We associate them with breath. They’re symbols we use that afford opportunities to pause, inhale, and impart monotonous gibberish about the ‘footy’ to unfortunate and unsuspecting third-parties—why most skip the sports section of the local paper. Truthfully though, they’re three of the most inaccurately used punctuation marks around and, I’m sorry to say, they don’t wantonly plonk themselves all over the page. Fear not, we’ll tell you how to change your ways.
Someone once termed the semicolon as ‘a comma that’s gone to college.’ Perhaps that explains the number of authors, journalists and scribes who vex themselves to avoid the mark: too impressive, they think, and rather unfashionable to boot.
Dashes, on the other hand, panic no-one. This may be why many writers abuse them like ‘chef’s knives to slice and dice their prose.’ The result can be quite unappetising.
In truth, all three marks of punctuation can be rather effective when used correctly. The guidelines aren’t especially tricky either. So, let’s consider the key duties these three marks have in the English language.
THE EN DASH [–] (enn-da-shh)
To the passive bookworm, it’s a brief horizontal stroke that emerges in text, usually linking two words. To the neglectful writer, it might serve the same; but, to those of whom English flows through their veins, it’s something else entirely. Many people will use hyphens [-] and dashes [–] interchangeably, but they’re technically two very different punctuation marks.
The most common mistake in the case of the en dash is their use as a separating device—which is the purpose of the em dash—when in fact they link. You see it whenever you turn the page on the newspaper; someone will have dropped an en dash somewhere it most certainly does not belong. It isn’t too difficult to discern where they’re meant to be used.
The en dash is quite the versatile punctuation mark, having many different uses in text (Commonwealth of Australia, 2008):
– to show spans of figures, time and distance;
o pages 55–7
o January–September
o 15–17 North Terrace
o 2015–16
o Adelaide–Darwin trains
– to demonstrate a relationship between words that retain separate identities;
o a Commonwealth–state agreement
o the Asia–Pacific region
o cost–benefit ratios
– to link prefixes with what follows in specific circumstances; and,
o non-refundable goods but non–English speaking countries
o an anti-intellectual proposition but an anti–harm minimisation stance
– to join some types of compound adjectives.
o an HIV-positive person but a hepatitis C–positive person
Its most commonly used to associate time and distance; so, best remember to replace ‘to’ with a non-spaced en dash. Be warned, this does not apply when the preceding words are between or from (Commonwealth of Australia, 2008, p. 109).
THE EM DASH [—] (em-da-shh)
You could be forgiven for not detecting the difference in width between en and em dashes; however, professional typesetters shouldn’t be. It should be their mission to measure their dashes and ensure their appropriate use in any given context. Having said that, you too can measure your dashes.
In typesetting, the em dash is the same average width as the letter m, while the en dash matches the width of the letter n (Donovan, 2016). This analogy will enable you to determine where each mark should be used, though most use the hyphen as proxy.
The em dash is used to suggest emphasis (Donovan, 2016): an auxiliary comma or parenthesis employed to separate phrases—or single words—in a sentence (Atwood, 2016). It’s important to note it isn’t quite as flexible as the en dash, having fewer appropriate uses (Commonwealth of Australia, 2008):
– to show an abrupt change;
o The main cause of foodborne illness is incompetent preparation hygiene—but we’re not here to talk about that.
– to introduce an amplification or explanation; and,
o This is due to effects occurring some distance away—for example, vegetation clearing can result in dryland salinity hundreds of kilometres away.
– to set apart parenthetic elements.
o Policies often change the decision-making environment—state marriage laws are an example—or influence the suitable capacities for government investment.
Em rules are a suitable option in place of parentheses which give less emphasis to bracketed text (Commonwealth of Australia, 2008, p. 107). One rule to remember is the only punctuation mark that may precede an em dash is a closing parenthesis, a question mark or an exclamation mark (ibid.).
THE SEMICOLON [;] (se-mee-col-on)
Now for the most powerful mark of the three—the semicolon. Beware, its misuse may cause syntactic errors in your sentences and confuse readers. Semicolons can help connect closely related thoughts when a style mark fiercer than a comma is necessary (University of Wisconsin-Madison, 2017). They’re an indispensable character of the English language. They allow you to bring elegance and variety to your writing (Commonwealth of Australia, 2008, p. 101). Their uses are powerful (Simmons, 2017):
– to link two independent clauses;
o Some will write with a word processor; others write with a pen.
– to link clauses connected by conjunctive adverbs or transitional phrases; and,
o But however one chooses to write, people will make their own decisions; as a result, many people swear by their writing methods.
– to link lists where the items contain commas to avoid confusion between list items; and,
o There are two ways to write; with a pen, which is inexpensive; or by computer, which is expensive but neat.
– to link lengthy clauses or clauses with commas to avoid confusion between clauses.
o Some may write with a word processor; but others, for various reasons, will write with a pen.
Remember not to capitalise the word that follows the semicolon—unless it is a proper noun—and don’t scatter them wantonly throughout your writing. Think of semicolons like glasses of champagne; save them for special occasions.