posted
I'm sure I heard this rule sometime in the past. But at the same time, in all the books I've read recently, I'm sure there are spaces surrounding them.
And, it just doesn't look right in MS Word, unless I put the spaces in.
So, is it:
“Sorry folks, short runway – needed a sharp turn to decrease air speed,” the pilot said.
Or
“Sorry folks, short runway–needed a sharp turn to decrease air speed,” the pilot said.
posted
As far as manuscript format goes, I'm pretty sure there are spaces on both sides, and I know that the dash isn't connected (it makes it easier for typesetters):
"Sorry folks, short runway -- needed a sharp turn..."
posted
Doesn't also depend on how you are using the dash, for example, if it's a defition or something extra that was needed, an explanation, maybe, there's a space after but not before.
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posted
MS format isn't absolutely standard on this, but editor George Scithers was this emphatic on what he wanted when he edited Asimov's: use -- or ---, but "do NOT *damn*it* NOT use a single '-' to mean a dash!"
I took his words to heart. Editors may be able to tell, but typesetters can't.
Spaces, or not? OSC uses " -- ." I see some using "---" (no spaces).
posted
I use three hyphens---just as I'm doing now---for a dash. The typing book I learned from listed that and the space-hyphen-hyphen-space as preferable ways to do it. Somehow I latched on to that as the way to do it (along with other pecularities), and it's probably too ingrained for me to ever stop. My spell checker often tells me it's wrong.
But one hyphen for a dash---well, that's just wrong...
posted
I should have added that this kind of standardization of form is so that they typesetters don't mistake a proper dash for a single hyphen.
I suppose this is less important in these days, where things are dumped directly from one computer to another. (I've seen the most appalling typos in big-name publications, that clearly came about this way.) It's more important than ever for the writer to see that his work is correct---at least when it goes out to market, or at least when it's nothing but a series of ones and zeros in a file...
posted
No. There are never spaces around hyphens, en dashes, or em dashes.
An en dash is the width of a capital N, or approximately two hyphens. In Microsoft Word, you make one by typing [space]-[space], which is annoying because you have to delete the spaces afterward. In WordPerfect, two hyphens converts to an en dash. An en dash is used in very specific circumstances, the most common of which is showing a range of numbers.
Here are some examples:
"Read pages 123–156 for homework tonight."
"From 1770–1775, tensions were building."
Really, the en dash almost always works to replace the word to. If you want to be fancy online and make a real one, type <Alt>0150.
An em dash is what you're thinking of as a dash. It is the width of a capital M, or approximately three hyphens. It signifies a pause in a sentence that is larger than a comma but smaller than a semicolon. An em dash can almost always be replaced by some other form of punctuation (a comma, a colon, a semicolon, or a period).
Online, you have options as to how to type an em dash, and I think all of these are acceptable. You can type two hypens--like this--because Microsoft Word automatically converts two hyphens to an em dash. You can type three hypens---like this---because WordPerfect converts three hyphens to an em dash. Or you can be fancy and type <alt>0151 to make a pretty one—like this.
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