How to Use a Dash Properly: Learn the Rules & Use Cases

Understanding how to use a dash properly is essential if you’re to improve your writing. Whether you’re a student, aspiring writer, or personal blogger, knowing the difference between a hyphen and an em dash will stand you in good stead. 

Though many people don’t realize it, the subtle differences between dashes make a difference to the meaning of your writing. Also, the correct use of dashes signifies that you’re grammatically savvy and can earn you extra marks with your professor. 

In this guide, we introduce you to the two most common types of dash in the English language (the en dash and em dash) and provide four use case examples for each. 

We then reveal several advanced tips that will help you learn how to use a dash correctly, including how they differ from hyphens and why they shouldn’t be used to replace all other types of punctuation. We also touch on how you can use Arvin AI to improve your grammar in numerous ways. 

So, read on to learn more about dashes in English.

First: What is a dash?

A dash is a type of punctuation that you can include in a sentence. It can be used to join words or numbers, but it can also be used to improve the readability of a sentence. Some people also use dashes to split up a sentence similar to using a comma. 

In grammar, you need to be aware of two primary types of dashes. Most people confuse these dashes and simply use a hyphen, but as we explain below, they have markedly different use cases:

The En Dash (-)

This is the most common type of dash used in writing, named because it’s about the same width as an upper-case N. It shows ranges or relationships between words and may connect places within a sentence. The en-dash is also used to mark a sentence break or to make a parenthetical statement.

It is also the shortest dash type in terms of its appearance. Here are some examples of the en dash in action: 

• Use 5-10ml of lemon juice in the recipe. 
• The Birmingham-London train takes around 90 minutes on average. 

When using it to break a sentence, you should include a space between the two words that are separated. However, if you’re using the dash in numerical ranges or to substitute for “to” (as above), you don’t need to use a space. 

The Em Dash (—)

The other dash type that you need to be aware of is the em dash. This is a longer dash and is more common in US English than in British English. Still, its main use is to mark a break in a sentence or to add extra information, much like a comma. Here are a couple of examples: 

• His latest movie—a true hit with fans—is unlike anything he has ever starred in before. 
• Taking that trip to Africa—it completely transformed his personality.

When including an em dash in your writing, you don’t need to include a space, as is sometimes the case with an en dash. 

Let’s look at the use cases of both dashes in greater detail now.

En dash use cases in English

One of the reasons that using a dash properly is confusing is that there are so many use cases for each type. In other words, there’s not only one way to use an en dash or one way to use an em dash. You might also notice an overlap, so it’s not always easy to determine when to use the right one. 

Still, now you’re aware of the slight differences between the two; we want to show you some common use cases of each with examples for your reference:

Connecting places

One of the most common uses of the en dash in English is to show a relationship between two places. You might, for example, need to show a train, plane, or bus route between two cities. For instance: 

• Take the New York-Chicago flight at 8.00 pm. 
• The ferry goes from Dover-Calais. 
• The Glasgow-Edinburgh train is quicker than driving between the two cities. 

Making a comparison or connection

Another frequent use of the en dash in the English language is to compare two concepts or ideas. In this use case, it’s preferred to the word “to” or “and” in order to make the sentence more concise. 

Similarly, the en dash can be used to show a relationship between two people or places. It might, for instance, signify a border between two countries or the relationship between a mother and daughter. Rather than making a comparison, this is showing a connection. 

Here are some examples of how an en dash can be used for both purposes:

• Comparison: The Democrat-Republican divide is particularly pronounced in the state of Utah. 
• Connection: The mother-daughter bond between them could not be broken by political rivalry.

Showing ranges

Another use case for the useful en dash is to show a range. This might be an indication of the measurement of a liquid in a recipe, or it could show the period a president will rule after an election. 

You can also use an en dash to show a specific time period in which something will happen. Let’s look at a few examples of how to use a dash to show a specific range:

• A recipe range: Use 50-75 ml of cold water. 
• Window of time: The electrician will call round between 8-10 am tomorrow. 
• A time period: The president will serve his people from 2025-2030 after winning the election.

Connecting words

The most challenging use case of an en dash to understand is when it should be introduced to connect specific words. It’s correct to use an en-dash to connect an open compound with the next word if it modifies a noun. For example: 

• The WBO (-) winning heavyweight champion will face his challenger in tonight’s boxing match. 

WBO, in this example, is the open compound, and the noun (heavyweight champion) is being modified. So, we need to include the en dash between WBO and winning for the sentence to read correctly.

So, as an overview, the most prevalent use cases of the en dash in the English language are to:

• Connect places (Amsterdam-Rotterdam). 
• Make a comparison or connection (the Democratic-Republican divide). 
• Show ranges (10-20ml will be enough). 
• Connect words (WBO-winning heavyweight champion).

It’s now time to look at the different use cases of the em dash in the English language to see how these dashes compare.

Em dash use cases in English

There are two main ways to distinguish the em dash from the en dash. The first is the size. The em dash is significantly wider than the en dash. It actually gets its name because it’s the width of a capital M. 

The second differentiator is the fact that the em dash is typically used to replace punctuation (usually a comma or semi-colon). In this respect, it often breaks up a sentence, making it easier to read. 

But as is the case with the en dash, there are numerous em dash use cases that you must be aware of, making it difficult to know precisely when to use it. We hope this section will show you precisely when and how to use a dash in your writing:

Formulating a list

In standard grammar, if you want to formulate a list, you should use a colon (:). So, for instance, you might write something like this: 

• Ahead of my vacation on the beach, I packed the following items: a towel, a spade, sun-tan lotion, my favorite bikini, and sandals. 

This is a perfect example of when an em dash can replace punctuation. Rather than using a colon, you can use an em dash. Here’s the same sentence again, but with an em dash in place: 

• Ahead of my vacation on the beach, I packed the following items—a towel, a spade, sun-tan lotion, my favorite bikini, and sandals. 

Therefore, one of the most common uses of an em dash in writing is to formulate a list, as shown above.

For a better grasp of using the colon correctly, read our blog on the correct usage of the colon in English, which provides insights and expert advice on when this type of punctuation is required. 

We also offer full tutorials on other key punctuation types. For instance, learn how to use a semicolon to improve your writing this year.

Emphasizing something

Another possible use case for the em dash in English is to add emphasis to a statement or sentence. Here, it breaks up a sentence and is more appropriate than using ellipsis (…) in formal writing.

As mentioned by the British Council, we use ellipsis in everyday speech without even thinking about it. However, we need to pay attention to this literary tool when writing. Here’s how it might look:

• Knocking out Trevor Berbick in ‘86 … it propelled Tyson’s career. 

Many authors use the em dash in this respect as a literary technique. It’s a handy way of making a specific part of the sentence stand out rather than using an ellipsis to emphasize a point. For instance: 

• Knocking out Trevor Berbick in ‘86—it propelled Tyson’s career. 

Again, you can see how the em dash is a handy tool for replacing other types of punctuation. When you master its usage, it actually makes life so much easier, as you don’t have to second-guess which type of punctuation to use in different instances. Simply use the em dash instead.

Providing more information

One of the most frequent uses of the em dash in English is to provide more information to the reader. But this is also where many people mistakenly use an en dash. 

So, one way to look at it is to regard what the em dash is replacing rather than what it’s adding to. If you don’t use a dash, using parentheses () is the easiest way to add information to a sentence. Here’s an example:

• Mike Tyson (the greatest heavyweight boxer of all time) took on influencer Jake Paul in a fight at the end of 2024. 

The extra information in the sentence above is helpful to the reader, but the use of parentheses makes the sentence more difficult to read. So, we can replace it with an em dash to help it flow much more naturally: 

• Mike Tyson—the greatest heavyweight boxer of all time—took on influencer Jake Paul in a fight at the end of 2024. 

So, if you plan on writing a sentence and would like to add more information that you think will help the reader, an em dash is the best way to go about it.

Quoting someone

You can also use an em dash to attribute a specific quote to an author when writing an article or blog post. Again, people inadvertently use the en dash for this purpose, but it’s correct to use the em dash when signifying the ownership of a quote: 

• “It is far better to be alone than to be in bad company.” —George Washington.

So, before we proceed to some advanced tips and challenges, you can use the em dash in English to: 

• Formulate a list (my shopping list includes—tomatoes, potatoes, onions, and carrots). 
• Emphasize something (winning the World Cup in Qatar—Messi became a true legend).
• Provide more information (Lionel Messi—the Argentina captain—was magnificent in the final in Qatar). 
• Attribute a quote (“Darkness cannot drive out darkness, only light can do that.”—Martin Luther King Jr.)

Advanced tips from our grammar experts

So, now that you understand the different ways to use the two main types of dashes in English, we want to provide you with some advanced tips. 

We know that grammar can be tricky, so here are some insights that will help you differentiate between dashes and other types of punctuation to prevent future mistakes:

Understand the differences between dashes and hyphens

You will be surprised how few students and graduates can’t differentiate between a hyphen and a dash. But the difference is extremely simple and so easy to remember: 

A hyphen is a type of punctuation used specifically to join words or elements of words. For example, hyphens are used when joining: 

• Numbers: Thirty-five and seventy-six, for example. 
• Compound words: Self-reliance and self-help, for instance. 
• Prefixes to other words: Ex-boyfriend or ex-girlfriend, for example. 

A dash, on the other hand, has a huge range of use cases, as we have explained throughout this article. 

The fact that hyphens have a very specific use in grammar makes them easy to identify and use correctly. Now you know of this difference, you don’t need to worry about confusing hyphens and dashes going forward.

Think carefully when using dashes instead of other punctuation

We’ve highlighted above that using an em dash can be a way to replace other types of punctuation in your writing. This is most suitable when trying to remove the clumsy parentheses from your writing, which can negatively impact your flow. 

But don’t get into the habit of using a dash to replace all types of punctuation. For instance:

• Avoid using an em dash to extend a sentence when a full stop would be better. It’s not always good to write long, expansive sentences. So, rather than providing more information within one sentence via an em dash, you might be better served to bring the sentence to a close with a full stop. You can then add more details in the next sentence. 
• En dashes and em dashes should not replace commas. The rules of commas are varied, but their main job is to separate three or more words, phrases, or clauses in a sentence. Adding dashes instead of commas will make your writing look disjointed. Moreover, it’s grammatically incorrect to do so, so don’t get into this habit. 

We acknowledge that mastering punctuation is far from straightforward. So, we invite you to test our AI Grammar Checker for free. You can ask Arvin to check the grammar and punctuation in all of your written work before publishing. This will take much of the stress out of writing and make your work much more accurate. 

Remember the spacing rules for correct dash usage

One of the most frequent mistakes we see among people who use dashes is the spaces they leave (or don’t leave) in their text. You can use these basic rules to easily remember when and when not to include spaces with each dash type: 

• When using an en dash to separate a sentence, you must include a space. 
• If you use an en dash to connect places or show ranges, do not leave a space. 
• Em dashes should never be accompanied by spaces in the text.

Recognize the correct punctuation for quotations

Many students incorrectly use dashes to introduce quotations. For instance: 

❌In Things Fall Apart, Chinua Achebe famously wrote—”If you don’t like my story, write your own.” 

Rather than an em dash, you should use a colon, as shown in the example below: 

✅In Things Fall Apart, Chinua Achebe famously wrote: “If you don’t like my story, write your own.” 

If you’re listing the as a stand-alone part of your essay, rather than embedding it within the text, you can use an em dash to attribute ownership: 

✅”If you don’t like my story, write your own.”—Chinua Achebe.

Avoid using en dashes for quotations, too.

Don’t use dashes to replace words

Another common misconception about dashes is that they can be used to replace words. This isn’t true. In the rules that we have introduced above, there’s no mention of using dashes instead of words, whether conjunctions or prepositions. 

In fact, replacing crucial words from a sentence with any type of dash means it won’t make grammatical sense. For example: 

❌The pastor wanted to collect the tithe—the service was cancelled. 

In this sentence, we’re essentially presented with two clauses. They don’t connect well with one another and don’t enable the reader to understand the issue. 

The implication, however, is that the pastor couldn’t collect the tithe because the service was cancelled. So, we’d need to include the conjunction “but” for the sentence to make sense: 

✅The pastor wanted to collect the tithe, but the service was cancelled. 

The second sentence gives us a much clearer understanding of the pastor’s intention and that he wasn’t able to collect the tithe because the service didn’t take place.

The bottom line: How to use a dash properly

Ultimately, dashes are a crucial type of punctuation, but they are so often misused. Many writers and students mistake them for hyphens, while others don’t know the difference between en and em dashes. 

However, as we have shown in this article, both dash types have multiple use cases. Therefore, how you use them will influence the sentence you’re trying to create and the point you’re trying to make. 

If you regularly struggle with your grammar usage, try out our Writing Improver Tool for free. It takes away much of the stress of writing, and means you don’t have to worry too much about the correct usage of en and em dashes.

How to use a dash FAQ

How do I use a dash in a sentence correctly?

This depends on several factors. You can correctly use an em dash in a sentence to connect places, make a comparison or connection, show ranges, or connect words. An em dash, on the other hand, can be used to formulate a list, emphasize something, provide more information, or attribute a quote to an author.

How do you properly use a hyphen?

The grammatically correct way to use a hyphen in English is to join words or elements within a sentence. This is commonly seen in numbers (fifty-four) or the writing of compound words (self-reliance). It’s also used to add a prefix to a word (ex-partner).

What is the difference between an en dash and an em dash?

An en dash (-) is a smaller dash than an m dash (—). They are also used in different ways, as has been shown in this article. An em dash is commonly used to replace punctuation and to provide more information, while an en dash can show ranges or relationships between words and phrases.