When should a dash be used in writing?

1. To set off material for emphasis. Think of dashes as the opposite of parentheses. 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.

What can you use instead of a dash?

You can avoid informal punctuation by replacing with a more formal punctuation alternative. Dashes can be replaced by several other punctuations including commas, colons and brackets.5

How do I type an N Dash?

To type an en-dash, you’ll need to press the Alt key and the Minus key at the same time. That’s it, you’ve now got an en-dash (“). The em-dash works similarly ” it merely requires one extra key. Hold down Alt + Shift + Minus for an em-dash.13

How do you do a long dash?

The em dash can be used in place of a colon when you want to emphasize the conclusion of your sentence. The dash is less formal than the colon. After months of deliberation, the jurors reached a unanimous verdict⁠”guilty. The white sand, the warm water, the sparkling sun⁠”this is what brought them to Fiji.

What does an em dash look like?

Em dashes differ from other hyphens and dashes not only in usage, which we will discuss shortly, but also in appearance. In fact, the em dash is named after its length”it’s about the same width as the capital letter M. Its alphabetical cousin, the en dash, is about the same width as the letter N.

What is a 2 em dash?

A very long dash (“”), known as a 2-em dash, is used to indicate ‘ditto’ in bibliographies and similar lists: Marlowe, Christopher, Edward II. “” The Jew of Malta. For means of representing the different dashes in typescript, see 1.3. 5.

How do you do the 3 em dash?

Creating a 3-em Dash Create a 3-em dash by entering the em dash three times or six hyphens. You can find the em dash in the symbol drop-down menu in Microsoft Word. Alternatively, press CTRL + ALT + minus key on the numeric keypad, three times.

How do you insert an em dash in pages?

1. For Mac: press “option+shift+hyphen key”. Word will automatically convert it to an em-dash. On some Mac keyboards, the option key is called “alt”. For desktop PC: press “alt+ctrl+minus” on the numeric keypad (the number section on the far right of your keyboard).

em dash

Long dashes ” what grammarians call em dashes ” are dramatic. Those long straight lines draw your eye and hold your attention. Short dashes show a range or connect words when the word to or and is implied.

What is the line between words called?

A dash is a horizontal line that shows a pause or break in meaning, or that represents missing words or letters. Dashes are often used informally instead of commas, colons and brackets. A dash may or may not have a space on either side of it. Do not confuse a dash (“) with a hyphen (-), which is shorter.

What does a Hifin look like?

Alternatively known as a dash, subtract, negative, or minus sign, the hyphen ( ” ) is a punctuation mark on the underscore key next to the “0” key on US keyboards. Pictured is an example of the hyphen and underscore key on top of the keyboard.2

What does comma mean?

A comma is a punctuation mark that indicates a pause in a sentence or separates items in a list. A comma is also used before the words “and” or “but” to join two independent clauses.

Does 1000 need a comma?

1000 or one thousand is the natural number following 999 and preceding 1001. In most English-speaking countries, it is often written with a comma separating the thousands unit: 1,000.

Why does Europe use periods instead of commas?

He was an influential mathematician, and the dot as a multiplication sign became widespread in Europe. But this solution created another problem: The dot as a multiplication sign could be confused with the decimal point, so European mathematicians started to use a comma to separate decimals.24

How do you write thousand in English?

So too are the thousands, with the number of thousands followed by the word “thousand”. For the number one thousand it may be written 1 000 or 1000 or 1,000, for larger numbers they are written for example 10 000 or 10,000 for ease of human reading.

How many commas should be in a sentence?

Last but not least, use a comma to separate three or more items. You can use two commas for three items, or if you’re like me you obsess over the Oxford Comma. That’s the little comma that can be arguable both necessary and unnecessary, and is after the last item listed in the series. I think it’s crucial.

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