Only Connect II: The Heretic

[a brief punctuation tutorial]

[originally published June 18, 2024]

Hyphens connect.

En dashes connect things that hyphens won’t suffice for.

Em dashes separate.

Of all the bits of punctuation in common use, en dashes are likely the most esoteric. You were certainly not taught them in school, and unless you’re in the copyediting or proofreading biz, chances are good that you have no idea what they are or how to wield them.

Which won’t stop me, you can be sure, from explaining them to you. So you may now roll your eyes, completely geek out and enjoy yourselves, take your morning stroll before it gets too hot, whatever you prefer.

An en dash (this is an en dash: –), so-called because it is the width of a lowercase n in any particular typeface,¹ is longer than a hyphen (this is a hyphen: -) and shorter than an em dash² (this is an em dash: —),³ and it is used to join a multiword proper noun to another multiword proper noun or to just about anything else.

Which is to say:

• a Meryl Streep–Robert De Niro⁴ film

• a Doris Day–as–Calamity Jane vibe

• writers of the Jane Austen–Charles Dickens era

• an Academy Award–winning actress

• a Pulitzer Prize–winning play

• a World War II–era plane

• George O’Brien, whom we might view as the ur–Ryan Gosling

One creates an en dash on a Mac by typing option-hyphen.⁵ On an iPhone, if you lean gently on the hyphen key, an en dash will present itself to you, as well as an em dash and a bullet (that is: •). On a PC, I believe, one creates an en dash by exiting a room, reentering it, doing the hokey pokey, turning oneself about, and…

I have no idea.

Unlike most other pieces of punctuation, en dashes don’t much convey meaning/information; they mostly, simply make a pleasing visual impression, offering a bit more oomph than a wee hyphen can manage.⁶

Don’t, though, ask them to do too much.

As much as you might be tempted, for instance, to type something like:

• a series of air pollution–related bills

you’re far better off with something easier for the eye to apprehend, that is:

• a series of air-pollution-related bills

Also, don’t mix and match. That is:

• a Cher-as–Calamity Jane vibe

is unpleasingly lopsided (though the prospect of Cher playing Calamity Jane is absolutely riveting). You’re better off with:

• a Cher–as–Calamity Jane vibe

Prettier, no?⁷

En dashes are also wielded numerically, in page ranges (see pp. 48–57), sports scores (the Yankees clobbered the Mets, 14–2), and court decisions (the Supreme Court upheld the lower court’s ruling by a 7–2 vote).

Do be careful, though. The Seven Years’ War did not last from 1756–1763. A “from” requires a “to,” so the Seven Years’ War (1756–1763)⁸ lasted from 1756 to 1763.

An unfortunate recent development I regret to note but must is that our friends at The Chicago Manual of Style⁹ have recently decided that an en dash is just the thing you want for references to, say, that virus named by the Drs. Epstein and Barr, which I am content to render as Epstein-Barr virus, with a hyphen. The CMOS folk seem to think that Epstein–Barr virus, with an en dash, better conveys that the virus was named by, indeed, Dr. Epstein and Dr. Barr, and not by a Dr. Epstein-Barr. This, I’d say, is asking far too much of both en dashes and readers, and I respectfully demur.¹⁰ If you would like to respectfully demur as well, feel free to send any anti-demurrers my way, and I’ll straighten them out for you. Respectfully.

Feel free as well to pose questions in the comments;¹¹ I’ll do my best to helpfully respond.¹²

Also, there are now some 3,693¹³ of you signed up for this adventure, and I wanted, once again, to express my gratitude. Thanks for being here.

Benjamin

P.S. I belatedly note that in this entire piece—and it seems wildly improbable, given how often I use them—I’ve typed no em dashes to show you how em dashes do indeed separate things. Until now.

P.P.S. I realized a number of hours after I first posted this piece that I’d already posted a Substack essay called “Only Connect.” (I thought it sounded familiar.) Boy, is my face red. So I’ve now retitled this inadvertent sequel in honor of one of the worst sequels in film history.¹⁴ And poor E. M. Forster can take another spin in his grave.

1. Whereas an em dash is so-called because it is the width of a capital M in any particular typeface.*

*In truth, there are varying explanations afoot of how best to define/differentiate an em dash and an en dash, but the explanations are (perhaps suitably) microscopically different, and mine will do for today. I’d also note that in some typefaces, the natural em dash can seem a bit sawed-off (and the en dash can look like a hyphen and the hyphen can look like a random speck), and back in my publishing days (all of seven months ago, that is) we would often ask to have em dashes lengthened a bit. I hope you’re not sorry by now that you darted down to this footnote.

2. That is, what most people simply refer to as a dash.

3. Over in England and related places, em dashes are less often seen. Instead those folk favor an en dash with space on either side – as I’ve just demonstrated, which as weak tea goes is about the weakest.

4. Always check… Well, always check all proper nouns, but always particularly check the correct name construction of people who sport a de/De, di/Di, etc. (How do you know what’s correct? It’s how the person themself styles it. When in doubt, follow Wikipedia or what you can find in a reputable newspaper article.) In Ye Olde Days, these things (these things are technically called particles; now that you know that, you can forget it and go back to calling them “these things”) tended to sit apart from the main event; now they tend to be closed up. In the bygone era, for instance, Cecil B. DeMille was a notable exception to the prevailing style (though his niece the choreographer was, more typically, Agnes de Mille); in the modern era, Robert De Niro is a notable exception in the other direction.

5. Whereas an em dash is summoned up by typing option-shift-hyphen: —.

6. It was suggested to me the other day, amid the online nattering that eventually led to the composition of this essay, that as most readers can’t/won’t tell the difference between en dashes and hyphens, one might as well simply use hyphens. To which I was happy to note that there are dozens of things that go into good page makeup (not ending three consecutive lines with the same word or even piece of punctuation, not permitting a construction like King George III to break between lines as King George/III, not allowing widows or orphans [a discussion for another day], etc.) that readers may not consciously be aware of but that do, I firmly believe, make for a more pleasant reading experience. Pages should be well-composed and pretty!

7. In very, very, very short: 96.5 times out of 100, if an en dash is not in the vicinity of a two-word proper noun, it’s in the wrong place. I could go into further detail about those other 3.5 times, but let’s stay focused.

Oh, as well, and I say this simply to make sure that you don’t do it (and possibly it would never have occurred to you, but better safe): You don’t want to do “Pulitzer-Prize-winning playwright.” Because it’s freaking hideous. As well as unnecessary. As well as wrong. Hat trick.

8. You could also do: (1756–63).

9. Not to be confused with our friends at Merriam-Webster.

10. As a colleague commented, extremely inside-baseball-y, en dashes are threatening to be the diaereses of the CMOS. IYK, as the kids say, YK.

11. About en dashes, that is. I can’t help you with financial planning.

12. Split infinitive alert!

13. Now 3,772 some 25 hours after I posted this piece (and am probably done puttering with it). I’m even more grateful now.

14. Not to be confused with The Exorcist III, one of the greatest horror films ever made!