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.
What is a dash example?
Dashes replace otherwise mandatory punctuation, such as the commas after Iowa and 2020 in the following examples: Without dash: The man from Ames, Iowa, arrived. With dash: The man—he was from Ames, Iowa—arrived. Without dash: The May 1, 2020, edition of the Ames Sentinel arrived in June.
How do you use dashes in writing?
Do not confuse a dash (—) with a hyphen (-), which is shorter.
- Use a dash to show a pause or break in meaning in the middle of a sentence: ...
- Use a dash to show an afterthought: ...
- Use a dash like a colon to introduce a list: ...
- Use a dash to show that letters or words are missing:
