Use of em dash and en dash

Use of em dash and en dash

[Cecil Westerhof]

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Until now I always used a - (minus sign) to define a sub sentence or for an
optional word, like:
    This is -now- not necessary,

I understood that normally you use the em dash for this. But for only a
word, this seems a little big. Could I then use an en dash or should I keep
using a minus sign?

In which other places should they be used?

-- 
Cecil Westerhof

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Re: Use of em dash and en dash

[Ulrike Fischer]

Am Mon, 21 Mar 2011 10:51:44 +0100 schrieb Cecil Westerhof:

> Until now I always used a - (minus sign) to define a sub sentence or for an
> optional word, like:
>     This is -now- not necessary,
> 
> I understood that normally you use the em dash for this. But for only a
> word, this seems a little big. Could I then use an en dash or should I keep
> using a minus sign?

It depends. In germany I would use an en dash and put spaces around
it: dies ist -- noch -- nicht notwendig. 

Older english books often use --- without spaces: is---now. But
spaces and endash with spaces are used too:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dash#En_dash_versus_em_dash

So check the typography rules of your country/language. 


-- 
Ulrike Fischer 

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Re: Use of em dash and en dash

[Cecil Westerhof]

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2011/3/21 Ulrike Fischer <news3@nililand.de>

> Am Mon, 21 Mar 2011 10:51:44 +0100 schrieb Cecil Westerhof:
>
> > Until now I always used a - (minus sign) to define a sub sentence or for
> an
> > optional word, like:
> >     This is -now- not necessary,
> >
> > I understood that normally you use the em dash for this. But for only a
> > word, this seems a little big. Could I then use an en dash or should I
> keep
> > using a minus sign?
>
> It depends. In germany I would use an en dash and put spaces around
> it: dies ist -- noch -- nicht notwendig.
>
> Older english books often use --- without spaces: is---now. But
> spaces and endash with spaces are used too:
>
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dash#En_dash_versus_em_dash
>
> So check the typography rules of your country/language.
>

I found a few things on
    http://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gedachtestreepje
en related pages.

It would be customary to use the endash, but emdash can be used also. I
think I am going for the endash. So I change it again. It also says that
spaces should be used, but I never saw that. At the moment I will not use
it. (It is clear where the sub sentence starts and ends.) But I'll do some
more research on it.

-- 
Cecil Westerhof

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