Before You Make a Dash
There are three types of dashes used in typography.
1. Hyphen
Well, not really a dash, but the hyphen is used extensively when setting type. Hyphens are for when you want to say something like “22-page document.”
You get a hyphen by simply choosing the minus key on your keyboard.
The problem is, people often use a hyphen when they should use one of the following kinds of dashes.
2. En dash
This one is formatted with a space before it and after it and is longer than a hyphen. You would use it when you wished to indicate something like “to” as in “10 – 4″
3. Em dash
This is used when you wish to place an aside into a sentence—a good idea sometimes—and it is formatted by leaving no space between the last letter of the preceding word and the first letter of the following word.
To format these dashes on a Mac or Windows computer, see the graphic below:
Seriously, I’ve never been able to quite figure out when to use an n vs m dash, and when I was sure, I didn’t know how to get one! Now I know! Thanks:)