Sunday, June 07, 2009

En Dash Central

A geeky Toronto friend—whose geekitude surprises and delights me—asked for a post about en dashes. I’m going to throw in a couple of points about hyphens and em dashes because they help clarify the distinct use of en dashes.

1. When you think en dash, think numbers in almost all cases.* Em dashes, by contrast, apply exclusively to words.
2. Think number ranges when it comes to the en dash—in other words, inclusive numbers (e.g., “See pages 40–42”). Non-inclusive numbers like phone numbers (e.g., 604-734-1896) demand hyphens. En dashes with numbers mean up to and including. With the example, then, I meant “See pages 40, 41, and 42.”
3. Finally, a direct and important quote from The Chicago Manual of Style: “For the sake of parallel construction the word to, never the en dash, should be used if the word from precedes the first element; similarly, and, never the en dash, should be used if between precedes the first element.” Therefore: “He was a member from 1998 to 2001,” and “Between 7 a.m. and 9 p.m. there will be no power.”

*The main use of en dashes between words is when there is a to implied (e.g., “The Vancouver–Toronto train,” “The Canucks won 4–2 over the Leafs”). There is also a use for compound terms, but it occurs infrequently enough that I’m not getting into it here.

To read me waxing poetic about em dashes, please see “Writing That Sounds Like Speaking” on blogthecat.