https://www.punctuationmatters.com/en-dash-em-dash-hyphen/
I didn't even know there was an "en dash" or "em dash". I just assumed varying hyphen lengths were down to font choices. So this is an education. From the examples in the article it looks like I've probably been using commas where an em dash would go.
Now I just have to figure out how to generate them on my keyboard.
Looks like I have to memorise the unicode number to do this. Ugh ..
Hyphen: -
En dash: – (unicode 2013)
Em dash: — (unicode 2014)
@mackaj Led me just now to look up how to do it in MS word. I've had the setting turned on to auto-generate em dashes, but didn't know the other options.
@mackaj Oh blimey, this is actually fascinating! I never appreciated—let alone—understood the difference between n– and m-dash. The linked article is great. I think I actually understand it now. And I never liked how a hyphen looks in a number range like 1-10, but also disliked an em dash there like:
1—10. So apparently 1–10 it is! The en dash really looks lots better.
Thank you so much, I learned something!
@Giselle You're welcome, and ditto.
I'm going to be looking for excuses to use them now
@mackaj Hah, me too!
M dashes instead of commas for inserting a phrase into a sentence was a bit of a revelation! And also figuring out how to do the three different symbols on my phone. Fabulous.
@mackaj Interesting. Typsetting measures widths in ems and ens.
@mackaj I’ve been a vociferous en/em dash user since I discovered their correct usage (and where to find them on my keyboard)