What is a dash in grammar?

Dashes. Grammarly. Grammar. A dash is a little horizontal line that floats in the middle of a line of text (not at the bottom: that’s an underscore). It’s longer than a hyphen and is commonly used to indicate a range or a pause. Dashes are used to separate groups of words, not to separate parts of words like a hyphen does.

How are dashes used?

Dashes do not have a unique use (i.e., they are used in places where other punctuation marks could be used). Here are the seven ways that dashes are used: (1) Dashes As Parentheses. Dashes (generally, "em dashes") can be used as parentheses. For example: On Saturday, I took the club secretary (Pat Derbyshire) to Skegness.

What is an en dash?

En dashes may look similar to em dashes, but they function in a much different way. The en dash is often used to indicate spans of time or ranges of numbers. In this context, the dash should be interpreted as meaning either “to” or “through.” Consider the examples below: The teacher assigned pages 101–181 for tonight’s reading material.

What is the difference between a hyphen and a Dashe?

Dashes. It’s longer than a hyphen and is commonly used to indicate a range or a pause. Dashes are used to separate groups of words, not to separate parts of words like a hyphen does. There are three forms of dashes: em, en, and the double hyphen.