Lioness Press presents Grammar Rules

The Three Dashes and When to Use Them in Your Novels

The three dashes—hyphen, en, and em—cause endless questions of how, where, and when to use them in writing. Grammar has rules and once you know these rules, it will be easier to write and revise your manuscripts. Thus, Lioness Press presents Grammar Rules to help you learn them.

And, yes, of course I started this blog purposefully with the correct usage of the em dash, so please read on to discover the myriad meanings and functions of these three dashes.

Explaining the Hyphen (Single Dash)

In its simplest form, a hyphen is a punctuation mark used to join words or parts of words.

The hyphen—dash, subtract, negative, or minus sign (-)—is located on the underscore key next to the 0 (zero) key on U.S. keyboards. (See blog pic above.)

When to Use the Hyphen (Single Dash)

Use a hyphen to join two or more words that then serve as a single adjective (compound adjective) before a noun: two-story clubhouse, beer-branded banners, one-way street, coffee-laced ice cream, state-of-the-art security system.

One exception to this rule is when the compound adjective begins with an adverb ending in ly. This is a poorly produced movie. But when the ly adverb is part of a larger compound adjective, use a hyphen. She followed up with a not-so-poorly-produced sequel.

Use a hyphen with figures and compounds numbers: mid-1980s, one-third, 20-minute wait, 6-inch gun, 155-acre farm, twenty-five years old, five-year-old boy, thirteenth-century politics.

Use a hyphen to avoid confusion or an awkward combination of letters: re-sign a document (but resign from a job), semi-independent (but semiconscious), shell-like (but childlike).

Use a hyphen with letters: T-shirt, A-line.

TIP: Numerous words and compound words are already hyphenated in Merriam-Webster's Dictionary, such as well-being, self-doubt, red-blooded, well-documented, free-for-all. So look here first when wondering whether a word is already hyphenated.

Use a hyphen with prefixes ex- (meaning former), self-, and all-, and between a prefix and a capitalized word: ex-husband, self-assured, mid-November, all-inclusive, anti-American.

Use a hyphen with the suffix -elect: mayor elect, president-elect.

TIP: Do not hyphenate ish. Incorrect: A yellowish-orange flower. I see this often in manuscripts. Yellowish describes orange, it does not describe the flower. And a hyphenated compound should describe the noun, not the word it is hyphenated with. Correct: A yellowish orange flower.

Explaining the En Dash (Dash and a Half)

En dashes are used mainly in academic writing, or nonfiction works, especially those that pertain to math and science. The dash represents the word to in ranges of numbers, dates, and times. En dashes also help to clarify complex compound adjectives.

Shortcut Key for PC users (only doable on numeric keypad): Ctrl+Num (-). For Mac users: Option+Minus (-).

When to Use the En Dash

Use the en dash sparingly in fiction or creative non-fiction, such as when describing an era: post–World War I.

Use the en dash when it represents to in directions, scores, or votes: An Atlanta–Rome flight takes nine hours. The Chiefs trounced the Browns 13–3. The City of Webster voted 10–9 to pass the new zoning law.

Use the en dash to express ranges: The teacher assigned pages 121–171 for tonight’s reading material. The scheduled window for the cable installation is 2:00–4:00pm. All full-time employees work 40–50 hours per week.

In fiction, however, it is best to write out ranges: forty to fifty hours per week.

TIP: Always replace the en dash with to or and respectively when ranges and dates are preceded by from or between. Abraham Lincoln was president of the United States from 1861 to 1865. (Not from 1861–1865.) Cookie Monster eats between 70 and 85 cookies per day. (Not between 60–75 cookies per day.)

Use the en dash to clarify complex compound adjectives. You often see this with capitalized proper nouns when one of the elements is an open compound (two words with a space between them). I decorated my living room with Queen Anne–style chairs. Many think to hyphenate style and you would be correct when using one proper noun (Scandinavian-style furniture), but when you have two proper nouns it needs an en dash.

Another example: The Nobel Prize–winning author will read from his book at the library tonight.

Use an en dash when you need to connect terms that are already hyphenated or when you use a two-word phrase as a modifier. The pro-choice–pro-life argument is always a heated topic in politics.

Explaining the Em Dash (Double Dash)

The em dash is the MacDaddy of dashes, and it has numerous uses. An em dash signifies a hard break when you shift abruptly to something else. It’s used to place emphasis, define or explain something, or to separate two clauses.

Shortcut Key for PC users (only doable on numeric keypad): Alt+Ctrl+Num (-). For Mac users: Shift+Option+Num (-).

When to Use the Em Dash (Double Dash)

Use the em dash in thought, action, or speech: Where the heck is my—wait, what was I looking for?

In fiction writing, the em dash is also used to signify interrupted speech or a break in dialogue to show action:

TIP: The em dash should not be confused with stammering or trailing off speech, which uses ellipses. “Anne, I just . . .” Joe began helplessly. “I … I do not know,” I stammered, now wishing I had kept quiet.

Use two em dashes instead of parentheses to place more emphasis on the information between the em dashes. While I was shopping—wandering aimlessly up and down the aisles, actually—I ran into our old neighbor.

Use an em dash to separate appositives that contain commas: My other half siblings—Hermes, Maria, and Anna—remained inside the castle.

An appositive is a small section of extra information inserted into a sentence for clarification. I like to think of appositives as a position, meaning they are positioned next to each other and add additional meaning. If we added commas to the sentence above it would be confusing to the reader. (My other half siblings, Hermes, Maria, and Anna, remained inside the castle.) Thus, the need for em dashes so the appositive stands out and is also understood.

TIP: When an appositive is just one word or a short phrase (without commas) then it’s set off with commas, not an em dash. Correct: The dog, a golden retriever, belongs to Jaime. Not correct: The dog—a golden retriever—belongs to Jaime.

Use an em dash to focus on a list: Dishes, laundry, vacuuming—they’re all done now, and I need a nap before the kids come home. This is not used very often in fiction, but when you want to vary your sentences, you can take two or three random things and add the idea, so it all makes sense to the reader.

You can also use it the opposite way: She is afraid of three things—spiders, snakes, and senior prom. Normally, a list will follow a colon. But a colon is formal while an em dash is casual and can be used to show emotion or add emphasis to the list. Thus, the em dash is best for fiction writing.

TIP: Do you add a space before and after an em dash? No. Don’t do it! Many say it’s a matter of preference, but industry standard prefers em dashes closed. Plus, it’s easy to write. Microsoft Word will do the work for you: type a word, add two hyphens, type the next word, press space and Word turns those two hyphens into an em dash. If you type a space before and after, well, they just stay two dashes.

Thanks for stopping by Grammar Rules, where we hope to post a weekly blog to help you grow as an accomplished writer. And if you enjoyed this blog and know of others who might enjoy gaining more writing knowledge, please share.