And there are so many of the blasted things, with so many sub-groups.
For example, we all know what a hyphen is: right?
But what about a minus? What about that long dash you might see bracketing sub-clauses in sentences? How do you get those? And what are they for?
Word will usually auto-magically create a long dash for you when you key space hyphen space (" - ") and then type another word... which is handy. This is an m-dash, and it is called an m-dash because it is as long as the 'M' is wide in that character set.
It is used at either end of a sub-clause within a sentence — or an aside — where where a full stop would be either too strong and break the flow, or where a comma would be too weak, and not show the comment was a 'statement by the way'.
If you want to create one without having to use the symbols dialogue box in any Windows programme, simply key Alt & 0151. Magic.
This is an ASCII code, and there are codes for most characters.What we usually use as a hyphen on our keyboards is actually a ‘Hyphen-Minus’. This is ASCII code Alt & 45. This is really ONLY a minus, not a hyphen at all.
What we should use as a hyphen, where we want to show a range or to create a compound word, is an n-dash. The ASCII code is key Alt & 0150. It is slightly longer than a minus, and shorter than a m-dash.
So now you know :-)
Sam
- Reference: Office for Mere Mortals (17 February 2015). OfMM#16.05 Em-dash, En-dash and a lot more. [Personal Communication]
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