Dashes

Dashes, a useful form of punctuation, have an interesting history. The long dash that you see in books never made it onto the typewriter keyboards of old. So, you now have at least three choices when typing a dash in business writing.

When you type your document in a proportionally spaced font, such as the typeface you’re reading now, use an em dash — named because it’s the width of a capital “M” — with no spaces around it. The em dash appears nowhere on your keyboard, but most wordprocessing programs allow you to type one with a simple combination of keys.

When you type your document on a monospaced font, such as the typeface used now, either

1. type a hyphen — with a space on either side of it.

or

2. type two hyphens — — with no space on either side.

Whatever type of dash you use, remember that consistency is key.