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Hyphens, En Dashes, and Em Dashes
As part of our online proofreading services at ProofreadNow, we often correct dash length in documents. Most people use the shortest form of a dash, the hyphen, for everything-not realizing that there are actually three different dash lengths and that each has a specific usage (like the em dash in this sentence). he purpose of this post is to give you an overview of the hyphen, en dash, and em dash as well as when to use each one. Hyphen (-) he lowly, shortest-length, hyphen is indeed overworked. !ts primary purposes are actually to create compound words (as in shortest-length) or to "reak a word across lines (as is often seen in newspaper or magazine articles). !t is not intended for use in date or num"er ranges, nor to add a long pause for emphasis in a sentence# however, it is fre$uently misused in this manner. %or more information, see &ections '.() and '.(* of the Chicago Manual of Style, )+th ,dition. En Dash ()

he purpose of the medium-length en dash is primarily to indicate ranges (of num"ers, dates, etc.). &ome people also use it - surrounded "y a space on either side - as an em dash. %or more information, see &ections '.(.-'.(' of the Chicago Manual of Style, )+th ,dition. ,/amples0 1orld 1ar !! was fought in ,urope from )2.2)233. onight4s special event will last from 5066-2066. Em Dash () he longest of the dashes7the em dash7is used most often to set off an amplifying or e/planatory element in a sentence, or to separate a su"8ect from a pronoun. hough other punctuation marks, such as commas, parentheses, semicolons, and colons, can serve the same purpose, the em dash is typically used when e/tra emphasis is desired. As noted in the discussion of en dashes a"ove, some prefer to e/press an em dash as an en dash surrounded "y one space on each side# either e/pression7as long as it is applied consistently throughout the document7is accepta"le in the a"sence of a style guide that dictates how the em dash should "e e/pressed. %or more information, see &ections '.(5-'.23 of theChicago Manual of Style, )+th ,dition.