See how the version with the semicolon feels more conversational, while the one with the colon feels more direct? You might have also noticed that in the first example, the clause after the colon starts with a capital letter. The roads are icy it’s dangerous to drive today. While a semicolon can gently separate two independent clauses, a colon does so more concretely. Separating a sentence into two independent clauses is one of the rare instances where either a colon or a semicolon would be correct. The roads are icy: It’s dangerous to drive today. Pepper.”Ī colon can also separate a sentence into two independent clauses when the two clauses are directly related and you mean to emphasize the second clause. Pepper.” This can also be written as “There are three kinds of soda on the menu and they are, as follows, ginger ale, Pepsi, and Dr. Think of it as shorthand for “which is/are,” “as follows,” or “thus.”įor example: “There are three kinds of soda on the menu: ginger ale, Pepsi, and Dr. In a sentence, a colon’s job is to introduce information and give it context. Now let’s discuss the details on when and how to use each and where the dash ( - ) fits in. A semicolon ( ) is used to join related independent clauses together in the same sentence without a conjunction.It’s typically used before a list, example, or explanation. A colon (:) is used to introduce information set up by the previous clause.The two punctuation marks colon (:) and semicolon ( ) may look similar, but they have different uses: Not sure when to use a dash or whether a colon or semicolon is the way to go? No worries-we break it down and make it easy-peasy. You can check out our service with a 500-word free trial today.Grammarly helps you communicate confidently Write with Grammarly If you’d like a punctuation pro to check your work for dodgy dashes, as well as any other writing errors, our proofreaders are here to help. Check out this post on how to type these dashes with Windows and Mac devices. You may have noticed that neither en nor em dashes can be found on a regular QWERTY keyboard. The main difference is that US English uses em dashes-usually without spaces-in place of parentheses, while UK English prefers the shorter en dash – with a space either side – for the same purpose. Summary: En Dashes and Em Dashes in US and UK EnglishĪs we’ve seen, en dashes-the width of an n-and em dashes-the width of an m-are used in much the same way on both sides of the pond. For example, the Associated Press style book, which is often used in magazine publishing, says that there should be a space on both sides of an em dash. Usually, you don’t need to put spaces around em dashes, but you should check your style guide to be sure. For essays, dissertations, and other formal writing, use brackets and colons to separate information from the main text. Therefore, you should avoid using em dashes this way in academic writing. When you use em dashes instead of parentheses (or brackets) like this, your writing is usually more dramatic. I named my pets-Loki, Thor, and Wanda-after my favorite Marvel characters. When you’re writing for an American audience, you can use em dashes as an alternative to parentheses: You can use one when somebody suddenly stops talking like this:Īn em dash can also be used to show that one speaker is talking over another: “Hey Jude” is over seven minutes long – 40% of it is “na na na!”Įm dashes are used in all English dialects to indicate interrupted speech. Thank you for subscribing to our newsletter! Moreover, UK English allows for a spaced en dash to be used like a colon to introduce new information: The most popular Beatles song – “Hey Jude” – was in the charts for 19 weeks. If you’re writing for UK readers, you can also use pairs of spaced en dashes instead of parentheses: In all of these uses, the en dash is used without spaces. Mark Knopfler sang about the Mason–Dixon line.Įn dashes can also be used in place of a hyphen when a prefix comes before a compound noun or adjective: The Keith Urban Tour, July 8th–December 17th 2022įeelings run high in the Marvel–DC debate. The en dash is used in all English dialects in the following four ways: We’ve written before about en dashes and em dashes, but today’s post is about how these punctuation marks are used differently in US and UK English. En Dashes and Em Dashes in US and UK EnglishĮven though the difference between the en dash and the em dash might be only a millimeter, confusing them in your writing can be a big problem.
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