[bookshare-discuss] en dashes

  • From: Cindy <popularplace@xxxxxxxxx>
  • To: bookshare-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
  • Date: Sat, 2 Oct 2004 00:07:53 -0700 (PDT)

Gary, your post impelled me to look upen-dash online
and I learned  some interesting things.: according to
one source, en dashes are used to connect compound
words -- which would mean tha hyphens are only used to
separate syllables at the ends of sentences. I know
I've called dashes dashes but I didn't think they were
actually different from hyphens -- I thought the
difference was in the use. According to another soure,
en dashes are used for numerical ranges, e.g. 6 -10. 
The first source says en dashes are used to connect
other things, too, like pages.  I've always just gone
to the dash, or maybe it's a hyphen, on my keyboard,
though I do have an en dash,  as well as an em dash,
in my symbols in my insert file. Maybe I'll start
using that instead of what may actually be a hyphen on
my keyboard -- though it's more trouble. If it isn't
noticeable,maybe I'll stick to using what's on my
keyboard.

I've pasted the two sources to which I refer and their
URLs below.

Cindy

    We use the n-dash for numerical ranges, as in
"6-10 years."  When we need a dash as a form of
parenthetical punctuation in a sentence--as I have
been using it rather freely already in this
article--we use the m-dash.
http://www.grammartips.homestead.com/dash.html

En dash
The en dash (?) is one en in width: the width of the
capital N in any particular font. The en dash is by
definition exactly half the width of an em dash. 

It is used to indicate a closed range, or a connection
between two things of almost any kind: numbers,
people, places, etc.. Examples: 

*       June?July 1967 
*       1:00?2:00 p.m. 
*       For ages 3?5 
*       pp. 38?55. 
*       New York?London flight 
You would also use an en dash when you have a compound
adjective, one part of which consists of two words or
a hyphenated word: 

*       pre?World War II period 
*       high-priority?high-pressure tasks (tasks which are
both high-priority and high-pressure). 

http://encyclopedia.thefreedictionary.com/N%20dash








--- Gary Petraccaro <garyp130@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

> Not quite true (assuming I understand you right). 
> An n-dash is the kind of 
> dash in n-dash, or on-line.  The m-dash is the kind
> of dash that signifies 
> such things as interrupted speech, or a thought with
> some kind of 
> modification within it.  Then, of course, there was
> the book I did with HUGE 
> dashes, so long that the ocr refused to recognize
> them as anything but junk. 
> These were several characters in width.  Only one
> book like that that I've 
> ever come across, thank God.
> 
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "Cindy" <popularplace@xxxxxxxxx>
> To: <bookshare-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> Sent: Friday, October 01, 2004 12:52 AM
> Subject: [bookshare-discuss] Re: Ellipses and
> em-dashes
> 
> 
> > No, Shannon, that is a good question. I see that
> Guido
> > explained that an em dash is a longer dash the
> size of
> > the letter em in type. The en dash is longer than
> a
> > hyphen but shorter than the em dash. It isn't used
> > frequently and I probably shouldn't have mentioned
> it
> > at all, except I did use it in one book where the
> > author had used it. It's so hard to see the
> difference
> > that I had to place it next to a hyphen, or short
> > dash, to see which it was and if it had to be
> > corrected. (It's in my symbols to be inserted, not
> a
> > keystroke). I don't know how it would feel in
> Braille
> > or how a reader reads it.  And I just found, by
> trying
> > to put all three in this letter, that it depends
> on
> > what font is being used whether one can tell the
> > difference between a hyphen-type dash and an en
> dash.
> > I could tell the difference in my Word document
> but
> > not in this letter, so I stopped trying to put in
> > examples.
> >
> > Cindy
> >
> >
> >
> > shannon work <shannon@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> >
> >> Cindy,
> >>
> >> I am not trying to split hairs but just need a
> >> little clarification on
> >> something.
> >>
> >> In the post you made,   wich I left atached, you
> >> make mention of something
> >> called an en dash, and an m dash.
> >> Is this something different or was that a typo?
> >> Like I said not trying to split hairs but I just
> >> learned about the M dash
> >> and this EN dash has me a little confused.
> >>
> >> I'm sorry, and apologise if I am pestering but, I
> am
> >> lost and never was much
> >> good at punctuation.
> >>
> >> Thanks for the time,
> >> Shannon
> >> ----- Original Message ----- 
> >> From: "Cindy" <popularplace@xxxxxxxxx>
> >> To: <bookshare-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> >> Sent: Wednesday, September 29, 2004 6:27 PM
> >> Subject: [bookshare-discuss] Ellipses and
> em-dashes
> >>
> >>
> >> > I'm glad I read more posts before explaining
> the
> >> > difference between ellipses and em dashes.
> Guido
> >> did a
> >> > very good job. I'd just like to add a little
> more
> >> to
> >> > his explanation -- but before I do, Guido --
> the
> >> em
> >> > dash isn't retained in txt. I'm validating this
> in
> >> > Word in larger font, so I can see it better,
> but I
> >> did
> >> > what someone suggested and closed and saved it
> in
> >> the
> >> > original txt to see what formatting was kept.
> The
> >> em
> >> > dashes, line breaks, and italics all were lost.
> So
> >> I'm
> >> > following the same person's suggestion (Kellie
> or
> >> > Jana, I think) and using a doulbe hyphen,with a
> >> space
> >> > on either side.
> >> >
> >> > Ellipses are used, as the original poster (Was
> it
> >> > Dave?) said, to show that something has been
> >> > eliminated from a quotation.  They can also be
> >> used to
> >> > show that a sentence is unfinished, as opposed
> to
> >> > being interrupted. I don't have any examples of
> >> that
> >> > in the book I'm doing now, but  . . .
> >> >
> >> > O.K. That was one. I couldn't think of how to
> >> finish
> >> > the sentence, so I used ellipses. Here's
> another:
> >> As
> >> > Mary came downstairs, John said, "Maybe tonight
> we
> >> > could . . . "  His voice trailed off as he saw
> the
> >> man
> >> > behind her."
> >> >
> >> > As Guido said, an em dash is a long dash, used
> to
> >> > interrupt a sentence with a different thought,
> >> > parenthetical or xplanatory but not necessarily
> >> strong
> >> > enough to be in parentheses. Here is an example
> >> from
> >> > the book I;m validating: "She gave a tiny laugh
> >> (em
> >> > dash) a nervous one, he thought  (em dash) when
> it
> >> > took a minute for their strides to coordinate .
> .
> >> ."
> >> > (Here the ellipsis is because I'm not finishing
> >> the
> >> > sentence).  Another examaple: "Daph (em dash)"
> >> > Another person interrupts: "I know."  Here the
> em
> >> dash
> >> > shows that the person who was speaking was
> >> interrupted
> >> > rather than that he lost his train of thought.
> >> >
> >> > I admit that since en dashes are used so
> rarely, I
> >> > can't think at the moment of why one would be
> used
> >> > instead of an em-dash except for poetic effect,
> >> which
> >> > is why I think it was used in Silk.
> >> >
> >> > I hope this explanation isn't too long-winded
> or
> >> > doesn't repeat anything anyone has already
> written
> >> > that I haven't yet seen. And that it clarifies
> the
> >> > differences. As Guido says, and as you all
> know, a
> >> > hyphen connects compound words or breaks words
> at
> >> ends
> >> > of sentences when they don't fit on a line. But
> >> those
> >> > we close. Unfortunately, sometimes, as with the
> >> book
> >> > I've validating, scanners, and maybe
> validators,
> >> sue a
> >> > global replace to eliminate all hyphens and
> that
> >> > results in their being eliminated where they
> >> sometimes
> >> > belong.
> >> >
> >> > Cindy
> >> >
> >> >
> >> >
> >> >
> >> >
> >> > _______________________________
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> >>
> >>
> >
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> 
> 
> 
> 



                
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