ORIGINAL: My grandmother whispered (insofar as she could truly whisper, being hard of hearing) that our waiter had a cute butt. Stronger emphasis is placed on how safe the walk should have been, thus accenting the surprise attack. REVISED: We were walking to the store-as we’d done so many times without incident-when we found ourselves being chased down the street by a gang of chihuahuas. ORIGINAL: We were walking to the store, as we’d done so many times without incident, when we found ourselves being chased down the street by a gang of chihuahuas. It can also be handy in a longer sentence that just has too many (needed) commas for smooth reading.
When you need a strong break of any kind, the em dash is your superhero. Not only does each dash look different from the others, but they each serve a distinct purpose:ĮM DASH is my favorite of all the dashes, because it’s just so versatile.
#Why isn em dash on keyboard how to#
Now that you know them by sight, here’s how to apply them. No tricks needed, only one finger required. You can find it on your keyboard either to the right of the zero (0) key or as a minus on your numeric keypad. HYPHEN (-) is the smallest of the dashes, and is probably the one most commonly known. As with the em dash, the en dash can also be found in symbols and special characters section of your word processing tool. The alternative is an odd one, using ctrl+minus (on the numeric keypad) which may not always work with the hyphen key. Pressing the hyphen key twice and then hitting the space bar works just as well, but since most uses of the em dash eliminate spaces on either side, you’re forced to hit the backspace button before continuing to type.ĮN DASH (–) follows the same size logic as the em dash, in that the en dash is roughly the length of the letter “n” when typed.
#Why isn em dash on keyboard code#
The em dash symbol is also available in “symbols” (Word) or “special characters” (Google docs), but again, learning the alt code provides a quick and easy em dash. There are alternative shortcuts in Word (two hyphens and a space, or ctrl+alt+hyphen), but they don’t work universally, so the first option is much more useful overall. Windows: my favorite is alt+0151 on any keyboard. The em dash can be produced in a few ways: Dashes and hyphens are not interchangeable.īefore knowing the purpose of each type of dash, it’s important to recognize them when you see them:ĮM DASH (-) is, as its name implies, roughly the length of the letter “m” when typed. Not only is it just plain wrong, it’s also a huge distraction when you’re trying to read and keep the flow going. Many writers seem to get them confused, however, or-worse yet-use a hyphen for any dash required. Now older and wiser, I recognize that each type of dash signifies what’s going on around it. I knew that sometimes the longer ones looked better for certain jobs, but it never occurred to me that each type of dash was a particular length and served a particular purpose.
If your keyboard doesn't have a numeric keypad, then you may find the following article helpful.Before I became a copyeditor, I never gave much thought to dashes, whether on my keyboard or on a printed page. The wider em-dash is inserted by using Ctrl+Alt+. If you press Ctrl+- (remember, on the numeric keypad), then Word inserts an en-dash. To insert an en-dash in your document, hold down the Alt key and type 0150 on the numeric keypad an em-dash is produced by holding down the Alt key and typing 0151.Īnother way to insert the dashes is to use the minus key on the numeric keypad. The em-dash is typically used in sentences, such as a dash between clauses. Wider still is the em-dash, which is just as wide as a lowercase m. An en-dash is typically used to denote ranges of numbers. A longer dash is called an en dash, because it is the same width as a lowercase n. For instance, you get one type of dash when you press on the minus key-it is a dash that is very narrow. The only difference between the dashes is their width. Typographers use different dashes for different purposes.
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