Hyphens, En dashes, Em dashes: What is the difference?
Whether you are new to copyediting and proofreading, or you are an aspiring author, you are bound to come across hyphens and by extension, en-dashes and em-dashes. They all look like they have the same function, but are different lengths, which poses the question: what is the difference?
Everyone is going to want to punctuate differently, whether it’s due to personal preference or under the guidance of a particular style guide. However, the most important thing is consistency and whether punctuation is used correctly.
In this blog post, I will run through how hyphens, en-dashes and em-dashes work, with examples, and hopefully, you will feel more confident about using them. I will be following the advice of New Hart’s Rules: The Oxford Style Guide.
Hyphenation
Hard hyphens: When a compound is formed by the joining of words or part of words together, you use a hard hyphen (e.g. second-rate, editor-in-chief).
With hard hyphens, you need to be careful to not confuse, for example, re-signing a contract is not the same as resigning from your job.
It is also worth noting whether you think it is appropriate to hard hyphen noun compound words, as Oxford Dictionaries tends to avoid hyphenation for certain words such as airstream, for example.
Soft hyphens/Discretionary hyphens: When a word is divided at the end of a line.
If a word with a hard hyphen falls at the end of a sentence and needs to be divided, no further hyphen is added.
With soft hyphens, and word division in general, it is key that the reader can read without any doubt or confusion, making sure any breaks are as unobtrusive as possible.
En Rule (–)
Usage:
Close-up elements to form a range (e.g. pp. 12–20, Monday–Friday)
Express closeness or relation between words (e.g. editor-author relationship)
En dashes are used between the names of joint authors and creators, whereas a hyphen is used to indicate the name of one person.
Spaced en dashes can be used to indicate missing letters or an asterisk can be used to serve this purpose.
Note: The en dash will always be longer than a hyphen but shorter than an em dash.
Em Rule (—)
Closed-up em dashes are often used as a parenthetical dash by Oxford and most US publishers, whereas it is more common for British publishers to space out en dashes.
Dashes are used in favour of commas because they provide a more distinct break in a sentence’s structure, and dashes are used instead of brackets because they draw more attention.
A single em dash may be used to introduce a phrase or replace an introductory colon, but it is used more casually rather than formally.
A spaced em dash can indicate the omission of a word, and a closed-up em dash can indicate the omission of a part of a word.
Finally, an em dash can be used within written dialogue to signify an interruption, instead of using ellipsis which often indicates when a sentence is trailing off.
Final
I have outlined the most common uses for hyphens, en dashes and em dashes, and how they are used differently. Of course, this is not all how you can use them, and if you are based in the UK and would like to know more, I would recommend getting a copy of New Hart’s Rules: The Oxford Style Guide which will help you to prepare for publication. Otherwise, there are many online resources and courses to help solidify your knowledge, especially regarding grammar and punctuation.
Lauren Ternent | The Editorial Geordie