

The en dash, en rule, or nut dash – is traditionally half the width of an em dash. Seven social sins: politics without principles, wealth without work, pleasure without conscience, knowledge without character, commerce without morality, science without humanity, and worship without sacrifice. An em dash or horizontal bar, but not an en dash, is used to set off the source of a direct quotation.The French and Indian War (1754–1763) was fought in western Pennsylvania and along the present US–Canada border (Edwards, pp. An en dash, but not an em dash, indicates spans or differentiation, where it may replace "and", "to", or "through".

Glitter, felt, yarn, and buttons – his kitchen looked as if a clown had exploded.Ī flock of sparrows – some of them juveniles – alighted and sang. Glitter, felt, yarn, and buttons-his kitchen looked as if a clown had exploded.Ī flock of sparrows-some of them juveniles-alighted and sang. An (unspaced) em dash or a spaced en dash can be used to mark a break in a sentence, and a pair can be used to set off a parenthetical statement.Usage varies both within English and in other languages, but the usual conventions for the most common dashes in printed English text are these: 4.2.2 Approximating the em dash with two or three hyphens.4.1.2.2 Subtle differences in punctuation.4.1.2.1 Simple equivalence (or near-equivalence) of paired parenthetical marks.4.1.1.2 Inversion of the function of a colon.4.1.1.1 Simple equivalence (or near-equivalence) of colon and em dash.3.1.5 Parenthetic and other uses at the sentence level.
