the pointer over the corrected hyphen. Easily find character codes for the HTML # sign, HTML @ symbol (at symbol), HTML percent sign, HTML ampersand (& HTML code), HTML copyright symbol and HTML caret insertion point, along with regular punctuation like the question mark, exclamation point, non-breaking hyphen, non-breaking space and more. . The example I saw comes from a tweet, reproduced here for convenience: "For today in the city of David there has been born for you a Savior—not a divine social justice warrior, not a liberation. How to easily type various punctuation signs (§ ¶ ‽) using. This suggests that a question mark is "stronger" than a period and is the mark that is retained. Since code page 437 does not include the en dash character, any system using that code page will have to resort to a fallback mechanism to render the file names, such as a question mark. Signo de exclamación (Exclamation Point) 8. En dashes have a space on either side of the dash – like this. Question marks, exclamation points, and dashes fall inside or outside closing quotations. Punctuation Marks Wheel : This 2-page print-out makes a punctuation marks wheel; it consists of a base page together with a wheel that spins around. What ‽ When your sentence calls for a question mark and an exclamation mark, the interrobang is the punctuation mark you need. It depends on one thing: trust. Treat etc. Here are the two simple steps to type the — using Alt code from your keyboard. pages 11–23. When a character has a sudden change of thought while speaking, an em dash is the correct punctuation to show the break. It's a completely different use case. 2] In braille, a dash is represented by dots 6, 36 (,-). Interjections can stand alone as minor sentences, punctuated with a period, exclamation point, or question mark. This technique is best suited for creative or informal writing. While closely related to other dashes—like the en dash (–) and hyphen (-)—the em dash serves a unique role in typography. . To format an em dash in Word, type two hyphens, with no spaces, between the words—the dash will automatically form as you continue typing. As an outcome those characters are generated in the excel as shown below, which contains a kind of question mark. In particular, do not use the colon-dash (:—) to introduce a quotation or a list. An em-dash is used to show a break in thought—not in velocity—within a sentence (for not the greatest example). If your teacher says not to use it then do not use it for work that is submitted to your teacher. In the native Mac word processor, Text Edit, you’ll have access to the. The em dashes are used here to indicate that the information within them is rather shocking. The em dash, or long dash, is the only punctuation mark on a keyboard that. ”. Both the colon and the em dash introduce new information that explains or builds upon something that precedes it. Of course, some may prefer the HTML markup method, where they can use it. Use a dash instead of a comma when you want to strongly set off an idea. If you want to stop -- from being turned into — (emdash) you need to use the + button and add a new rule to replace -- with -- (replace with itself) Or, right click in a text field and go to "Substitutions" and disable "Smart. This is also true for the dot part of the question mark, and exclamation mark. In Google docs, use insert special character. A direct question is an interrogative sentence that asks an. When you spin the wheel, punctuation marks appear, including: period, comma, question mark, hyphen, dash, parentheses, apostrophe, ellipsis, quotation mark, colon, semicolon, exclamation point. When listing information, you may use the em dash between the list and independent clause when the list comes first. You can use it at the end of a broken-off phrase, or if a. &bull First item in the list. 7. Use a. Many programs also automatically create an em dash when you type two single hyphens together. For example, to type the em dash ( — ), hold down Alt while typing 0151 on the numeric keypad. m. The main use of em dashes is to set off extra information in a sentence. A space is used before and after the en-dash when used in literary copy. Below is a list of punctuation marks written in English; translate each term into French. The misplacement of periods and commas is the most common mistake writers make when punctuating dialogue. An ellipsis here would show a delayed change in thought and is not correct. I've found questions asking about an em dash in quoted speech, and punctuation rules for em dashes in quotes, but this question is quite different. Like the em dash, the en dash is typically available on your word processor’s symbol map, or it may even be inserted automatically by your word processor when you type inclusive numbers or dates with a hyphen between them. Adashisthe punctuation name for a mark that used to separate words into statements. These two types of dashes serve different purposes: The EN dash, the shorter of the two dashes, is used to mark ranges. British authors often prefer to use an en-dash ( – ) with spaces on either side rather than the em. Em dashes are used to replace commas, parentheses, colons, and semicolons. Examples. 5. It could be written with a semicolon, a colon, or a period (or a. em-dash — Long hyphen (—) named em-dash because the dash historically is the length of a lowercase m. The em dash is a more emphatic substitute for the comma, colon, or parentheses and can be used to indicate omitted words. ). I believe you can also type a space before typing the quote, then delete the space. Use a dash instead of a comma when you want to strongly set off an idea. I have to warn them—no, no what am I doing? An ellipses indicates omission, which is what I think you are looking for. However, since interjections are not “proper” sentences, some writers prefer to attach them to a complete sentence using a comma or, if more emphasis is desired, an em dash. Em dashes can be used to replace pairs of commas and parentheses. There are many uses for elipses and dashes. Mingo Evil Flamingo, Feb 21, 2010 #3. Thus, an em dash in 9-point type is as long as the height of a. There are three options: Period. Hyphens are not separated by spaces, while a dash has a space on either side. 87 Em dashes for sudden breaks or interruptions; 6. Ron Barrett. In modern usage, a question mark or an exclamation point—but never a comma, a colon, or a semicolon—may precede an em dash. INCORRECT: The score right now is 3 – 1. Fig. Typesetters will most likely try to track you down and beat you to death if they. MLA doesn't touch on more than 2 subtitles; however, there is a syntax for a work with more than one title which makes use of ; or, as the delimiter, so perhaps stay away from using semicolons. A dash is used to separate part of a sentence and indicate a break. Commas and parentheses vs. "-", the line in notepad will look like this for e. Then, after you press the space bar after the word after the dash, most word processing programs will turn those two little hyphens‐‐into an em dash—like so. For Windows, press Ctrl+Alt +Minus (-) or Alt+0151. When it comes at the end of a list, put a comma before it if you use the serial comma and don’t if you don’t use the serial comma. As an outcome those characters are generated in the excel as shown below, which contains a kind of question mark. ”. This little symbol is beloved. The question mark can be followed with a dash where necessary: He left—would you believe it?—immediately after the ball. Don’t confuse it with a hyphen (-). In Arabic, which is also written from right. The en dash is less well known than. When the dash is used, the change in the thought or sentence structure should be evident and distinct. Use to indicate duration or continuing or inclusive numbers such as dates, times or reference numbers, use an en-dash (a slightly. First, one is longer: The em dash (—) → which is like two hyphens joined together. 86 Em dash between noun and pronoun; 6. Although these punctuation marks look similar at a glance, they are actually distinct punctuation marks with specific intended uses and with distinct unicode character values. It is wider than an en dash (–) or a hyphen (-). , the India–Pakistan issue) To extend sentences just like colons, semicolons, and three dots (e. Windows. Windows. 92 Em dashes in lists, indexes, and tables;. 87): English learners commonly make the mistake of using em dashes incorrectly. There are many ways to use dashes in writing. BOND #2: Adverbs There are many types of adverbs, but by definition, an adverb is a word that modifies a verb, an adjective, or another adverb. Dashes and hyphens. Most commonly, a dash connects an independent clause with another, with a. For example, with mo—n for 'more than', the dash is likely to be written at x-height. You did not tell us which hyphen you use, see answer from MT0. " Wikipedia has a descent overview on dashes, especially noting the differnet ways to reflect either and em-dash or an en-dash. But in that case the dash is supposed to be the length of the omitted word, not just a mere em-dash. It is used in place of ‘to’ or ‘through’. The question mark can be followed with a dash where necessary: He left—would you believe it?—immediately after the ball. The translation being made in our system is from a small subset of characaters to an upside-down question mark. In fact, the em dash is named after its length—it’s. Some consider its use informal. Em Dash (—) Indicate an interruption or an abrupt changeAnywhere formal typography appears, an en dash might pop up. I know I could—and probably should—just remove the question mark, having only the em dash for separation, but then that gets rid of that question-like tone I want the reader to have. Resume the dialogue with another opening quotation mark, complete the dialogue, and end with a period and a closing quotation mark. However, you can use dashes or em-dashes. The en dash is spaced so screen readers don’t mistake an unspaced en for a hyphen. Here’s how to master the em-dash, exclamation point and question mark. - The Blue Book of Grammar and Punctuation Em Dash: What Is an Em Dash? The em dash in American English is a punctuation mark that helps to convey emphasis,. )6. (I usually just replace all curly single quotes with ' and all curly. HTML Escape Characters. Periods (), question marks, exclamation marks, and commas are used as in English. To illustrate, I’m going to reproduce the first sentence of this paragraph, but with a semicolon: 'Break/Fold Mark'. Dash: Dashes set off a series within a phrase: “Of the many breakfast options — omelets, waffles, pastries — he only wanted coffee”; indicate a break in thought: “Felipe’s is a popular eatery — in Harvard Square”; or attribute a quotation to an author: “‘You must do the thing you think you cannot do. If you're including terminal punctuation (period, question mark, exclamation mark), your speaker's sentence isn't being interrupted, so you wouldn't use em dashes at all. AP style calls for a space on both sides of an em dash, but most other styles, including MLA and APA, omit the spaces. the question mark. It’s known for being a one-job punctuation mark because it simply communicates questions. The em dash is also used for denoting an incomplete speech. After three weeks of deliberation, the jury finally reached a verdict: guilty. (An em dash, or long dash, is used: in pairs, to mark off information or ideas that are not essential to an. Em dash. 1)”Can we go to the cinema?” she asked. In almost every instance, you should place the footnote marker after the punctuation. Semicolons separate two independent clauses. ] There’s even more explanation: If the break belongs to the surrounding sentence rather than to the quoted material, the em dashes must appear outside the quotation marks. The em dash does not mean pause. The Mac command to make an em dash. Perhaps a door was closed on the speaker’s face, cutting off her sentence. Chicago 6. A single em dash character or a tilde may also be used. [Emphasis mine. Use a dash in dialogue to show an interruption or a sudden break in thought. 3. En and em dashes are longer than the hyphen. Press the space bar. An ellipsis may be preceded or followed by other punctuation. 🙽. To turn smart punctuation off, all you have to do is go to Settings > General > Keyboard, and then turn off the "Smart Punctuation" toggle. Sometimes, a character might stutter or stammer over certain words. Anything powerful enough to cross the Wall usually retained enough magic to assume the shape of a soldier, or to become invisible. The en-dash is commonly used to show range as in dates (e. Among the 16 most commonly used punctuation marks are the period, question mark, exclamation point, and comma. ”. That should explain it. He worked in his office-cum-dining room. Pre-electric typewriters normally had only the hyphen-width dash to apply to situations calling for em dashes, so the usual method in U. The en-dash – so named because (you guessed it) it’s the width of the skinnier letter n – is the shorter of the two. Mark said: “I am confused if I should finish them with one of the final stop punctuation marks (when, as I read, 1- every sentence must be finished by an appropriate punctuation mark [the final stop], and 2- neither the dash nor the ellipsis are the final stop punctuation marks). Make sure you switch on the Num Lock from the keyboard and you type the number from the Numpad and not from the top row of the keyboard. So I wouldn't say that the dash as an actor can perform the same roles as terminal punctuation, as periods or question marks or exclamation points, but. The most common types of dashes are the en dash (–) and the em dash (—). En dashes are incredibly useful punctuation marks, used to add extra emphasis to a sentence or statement. ManhattanMss New Member. The dash can also be used to represent a pause, but a more. The em dash is the chameleon of punctuation marks. To show a break in narration or conversation in place of an ellipsis. A dash is a break in thought, from one focus to another. When typing, a hyphen looks like this: (-). As shown above, em dashes are often left unspaced when used in this way. Dashes are used to separate two words into statements. In your example sentence, the question is really only complete at the very end, so the first. I've never heard about en dashes being used for em dashes. When it displays it in the application, the dash turns into a question mark !?!?!? I then have an Export button, which writes these back to a textfile. Although en dashes look similar to hyphens, they have a specific purpose and meaning – en dashes connect words in place of the word “to” or “through”. 89), would be to only use an em dash after a period if the period marked an abbreviation: An em dash derives its name from being the approximate width of a capital M. . Nope, no need for spaces! In US English, there should only be a space before an em dash if it’s at the start of a sentence and after an em dash if it’s at the end of a sentence. The en dash is a punctuation mark that is slightly longer than a hyphen (-) but shorter than an em dash (—). Actually, the rules are fairly set on spaces before or after an "em-dash" -- you don't use them. Overuse of any tool will make your writing inelegant, but using the proper tool at the right time will help you generate pages that are well crafted and precisely assembled. It is shorter than an em-dash and longer than a hyphen. If that is the case, you will notice a space on either side of. When you use AutoCorrect Options, you can also click Stop Automatically Creating Dashes, or click Control AutoCorrect Options to open the AutoCorrect dialog box. An em dash or colon is part of the same toolkit, but they serve slightly different purposes. Commas allow for a smoother read than dashes, which interrupt the sentence to draw the reader’s attention. ’ — Eleanor Roosevelt. 6. ” Stutters, Stammers, and Pauses. Once again, the em-dash adds more emphasis than the traditional punctuation mark. g. –5:00 p. It was originally a humorous and slightly sanitized version of the curse word, but it has become the standard form. APPLICATION. ) The question mark can be used to indicate editorial uncertainty, either in parentheses or in brackets. In order to type an en dash on a Mac product, you can hold down the ‘Option’ and ‘-‘ keys simultaneously and an en dash ‘–’ should appear. Example. parentheses. An em dash is a punctuation mark used to separate elements within a sentence, typically words or phrases that are too long to be separated by commas or need a dramatic pause during reading. Hold down the Alt key, press 0 1 5 1 on the numeric pad, and then release the Alt key. Underscore: _. Go to the system preferences and choose "Language & Text". • Dashes are often used to introduce an. Quotation marks may be used to indicate that the. In doing so, the em dash acts similarly to commas, semicolons, colons, and parentheses. This. Who doesn’t like dashes as emphasis techniques? Just consider the. Depending on the context, the em dash can take the place of commas, parentheses, or colons —in each case to slightly different effect. There is no piece of punctuation that means pause. SQL*Plus inherits character set from. answered Jul 7, 2010 at 7:53. In 3, the dash is used in place of a comma, since the change in tone is occuring at the same time as the dialog is being spoken, or near enough that it's the same action. Em dashes can also signal an interruption or a sudden change in the direction a writer was heading with a particular sentence. Em Dash vs. Em dashes are rarely found in formal texts. Many authors and publications choose to use a space either side of the dash, and even sometimes an en dash in place of an em dash. The em is the longest in the dash suite. Look at my use of em dashes in this post, aside from the previous sentence. The en dash is used to represent a span or range of numbers, dates, or time. These marks are available in most word processors, though many people simply use single and double quotation marks: 5’ 10”. An en dash (the shorter dash) expresses a range of values (times, years, dollar amounts). The en dash is less well known than. Trademark ™ : ALT 0153;There are three types of dashes in writing used to convey different ideas in an engaging way. You would simply end the line of dialogue, have a sentence of narration, and then have a new line of dialogue, even if it's the same speaker continuing. In formal writing, an em dash is the width of an m and longer than both a hyphen and an en dash. Then, click Undo Dash. In British usage, we use only a single hyphen to. newspaper publishing was to represent an em dash with two. To insert an em dash in MS Word, you must: Type a word (don’t put a space after it) Type two hyphens. In Word, you’ll hold down Shift+ Option+minus rather than the Ctrl+Alt+minus mentioned above. The em dash can be used in place of commas, colons, semicolons, and parentheses to increase sentence variety and readability. Modern Japanese uses the question mark in the same way English speakers do to denote a question, be it typed or handwritten. The en dash also signifies an abrupt change. The main difference between them is that at least some. That may occasionally appear in old writing, where em dashes after commas and semicolons are more common. Key stroke shortcuts: em-dash = alt + 0151; en-dash = alt + 0150. Most likely it's an en dash or em dash rather than a real hyphen or minus symbol. For Windows, press Ctrl+Alt +Minus (-) or Alt+0151. ”.