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Practically no one who submits manuscripts to Garuda understands the difference between the hyphen (-), the em-dash (—) and the en-dash (–). Brief thread on this. 1/n
First peeve—none of these dashes should have spaces around them. The hyphen is used, most often, to combine words. The less-well-understood usage is to combine multiple words into an adjective or descriptor before a noun. (Seven-year-old girl). 2/n
The em-dash—the one most often messed-up—is used to break sentence structure or as a phrase separator. There are no spaces before or after the em-dash. Many use spaces because they don't know how to type the em-dash, so they'll use a space before and after a hyphen. Don't! 3/n
LEARN to type the em-dash. On my MacBook this is done by typing the MINUS sign while holding the SHIFT and OPTION keys. Someone can post Windows usage. Whatever it is—learn to type it. 4/n
Then en-dash (–) is a much rare case. It is between the hyphen and the em-dash in size. The en-dash is used to indicate "through." For instance, I will be gone May 28–June 4 on a silent retreat. One the MacBook I use OPTION MINUS to type this. 5/n
Using the correct dash will add a dash of joie de vivre for your editor; and you'll start to appreciate it too. Quite simply, it will make your prose more dashing. :) Enjoy. n/n
It is much easier to attack something after you have mastered it. Whichever language one uses, let us learn to use it well—just as I advocate using shuddha Hindi.
