There are two types of dashes.
The shorter en dash (–) shows us a range of numbers or a period of time:
- Older children, aged 8–16, should be able to help the younger children.
- The hotel reception, open 7am–10pm, is the place to get help.
The longer em dash (—) shows:
A big pause.
- If you are all ready—I will begin my presentation.
Emphasis to the end of a sentence.
- Now please just—go!
An afterthought.
- I sent your parcel this morning—at least I think I did.
Don’t worry too much about getting these dashes correct. It is often difficult to find them on a keyboard and many people now use the easier-to-find hyphen when typing.
