Which Dash is a super-simple resource to help you better understand the difference between a few commonly used dashes. We hope this guide pushes your "grammar" gas pedal from 060 and allows you to educate yourself and othersproviding us the privilege of earning a spot in your bookmarks. Will & Aaron

Em Dash

Interrupts a sentence when an additional thought is needed, commonly replacing the need for parenthesis.

Examples

  1. He forgot his deodoranta situation that resulted in a series of unfortunate events.
  2. "May I borrow your stick of deodorant?" Anonymous

Apply it

Copy the character
Mac Keyboard
option + shift + -
Windows Keyboard
alt + 0 + 1 + 5 + 1
html code
—

En Dash

Connects two items designated by range or duration.

Examples

  1. The borrowed deodorant was in use October 610, 2012.
  2. He requested the deodorant sometime between 79am.
  3. The team avoided a stinky situation from CincinnatiCleveland.

Apply it

Copy the character
Mac Keyboard
option + -
Windows Keyboard
alt + 0 + 1 + 5 + 0
html code
–

Hyphen -

Brings two items together that are closely related and turns them into a single idea.

Examples

  1. The deodorant was freshly-applied.
  2. Its odor-reduction capabilities were astounding.
  3. The deodorant was no more than two years old at that time. A three-year-old stick of deodorant would have been disgusting.

Apply it

Copy the character
-
Mac Keyboard
-
Windows Keyboard
-
html code
‐

Resources

  1. Chicago Manual of Style
  2. Grammarist
  3. Fonts.com
  4. Dummies.com
  5. Typewolf