These punctuations marks belong to the elite of punctuation but are actually quite easy. Parentheses are more polite, since they face a certain direction, which tells you for sure what's in the bubble and out of the bubble. "Cannot" vs. "Can Not": What's The Difference? To use an em dash on your Mac or PC, you'll need to use some quick keyboard shortcuts. A prefix is a word placed before another to change the meaning. Em dash is just one of them. The en dash got its name from being about the same width as the letter N. The em dash is a dash that can be used instead of parentheses, commas, colons, or quotation marks in a sentence. However, below are the step by step break down on how to type it. This varies, especially when using  AP style to write. Press Option + Shift + Minus (that's -, the key right next to 0 at the top of your keyboard). We can use hyphens for words that are formed by two nouns. Feel free to modify the code to suit your own needs. Em dashes often set off parenthetical information. Em dash shortcut 3 (Mac): If you are on mac, below is a shortcut to help you type the em dash sign in Word. Here's what you'll need to know. All compound numbers from twenty-one through ninety-nine are hyphenated. En-dash: \textendash; Em-dash: \textemdash; With the latter two, you will likely want to append {}, because they swallow following space. 2.2. The em dash will appear immediately. This is because the only difference (visually) between those three characters is their width. some set-up beforehand. However, if a number or date range is introduced with, to keep the construction parallel. There are three different types of dashes in English writing. Apple; skitching by William Antonelli/Business Insider. William Antonelli/Business Insider, The numpad is the set of vertically stacked numbers on the right side of your keyboard. your own em dash shortcut in Word: This will display the Customize type the em dash sign into your Word document. Em dash. Account active When using the en dash, em dash or the hyphen, most but not all, style books advocate for not putting space before or after the dashes. using the insert symbol dialog. One thing’s for sure—he doesn’t want to face the truth. These dashes differ in length and usage. You can offset it with the em dash instead, on either side of the appositive. example:  The twentieth-century is when most technological evolution took place. Sign up to 10 Things in Tech You Need to Know Today. Latex will automatically turn it into an en-dash. Sadly, alt codes don't work on many laptop keyboards — you'll need to have a numpad to use them. Now click on Assign to add it to your shortcuts. The em dash is the widest. symbols. The em dash is named after its length—it’s about the same width as the capital letter M. The use of dashes is massive in writing– regardless of how ‘professional’ the writers are. This page contains HTML code for adding an em dash within the text of your website or blog. A leading-edge research firm focused on digital transformation. The em dash, en dash and hyphen crop up all the time but most of us do not know how and why we use the different lashes. The em-dash (—) The em-dash is normally twice as long as the n-dash; its length is equal to the width of the letter m, whence the name. When you need an em dash, you can let Word enter it for you the easy way. A dash is a small horizontal line or mark of separation that is used... A dash is a small horizontal line or mark of separation that is used in between clauses where something stronger than a comma (,) less formal than a colon (:)  and more relaxed than a parentheses ([ ]) is needed. This example uses the entity names to display the em dash. Using. Example: Mr.  G—— was arraigned in court yesterday while the defendant ——— was not present. If you're among the uninitiated and have no idea what I'm talking about: the em dash (the — symbol here) might just be the most superior punctuation mark there is. We use it most commonly to combine words and to separate numbers that are not inclusive for example in phone numbers. The home team beat the visitors 64–23 within the first half of the match. It is a dash longer Upon recovering the stolen cars — all 24 of them — he still did not let the suspects go. Here Are Our Top English Tips, The Best Articles To Improve Your English Language Usage, The Most Common English Language Questions. Example:  Upon recovering the stolen cars ( all 24 of them) he still did not let the suspects go. MS Word has a feature called AutoFormat which automatically