4.9 Hyphen, en dash and em dash

• Hyphens are word connectors that guide the reader and reduce confusion. Hyphenate compound modifiers, except the adverb very and all adverbs ending in -ly.

○Examples

>That’s an up-to-date report.

>He’s an African-American member.

>It’s a widely admired novel.

But

>The report is up to date.

>He is African American.

Don’t hyphenate compounds such as:

○Examples

>vice president

>vice chairman

○Exceptions

>commander-in-chief

>editor-in-chief

Do not hyphenate -ly words.

○Example

>Correct: Television anchors are highly paid.

>Incorrect: Television anchors are highly-paid.

Some words with duplicate vowels are not hyphenated.

○Examples

>preempt

>cooperation

If from and between are used before a pair of numbers, a hyphen is not used; instead, from should be followed by to or through.

○Example

>Correct: From 1981 to 1987, he worked at the Ministry of External Affairs.

>Incorrect: From 1981-1987, he worked at the Ministry of External Affairs.

For a person’s age: hyphenate when the word ‘year’ is singular, and spell out numbers below nine.

○Examples

>She is a precocious 12-year-old.

>She is a precocious five-year-old.

But when the word is ‘years’ in plural, there will be no hyphens.

○Examples

>She is just 13 years old.

>She is just five years old.

When a number suffix is unavoidable, don’t use superscript:

○Example

>On her 19th birthday, she left home to come to the city.

• En dashes: are twice as long as a hyphen, and will be used, when necessary, to separate a clause or phrase within a sentence, with one space on either side of the dash.

○Example

>Correct: The labourers are mostly Santals – men, women, and teenagers – from villages that have had their fields destroyed by the industry.

>Incorrect: We pass fields, tubewells, goats, children–the normal east Indian countryside.

An en dash may be used singly or in pairs (see sentences above), depending on the sentence. But the spacing rule before and after the dashes will apply in both instances.

• Em dashes: this — the longest dash, three times as long as a hyphen, will not be used at all by PARI, either single or doubly.

○Examples

>Copyeditors must learn many rules—both grammatical and stylistic—before they start editing.

>The government pays the bills—the private sector makes a profit.