em dash becoming question mark. ” En-dashes are mandatory only for public documents. em dash becoming question mark

 
” En-dashes are mandatory only for public documentsem dash becoming question mark  If you’re adding extra information to clarify a sentence, you’re using a parenthetical expression

27, 2015. Question marks, exclamation points, and em dashes can go inside or outside the quotation mark, depending on whether they’re part of the quote or not. Quotation marks may be used to indicate that the. Capitalize only the following words: the first word of the title or heading. A hyphen (-) is shorter still. There should be no space on either side of the dash, including when it is followed by a quotation mark. An em dash (—) is a punctuation mark. Then, after you press the space bar after the word after the dash, most word processing programs will turn those two little hyphens‐‐into an em dash—like so. The em dash (—) is twice as long as the en. In most situations, a colon is better than an em dash, but if the list is being tacked on to the end of a complete sentence, or feels like an aside (see above), then an em dash might make sense. An em dash is a punctuation mark used in writing to denote a break or pause. It is also called a long dash or an em dash. you might notice em dashes and commas getting along just fine. Breaking dialogue into multiple paragraphs. Other Types of Dash. Examples: 2009–2019. You can use it at the end of a broken-off phrase, or if a. A dash is used to separate part of a sentence and indicate a break. Em dashes for interruptions: Use em dashes when you are interrupting the main idea of a sentence. Don’t use end quotes between paragraphs of speech. Wave dash ( ~) Sorted by: 58. Examples. Note that although this answer cites only CMOS, I'm fairly confident (based on experience) that most major style. As shown above, em dashes are often left unspaced when used in this way. They also can be used to focus a reader or highlight tone within a dialog. It is longer than both the en dash and the hyphen, and its length is equal to the width of the letter “M” in the given font. Many people use these two dashes interchangeably. ] There’s even more explanation: If the break belongs to the surrounding sentence rather than to the quoted material, the em dashes must appear outside the quotation marks. Below is a list of punctuation marks written in English; translate each term into French. It is used to break up a longer sentence, usually to insert a phrase into the middle or end of a. On cell phones running Android’s Gboard or iOS operating systems, press and hold the hyphen on the onscreen keyboard. (stenoscript) The dash may be written low, along the baseline, or high, at x-height, as convenient for whichever letters it links to. There are three options: Period. Simply type a word, then space, then the. Em dash character is not a part of ASCII character set. The en dash, which is slightly shorter, and the em dash, which is the one you can see in the previous paragraph. To create an em-dash on a Mac computer, hold down the shift and option/alt and type -. Several options will pop up, including the em dash. That may occasionally appear in old writing, where em dashes after commas and semicolons are more common. Esempi: When the course finally started — nearly two months after it was organized — the student could not attend. The en dash also signifies an abrupt change. They also can be used to focus a reader or highlight tone within a. To insert an em dash in MS Word, you must: Type a word (don’t put a space after it) Type two hyphens. Question marks, exclamation points, and dashes fall inside or outside closing quotations. I've found questions asking about an em dash in quoted speech, and punctuation rules for em dashes in quotes, but this question is quite different. g. Write an en dash. Capitalization rules. At the two corresponding places you will find the upside down exclamation resp. 4. MLA doesn't touch on more than 2 subtitles; however, there is a syntax for a work with more than one title which makes use of ; or, as the delimiter, so perhaps stay away from using semicolons. To create an em-dash on a Mac computer, hold down the shift and option/alt and type -. A single em dash character or a tilde may also be used. . In the native Mac word processor, Text Edit, you’ll have access to the. While closely related to other dashes—like the en dash (–) and hyphen (-)—the em dash serves a unique role in typography. Actual output : 1993 1995 Expected output : 1993 – 1995 I have done the UTF-8 encoding in Java but still getting the same output in the excel. However, you can use dashes or em-dashes. ) Serial Semi-Colon. I went out with a guy based on his use of dashes once. Hyphens belong to that category of punctuation marks that will hurt your brain if you think about them too hard, and, like commas, people disagree about their use in certain situations. The em dash is perhaps the most versatile punctuation mark. I believe you can also type a space before typing the quote, then delete the space. Feb. (I usually just replace all curly single quotes with ' and all curly. Household appliances such as refrigerators and microwaves are. These marks are available in most word processors, though many people simply use single and double quotation marks: 5’ 10”. Many authors and publications choose to use a space either side of the dash, and even sometimes an en dash in place of an em dash. Periods (), question marks, exclamation marks, and commas are used as in English. The main use of em dashes is to set off extra information in a sentence. “What space?”. An em dash (—) is the longest of the three dashes and can be used to set off a break in the sentence, as well as add emphasis. When typing, a hyphen looks like this: (-). )6. Question Mark (?) In grammar, a question mark is a familiar punctuation used to end interrogative sentences. The question mark can be followed with a dash where necessary: He left—would you believe it?—immediately after the ball. In fiction, the em dash almost always appears with no spaces around it. Among the 16 most commonly used punctuation marks are the period, question mark, exclamation point, and comma. The raya is used to clarify something, in a similar way to parentheses. The different styles of dashes include the en dash “–”, the em dash “—”, and the horizontal bar “―”. | Grammar The em dash performs a versatile function to help separate certain words from the rest of a sentence. A dash is a break in thought, from one focus to another. This makes them a useful punctuation mark when we want to convey an argument or rapid back-and-forth dialogue between characters. Please read pages 70–77 in your text. I agree that it should try to match the size of the missing word. 2 Answers. Em Dash — : ALT 0151; En Dash – : ALT 0150; Double Left Angle Quotation Mark « : ALT 0171 ; Double Right Angle Quotation Mark » : ALT 0187; Inverted Question Mark ¿ : ALT 0191; Inverted Exclamation Mark ¡ : ALT 0161; Symbol and Special Characters. . For example: (1) Em dashes can replace colons. Sometimes, the comma indicates a pause that would occur if the sentence were spoken aloud. Use to indicate duration or continuing or inclusive numbers such as dates, times or reference numbers, use an en-dash (a slightly. The raya (em-dash) usually indicates separation; for example, it signals interventions of. g. Waggon was preferred in British English until a century ago, 1 and it still appears occasionally, but it is fast becoming archaic. It indicates a longer pause than a comma and a semicolon. College communications rarely require the formal four-point ellipsis. Learn more about punctuation. )This would usually be at the end of a phrase or sentence, which means it will be next to a piece of punctuation. Learn how to use em dashes in a sentence with these examples and best practices. F. Em Dash vs. In this example, the speech ends with a question mark, prioritising a comma that would normally be placed to frame the speaking phrase. nouns followed by numerals or letters. Do not put a space before or after the dash. If your keyboard can't produce a dash, you will have to resort to a hyphen as a stand-in. , May–December or 1995–2020) or pages (e. The dashes are more prominent, and thus suggest a more prominent comment. A dash is longer than a hyphen and is commonly used to indicate a range or a pause. It is wider than an en dash (–) or a hyphen (-). Examples of when to use an en dash include the following: pages 10–25. "Three—red, white, yellow—are my favorites. Press the spacebar. Em dashes are the longest of the common dashes (I won’t be covering 2-em and 3-em dashes in this article) and are so named because they are the width of the letter “m. The Latin preposition cum means “combined with,” “also used as,” or “along with being. Yeah, it could be seen as completed, but in that case the em-dash adds a bit of expression that wouldn't be there without it. Adashisthe punctuation name for a mark that used to separate words into statements. ) when I included the Insert statement to store data retrieved from the final select statement to a table, the dash character is being replaced with another character. For example, one em in an 18-point typeface equals. NVDA is the least likely. There are actually two different kinds of dashes. Select the Replace, Replace All, or Find Next button (see figure 6). This usage explains the dialog part of your question. Commas allow for a smoother read than dashes, which interrupt the sentence to draw the reader’s attention. Actual output : 1993 1995 Expected output : 1993 – 1995 I have done the UTF-8 encoding in Java but still getting the same output in the excel. (stenoscript) The dash may be written low, along the baseline, or high, at x-height, as convenient for whichever letters it links to. quotation mark. style guides frequently recommend using em dashes for the purposes above, while using en dashes for ranges, etc. That doesn't change the fact that in 60 years of reading, I've never come across a trust-worthy writer using any dash directly after a comma, nor. However, I can't recall an em dash being used according to your first case in modern publishing. The em dash is primarily used to emphasize or add additional information to a. The most common rule when using parenthetical phrases is to use the correct punctuation mark: commas, em dash, or a pair of parentheses. 6. Don’t overthink it—let intuition guide you. Semicolons separate two independent clauses. In sentence case, lowercase most words in a title or heading. Style guides often let you skip them. Here, the em dash creates a break and adds emphasis. The patient reported taking 15 (?) milligrams of alprazolam. The en dash (–) is one-half the width of an em. Another way to create them is to press and hold Alt and type 0151 on a Windows device or select Option, Shift, and the hyphen key ( ‐) on a Mac. Signo de exclamación (Exclamation Point) 8. They are useful for emotionally-loaded dialogue interruption, because emotions act quickly on the brain. eg What would be more gratifying than being able to help a child in the use of what Vygotsky considered one of man’s greatest tools? Language! I'm sure others will come to offer advice about the em-dash version, if you prefer that. Hyphens are used to create compound words like: Load-bearing; Well-loved; Great-looking; Less-commonly used punctuation marks Interrobang. Follow the end quotation mark with an em dash and the action or thought and then another em dash. And like a colon, it can introduce a word or a clause that describes or expands upon what precedes it. 4. There are two common types of dashes: en dash and em dash which vary in length. ” Originally, typewriters had monospaced fonts (skinny letters and fat letters. In almost every instance, you should place the footnote marker after the punctuation. When interrupters fall midsentence, always use a pair of punctuation marks to surround them. m. 7. Rule #5. Just consider the following guidelines: • Note that em-dashes are more emphatic than commas. 89: "In modern usage, a question mark or an exclamation point—but never a comma, a colon, or a semicolon—may. Translation. I tried using sharpkeys but it wouldn't let me use a chord, only single key press. Mabel tried, despite her dolefulness—for how could she be otherwise?—to bake her own bread but each loaf that emerged from her oven tasted vaguely of tears. Em Dash (—) An em dash is one of the three kinds of dashes that functions like a comma, a colon, or parentheses in introducing a clause. [4] 3. For windows, you can hold down the ‘Alt’ and ‘-‘ key and you will get an en dash. (Check out more punctuation. By Jessica Bennett. This is a good example of when to use such as dash in a sentence. ” The answer given does not answer his question. Em dash—hold down the Alt key and type 0151 on the numeric keypad. Question mark. 1. A hyphen is no substitute for the versatile em dash, a sentence punctuation mark some may simply call "dashes. Imagine someone saying the line, rather than it being inner monologue. For Windows, press Ctrl+Alt +Minus (-) or Alt+0151. The em dash is perhaps the most versatile punctuation mark. For example, to type the em dash ( — ), hold down Alt while typing 0151 on the numeric keypad. figure dash – 8211: 2013 – en dash — 8212: 2014 — em dash ― 8213: 2015 : horizontal bar ‖ 8214: 2016 : double vertical line ‗ 8215: 2017 : double low line ‘ 8216: 2018 ‘ left single quotation mark ’ 8217: 2019 ’ right single quotation mark ‚ 8218: 201a ‚ single low-9 quotation mark ‛ 8219: 201b. To properly use the em dash, spaces should not be placed around it unless the text is being italicized. Think of them as shouting, speaking, and whispering. ] There’s even more explanation: If the break belongs to the surrounding sentence rather than to the quoted material, the em dashes must appear outside the quotation marks. 87 Em dashes for sudden breaks or interruptions; 6. The change in the second description of the clock's sounds emphasizes Isaac's unease. According to the Wikipedia article "Quotation mark" (section "Quotation dash"):. Should a question mark be used after an em dash that abruptly ends a sentence? Ask Question Asked 1 year, 2 months ago Modified 2 months ago Viewed 164 times 4 I looked through a number of the site's questions to find an answer to my problem. You would simply end the line of dialogue, have a sentence of narration, and then have a new line of dialogue, even if it's the same speaker continuing. 86 Em dash between noun and pronoun; 6. To Indicate Interruption in Dialogue, Use An Em-Dash. En dashes are used to indicate relationships or interactions and ranges. ” Stutters, Stammers, and Pauses. In formal writing, the em dash is often used to indicate a break or interruption in a sentence. 2. Dashes create urgency. If you prefer, you can configure your keyboard in Windows to accept Unicode codepoint numbers, instead of "traditional". In the case of an actual question being asked I feel the mark would go before the em-dash. You’ve probably heard of hyphens and em dashes, but what about en dashes? Learn what they are and how to use them with this helpful article. The space needed after these punctuation marks is proportioned automatically. En Dash: –. How to use en dashes. , I need 1 thing – money. In the second example below, an em dash is more common than a colon, though the use of a colon is nevertheless correct. Em Dash: —. Minus Sign: −. Period, question mark, exclamation mark, comma. Share. And be careful to not mix different punctuation marks. Joined: May 14, 2009. The shift from em dash to en dash reflects contemporary writing practice and the new focus on digital content. A dash (em dash) is emphatic. Don’t put any spaces before and. There are two kinds of dashes, the en dash, and the em dash (long dash). They represent something. An em dash can also mark dialogue, signify an interruption, indicate a sudden break in thought, and introduce a list. If you’re adding extra information to clarify a sentence, you’re using a parenthetical expression. Workaround. If you're including terminal punctuation (period, question mark, exclamation mark), your speaker's sentence isn't being interrupted, so you wouldn't use em dashes at all. Mistakes with hyphens are very common: leaving them out when they’re needed, adding them when they’re unnecessary, or putting them. Punctuation Marks Wheel : This 2-page print-out makes a punctuation marks wheel; it consists of a base page together with a wheel that spins around. The correct use of dialogue tags. Le lineette (in inglese Em Dashes) "—" La lineetta è utilizzata in inglese per segnalare degli incisi enfatici, quindi spesso sostituendo virgole, parentesi e due punti italiani. EM dashes are wonderful if used correctly in poetry, but not in stories (especially being useless around question marks). 87): English learners commonly make the mistake of using em dashes incorrectly. This measurement is. Technically the question mark is a full stop and, like an exclamation point, has its own. Dash. To insert an em dash in MS Word, you must: Type a word (don’t put a space after it) Type two hyphens. A hyphen makes compound words. Note, however, that if the quoted material itself ends with a question mark or exclamation point, the. Most likely it's an en dash or em dash rather than a real hyphen or minus symbol. The word ellipsis comes from an ancient Greek word that means “to leave out. In short: the em-dash cannot be used in Spanish like any of those English examples, except perhaps 2(a). But in that case the dash is supposed to be the length of the omitted word, not just a mere em-dash. To type the — using the keyboard you can the Alt code from the shortcode section. Em dashes can be used to replace pairs of commas and parentheses. In all uses of the en dash, you should be able to substitute the word “to” or “through” for the dash. The most common types of dashes are the en dash (–) and the em dash (—). In your question you took U+002D (CHR(45)) which is in ASCII - for sure this does make any problem. Thus, an em dash in 9-point type is as long as the height of a. Type this sign on Mac, press and hold the Command (⌘) key and the hit the M key. It. There are many uses for elipses and dashes. Use the en dash ("short dash") to join inclusive numbers:. Incorrect. The en dash is used to represent a span or range of numbers, dates, or time. En dashes are incredibly useful punctuation marks, used to add extra emphasis to a sentence or statement. I have to warn them—no, no what am I doing? An ellipses indicates omission, which is what I think you are looking for. That being said, em dashes should not be used in place of hyphens or colons. g. It's difficult for me to judge the tone of the sentence examples you used, so I can't give a specific suggestion. NOTE: An em dash is not a hyphen. Commas and parentheses vs. However, there is a specific use native speakers give to this Spanish punctuation mark: in emails or letters, greetings are written using colons, whereas in English you usually use a comma unless you’re being very formal. Insert em Dash. The verdict was unanimous — guilty. Examples. 2. An en-dash is also used as a minus sign as in –10°F. The en-dash – so named because (you guessed it) it’s the width of the skinnier letter n – is the shorter of the two. The Oxford Manual of Style once stated, “If you take hyphens seriously, you will surely go mad. If you want to stop -- from being turned into — (emdash) you need to use the + button and add a new rule to replace -- with -- (replace with itself) Or, right click in a text field and go to "Substitutions" and disable "Smart. 8. In MS Word, enable Num Lock and press Ctrl + Minus Key. TWO-EM DASH U+2E3A: Pd, dash Common ⸻ THREE-EM DASH U+2E3B: Pd, dash Common ⹀ DOUBLE HYPHEN U+2E40: Pd, dash Common 〜 WAVE DASH U+301C: Pd, dash Common 〰 WAVY DASH. That is much better than the translation witnessed in other systems, where a bullet in a bulleted list was changed to &bull. When a character has a sudden change of thought while speaking, an em dash is the correct punctuation to show the break. How to Create Em Dashes and En Dashes: Em dash (—) Ctrl+Alt+minus (far. g. If you use it in academic writing, you might look unsure of yourself. Some consider its use informal. @Kenny LJ, please remember there are no absolute rules about the use of any kind of dash as opposed to others… so em-dashes matter here only in the guidelines specified by your house style-book. ) If I run the sql statements of the stored procedure until the final select statement only, the data look fine, dash character is still a dash character. . The correct use of em-dashes and ellipses. Em dashes can be used to. This is really useful if you're a few words over the 650 word limit and need to trim a bit. So, if a symbol is to be used, Chicago (at least implicitly) says it should be an em dash without a space. On a Windows-based system, you can form an em dash on a keyboard by holding down the Alt key and typing 0151. A hyphen (-) is the shortest “dash” and. Make sure you switch on the Num Lock from the keyboard and you type the number from the Numpad and not from the top row of the keyboard. This technique is best suited for creative or informal writing. Em Dashes. Looking at the other commend where u/xlrod has a fix; what you have instead is char 65533 or - not a question mark, but a placeholder Unicode "I dunno what this is" character - that suggests your export wasn't right, and has mangled some characters. But in that case the dash is supposed to be the length of the omitted word, not just a mere em-dash. APPLICATION. I agree that it should try to match the size of the missing word. By changing the console code page to something that does support the en dash character, such as 1252, this problem may be corrected. For example, don’t use a dash to begin the interrupter and a comma. Uses of the Question Mark; Quiz: Uses of the Question Mark; Problems with Question Marks; Quiz: Problems with Question Marks; Uses of the Exclamation Mark; Quiz: Uses of the Exclamation Mark; Problems with Exclamation Marks; Quiz: Problems with Exclamation Marks; What Are Commas, Semicolons, and Colons; Uses of the Comma; Quiz: Uses of. Ron Barrett. net web application. First, one is longer: The em dash (—) → which is like two hyphens joined together. These punctuation marks may fall outside of the closing quotation mark in some cases. 1. The en dash (–) → which is like a slightly longer hyphen. b) The Kingdom of Bahrain has a settled well-educated population. Collingwood as Mr. It also has several uses, which we will look at below. If a sentence ends with quoted material, the period is placed inside the closing quotation mark, even if the period is not part of the original quotation. In general, em dashes should be avoided in formal writing because they are often used in place of necessary punctuation, parentheses, or further explanation. Em dashes are used to set off elements of text with internal punctuation, and en dashes to indicate a numerical range or hyphenate an open compound: The library is organized so that any question—whether technical, reference, or circulation—can be answered by staff. American usage puts the month first, followed by the day, and then the year. The en dash will appear in the text field where your cursor is. Acting as a comma. For further reasons, why you should use T1 encoding, have a look at this question: Why should I use usepackage[T1]{fontenc}? You should use a. And an example:There are 14 punctuation marks that are used in the English language. S. Windows. the first word of a subtitle. " I know you can replace em dashes with — and n-dashes with – (which should be done on the input side of your database); I don't know what the correct replacement for the smart quotes would be. 1. A Hebrew period in a traditional serif face usually looks like a tiny tilted square (a diamond; ). " I know you can replace em dashes with — and n-dashes with – (which should be done on the input side of your database); I don't know what the correct replacement for the smart quotes would be. The – is called an en dash. (Learn more about the difference between a. Hyphens are used to create compound words like: Load-bearing; Well-loved; Great-looking; Less-commonly used punctuation marks Interrobang. However I run into a bump with special characters like curly quotes en and em dashes etc. The dash can also be used to represent a pause, but a more. A hyphen (-) is a punctuation mark that’s used to join words or parts of words. It’s known for being a one-job punctuation mark because it simply communicates questions. Then, click Undo Dash. Depending on the context, the em dash can take the place of commas, parentheses, or colons ⁠—in each case to slightly different effect. Alternatively, pairs of em dashes are used to mark off additionalMy question is the same as keymap swap underscore and dash, but for Windows instead of Linux. This will insert the em dash symbol into your Word document. Enclose the first part of the dialogue in quotation marks but omit the comma. There are many ways to use dashes in writing. The question mark needs to go after Language. Em dashes can replace ellipses to show an abrupt break in a conversation. Em dashes are used to replace commas, parentheses, colons, and semicolons. Enclose the first part of the dialogue in quotation marks but omit the comma. I know I could—and probably should—just remove the question mark, having only the em dash for separation, but then that gets rid of that question-like tone I want the reader to have. Authors can easily remember the difference. In MS Word, enable Num Lock and press Ctrl + Minus Key. “What are you talking about—wait, Johnny said it was Maria!”. For more ALT codes for various signs and symbols, see ALT Codes for Miscellaneous Symbols. Note that in British English, the punctuation marks only go inside of the quotation marks if the punctuation is part of the quoted material, although many writers make an exception for periods. The 2010⁠–⁠2011 season was our best yet. To create an em dash on a PC, hold down the Alt key while typing 0151 on the numberpad of the keyboard. Use em dashes to do the following: Set off explanatory. -->if the information being set off is at the end of the sentence, use just one em dash. Em Dash (—) Indicate an interruption or an abrupt changeAnywhere formal typography appears, an en dash might pop up. e. In general it is the same length as an em-dash, and so this is often used instead. You can also use the Alt key in combination with a sequence of numbers of insert an em dash or en dash. An em dash derives its name from being the approximate width of a capital M. An en dash is always used without any space before or after it. Quotation from wiki ( Em dash) When an actual em dash is unavailable—as in the ASCII character set—a double ("--") or triple hyphen-minus ("---") is used. Write with Grammarly What is an em dash? Em dashes differ from other hyphens and dashes not only in usage, which we will discuss shortly, but also in appearance. What you read in the Diccionario panhispánico de dudas is correct: only parenthetical remarks and dialogues are correct uses of the em-dash in Spanish. A space is used before and after the en-dash when used in literary copy. ”. Microsoft Word shows the em dash as soon you press enter after finishing the. 'Break/Fold Mark'. This type of dash is used to indicate a range, especially between numerical quantities like scores and dates. The following list shows some of the most. Enter the Dash. You can use such punctuation as periods, commas, semi-colons, colons, parentheses, brackets, quotation marks, dashes, exclamation points, question marks and some others. You will find this material in chapters 8⁠–⁠12. 2)”Are you OK?” is a direct question. Several options will pop up, including the em dash. Dashes are generally more abrupt and can signify a rapid change of topic. Below is a list of punctuation marks written in English; translate each term into French. In addition, write the punctuation mark next to your translation. Your specific issue regards "smart quotes," "em dashes" and "en dashes. The hyphen is used to connect words, such as in compound adjectives or to divide words at the end of a line. However, in this case also why is there an em-dash anyways? If the exclamation or question is full and complete then why is there an "abrupt break in speech. Infographic: How to use an em dash. Hence, 12/5/2010 means December 5, 2010, in American usage. ’ — Eleanor Roosevelt. The em dash is even longer and is used in place of a comma, parenthesis, or colon for emphasis. To punctuate dialogue correctly, there are a few rules you should know: The correct use of quotation marks. Press the Spacebar. The shorter en dash (–) is used to mark ranges and with the meaning “to” in phrases like “Dover–Calais crossing. The colon in Spanish is used for enumeration, explanation, or quotes, just like in English. ” En-dashes are mandatory only for public documents. ”. Use a dash in dialogue to show an interruption or a sudden break in thought. Formally, this job is reserved for the em dash, but there is some leniency in use depending on the publisher. Technically, the mark designating feet is a prime; the mark designating inches is a double prime. The em dash should be used sparingly in your writing. The “slightly different” part is, to me, the em dash’s appeal summarized. Here’s how to master the em-dash, exclamation point and question mark. AP and AMA style guides are agreed: em dash goes inside the quotes, and that's your punctuation. It is a versatile punctuation mark that can take the place of commas, parentheses, colons, and semicolons in sentences. Example: “I didn’t say—”. When a colon and a comma. When a pair of em dashes sets off material ending with an exclamation point or a question mark, the mark is placed inside the dashes. Nope, no need for spaces! In US English, there should only be a space before an em dash if it’s at the start of a sentence and after an em dash if it’s at the end of a sentence. If it helps, picture the em dash superimposed on the letter “M” and the en dash superimposed on the “N. This is giving me writer's block and the paper is due tomorrow. Alt codes only work on the. You don’t need to worry about this; both en dashes and em dashes do the same job. [Emphasis mine. They are usually used in two different ways. However, some style guides, such as the Associated Press.