How To Use Dashes In A List

The shortest and most common is the hyphen which is used for clarifying open compounds such as four armed villains as opposed to four armed villains for separating number groups in phone and social security numbers and for connecting written out fractions like three quarters.

How to use dashes in a list. The most common types of dashes are the en dash and the em dash. A dash can be used to add emphasis at the beginning middle or end of a sentence. Use a dash to prepare for a list a restatement an amplification or a dramatic shift in tone or thought. Use an em dash to bring focus to a list when a sentence begins with an independent clause and ends with a list you can use a colon between the clause and the list. A good way to remember the difference between these two dashes is to visualize the en dash as the length of the letter n and the em dash as the length of the letter m.

You have to use an em dash when crediting. Where parentheses indicate that the reader should put less emphasis on the enclosed material dashes indicate that the reader should pay more attention to the material between the dashes. It s an em dash before peter sellers and an en dash between 1925 and 1980 note. There are three forms of dashes. However you can also use spaced en dashes to set apart a few words in a sentence like this bit before resuming the original thought.

There used to be a real me but i had it surgically removed peter sellers 1925 1980 note. Dashes are used to separate groups of words not to separate parts of words like a hyphen does. Dashes add drama parentheses whisper. Using dashes to credit quotations you can use an em dash to credit a quote to someone. Dashes are often used to signal an abrupt change in a sentence indicating that the reader should pay close attention to what comes next.

Place em dashes around non essential information or a list in the middle of a sentence like you would with commas. The vegetarian gasped in horror when he saw lining the wall of the cabin a collection of animal heads moose deer bears squirrels all dead. Use a longer em dash to join independent clauses with words like and but as or and for. Em en and the double hyphen. People aged 18 21 a sequence e g.

When the list comes first it s better to use a dash to connect the list to the clause. A single dash can emphasize material at the beginning or end of a sentence. Its main use is to indicate a range of values e g. To properly use a dash in an english sentence start by identifying which dash you should use.