An em dash, or long dash, is used in pairs, to mark off information or ideas that are not essential to an understanding of the rest of the sentence. The font style on this website leaves at least a tiny space surrounding the em dash. Dashes lessons on punctuation the nature of writing. An easy way to make an en dash is to use the shortcut menu. Putting spaces before and after an em dash is a matter of preference.
En dashaccording to cmos, en dashes which are half the length of the em dash specify any kind of range, which is why they properly appear in indexes when a range of pages is cited e. Other newspapers web pages are using endash, with the spaces appearing to be full spaces. Top 5 tips to edit and write in chicago or ap style proedit. Us publishers and the oxford university press in the uk choose to use closedup emdashes emdashes without any spaces where other uk publishers might use spaced endashes. Do not space before or after dashes except in ap style. Em dashes are often used to set off parenthetical information. Please consult your favorite grammar book or blog for notes on usage. In ap style, slashes are acceptable only in certain phrases and special situations, such as with fractions. Thousands of childrenlike the girl in this photographhave been left homeless. Kathleen and paul are celebrating their wedding anniversary40 years together. The em dash is typically used without spaces on either side, and that is the style used in this guide. Use em dashes to enclose a word or word group that interrupts the main structure. I read on a grammar blog recently that the em dash is named after its.
Use one before the parenthetical information and one after it. Most newspapers, however, follow the ap style guide, which recommends a space on either side. On a pc, it consists of two hyphens joined together. According to the punctuation guide, most newspapers and all that follow ap style insert a space before and after the em dash. Ap style insert a single space both before and after the em dash. This is the basic difference in how ellipses are rendered in ap style and chicago style.
Folkloreif youre willing to trust itholds that its been around since the days of gutenberg but didnt catch on until at least the 1700s because the em dash wasnt used in the bible. The en dash is slightly wider than the hyphen but narrower than the em dash. Since the em dash is the most common dash, we will just refer to. Spiralbound book, updated each spring 2019 ap stylebook. If the ellipsis follows a grammatically complete sentence, place a period after the last word preceding the ellipsis, and insert a space between this period and the ellipsis. Dont leave the two hyphens if they dont merge to form the em dash. The em dash is perhaps the most versatile punctuation mark.
An em dash has no space before or after, unless youre doing some fancy wordreplacing maneuvers with a 2em dash. If your style guide calls for spaces around a dash, you use a different character altogether, the endash. Alex in florida asked, should there be a space before and after a dash. An en dash is alt 0150 num lock on and the em dash is alt 0151.
Most newspapers, however, set the em dash off with a single space on each side. In the mla handbook, we show no space before and after dashes because thats the standard format used by publishers in the united states. Some people use setopen hyphens on ascii in place of dashes, which is actually probably the best thing in a monospace presentation but ugly in proportional fonts. The ellipsis has a space before and after the three period marks. This is because newspaper columns are narrow and having. Publications make varying style choices when it comes to rendering the em dash. The library is organized so that any questionwhether technical, reference, or. There are two similar but distinct punctuation marks called dashes. There is some disagreement about the way to employ the em dash. This was a big debate between my editor and me when i was writing my book. To create an em dash on an apple computer, hold down the option and shift while striking the hyphen. The surefire way of creating an emdash is to use alt and 0151 on the numeric keypad. An ellipsis is three or four dots with spaces in between.
Is it wrong to type spaces before and after a dash. Would it be cmos heresy for me to stretch that space a. For example, chicago style dictates that you must not have spaces before and after the em dash, while ap style dictates that you should have spaces before and after, except when used to introduce items in a vertical list. An emdash is a punctuation mark which is used alone to indicate a pause in speech or in pairs to take the place of commas. Even our own publications sometimes play with spacing for display purposes, and some typefaces. Em dashes are used to set off elements of text with internal punctuation, and en dashes to indicate a numerical range or hyphenate an open compound. The name comes from the fact that, in tradtional typesetting, the dash is the same width as a capital m. If you prefer to use a true em dash, most keyboards dont include a key for it, but a simple shortcut is available.
Em dasheswhy writers should use them more sparingly. When using the em dash, ap style says you should use a space before and after, although, most editors prefer the nospace approach. Do not call a hyphen a dash as, for some reason, computersupport personnel feel compelled to do when they recite into the telephone the characters you are supposed to enter. The hyphen, the em dash, and the en dash are all horizontal marks of varying lengths. The chicago manual of style says not to put spaces. How to use ellipses according to ap style bka content. Every style guide i checked, except the ap stylebook, stated there. Another commonly misused or inconsistently used punctuation is the ellipsis.
The em dash is the longer version of a dash that is used instead of a shorter hyphen. Use an em dash to set off a parenthetical phrase with more emphasis than parentheses provide. Some use the equivalent of three linked hyphens surrounded by a space on each side like this, and some omit the surrounding spaces likethis. The hugely influential associated press style doesnt. A student who follows that model will be sure of producing professionallooking work, at least as far as the. In most cases, ap tends to be economical and minimizes extra spaces that affect line length and create awkward breaks. The em dash and how to use it correctly simple writing. I recommend using two hyphens if you will be editing or revising in courier. Every style guide i checked, except the ap stylebook, stated there should be no spaces between an emdash and the adjacent words. The most common versions of the dash are the en dash, longer than a hyphen. While ive always used the dash without any space around it, many other people place a space before and after the dash.
Instead, ap style uses the en dash for this use, and puts one space before and after it. In most american print and ebooks, correct em dash formation is done by using two hyphens with no spacing, which then becomes an em dash also called the long dash in most word processing programs as you continue typing. An en dash surrounded by spaces achieves the same effect as an em dash with no spaces, but typographically it is less disruptive. The big daddy of dashes, the emdash is generally twice as long again as the endash. The novelty of the em dash makes it perfect for text that you want to stand out. Since a setopen endash serves the same purposes as an emdash, a lot of people just use that instead of the threehyphen conventional encoding of an emdash. The em dash, en dash, and hyphen are punctuation marks frequently. Whatever you choose to do with regards to spacing of em dashes, thin spaces on either side or no spaces at all, the most important thing is to be consistent throughout the entire document or. Wikipedia has a descent overview on dashes, especially noting the differnet ways to reflect either and emdash or an endash. The answer about whether to put spaces around em dashes depends on which style guide you use. The farlex grammar book english punctuation dashes dashes what is a dash.
The typical computer keyboard lacks a dedicated key for the en dash, though most word processors provide a means for its insertion. Hyphens, em dashes, en dasheseverything you need to know. It is not unusual, though, to see instead a dash with spaces around it word word. Every style guide i checked, except the ap stylebook, stated there should be no spaces between an em dash and the adjacent words. If you begin a line with an em dash or ellipsis, the only reason you would insert a space before is to drive your editor nuts. Use an em dash when emphasizing a separate clause in a sentence. Most newspapers and all that follow ap style insert a space before and after the em dash. Many style manuals suggest you leave no spaces around a dash wordword. Regarding em dashes, does cmos continue to unequivocally oppose putting spaces before and after em dashes in typography.
Yet, im sad to see the article uses the em dash in ap style putting spaces around it rather than following the cleaner standard of chicago manual of style no spaces. The em dash draws a readers attention, partly because of the physical separation that the longer dash creates and partly because these dashes appear less frequently than hyphens and en dashes. It is used to interrupt a sentence or to emphasize a phrase. But, the associated press stylebook says to put spaces. How to format dashes correctly alliance of independent. Whatever usage you follow, the main thing is to be consistent. Hey i thought it was called an em dash because it represents the width of a capital letter m. Use one em dash on each side of a phrase embedded in a sentence. Using em dashes instead of parentheses puts the focus on the information between the em dashes. The style used for an em dash is dependent on whether the publication youre writing for requires ap style spaces around em dash, cmos style no spaces, apa style no spaces, mla style no spaces, ama no spaces, and so on. The 2019 edition of the associated press stylebook and briefing on media law includes more than 200 new or revised entries, with chapters covering data journalism, business, fashion, food, religion and sports terms, as well as media law, news values, punctuation, social media, polls and surveys and a new chapter on health and science. Some publications, including this newspaper, add spaces around dashes. Hyphen, en dash or em dash which ones the right one to use. Chicago style writing fancies lengthier, more detailed materials e.
When she called her cats chardonnay, patron and guinness the neighbors came running. The chicago manual of style online is the venerable, timetested guide to style, usage, and grammar in an accessible online format. They are called en or em because of their lengths, m being longer than n. In running text, it is best to use words instead of an en dash or hyphen in ap style. The most important difference between the em dash and the en dash is that, in much of the publishing word, en dashes dont exist at all. An em dash has no space before or after, unless youre doing. Apply the same punctuation sequence when the grammar preceding an ellipsis calls for a question mark, exclamation point, comma.
The library is organized so that any questionwhether technical, reference, or circulationcan be answered by staff. Hyphens, en dashes, em dashes the chicago manual of style. This is the basic difference in how em dashes are rendered in ap style and chicago style. The en dash is used to represent a span or range of numbers, dates, or time. The dash is a punctuation mark that is similar in appearance to the hyphen and minus sign but differs from these symbols in length and, in some fonts, height above the baseline. An em dash, like an ellipsis, has a space before and after, except when used to introduce items in a vertical list. In appearance, an en dash is slightly longer than a hyphen, approximately the width of a capital n, while an em dash is slightly longer than an en dash. Depending on the context, the em dash can take the place of commas, parentheses, or colons. Most writers and style guides use the emdash without spaces on either side. The appropriateness of spaces before and after a dash depends on various considerations. Even so, the associated press stylebook chose to exclude the slash from the punctuation section, acknowledging it with a thirtyword chin nod in the main section instead.