Welcome to the Grammar Minute, where we’re saving the English language sixty seconds at a time! I’m Lauren Smyth, and I was recently asked about dashes. Not the kind you do on a track, because it’s way too hot for any of that nonsense in Tennessee. No, this is about em dashes, en dashes, and hyphens. What’s the difference?
Turns out, they all serve slightly different grammatical purposes.
Em dashes are the width of the letter capital M. They break up thoughts or, in dialogue, are sometimes used to express stuttering.
En dashes are the width of the letter N. They express ranges of numbers, or relationships, such as the “city-suburb divide.”
Hyphens are the shortest dash. They are used to connect hyphenated words or to join adjective phrases, as in rose-tinted glasses.
The Brits are judging me right now, and that’s because they do their dashes slightly differently. This guide is for American English only.
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