Using Dashes and Hyphens

Do not confuses dashes and hyphens. Dashes are two typed hyphens (--) used to connect sentence parts. Hyphens (-) are used to connect two words used as one or to indicate a break in syllables. The mistake is generally made in not hitting the hyphen key twice to indicate that a dash is needed and not a hyphen.

1. Use a dash to connect parenthetical or aside marks to the rest of the sentence.

Ex. A: The twelve polar bears were large--and I mean LARGE.

Ex. A: Brendan's latest fling--not to be confused with his permanent fling--learned that she wasn't the only woman in his life.

2. Use a hyphen to connect two words used as one.

Ex. A: When we found the super-soft cotton mattress, we were in seventh heaven.

Ex. B: The two-toned car had been used in several recent crimes.

3. Use a hyphen to break syllable across a line break. Most word processing programs either do not break apart words at a line break or can be programmed to do so automatically.

Ex. A: Winter and Scooter were known for their playfulness, particularly when the hypo- chondriacs who were their owners left out the pill bottles.

Ex. B: Carefully insert the cotton swab into the test tube, swish it around to collect the mito-
chondrial matter, and swab that matter onto the agar.

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