Hyphen vs. Dash: When and How to Use Them.
As a writer you in the middle of writing a brilliant sentence and you find yourself confronted with the ultimate linear dilemma: To use a hyphen, an en dash, or an em dash, which would you choose? The differences might appear subtle, but their usages are distinct: A- The hyphen (-) , the shortest, is used to join multiple words that function together as a single concept, as in, a compound word. For instance, farmer + born = farmer-born. Mother + in + law = mother-in-law. B- The en dash (–) , a hyphen with a growth spurt, is used to represent the words to or through when specifying a range of value such as such as a span of time, dates or numbers. Examples: 5 to 6a.m = 56 a.m. June to Jul y= JuneJuly, 2000 170 to 90BCE = 17090 BCE Read through chapters 3 to 5 = Chapters 35 The Seahawks won 438 En dashes are also used to represent a conflict, connection, or direction between two words or compounds. Examples include conflicting sides of an argument (Hindu–muslim debate) , connecting