Punctuation Department · Today with The Mayor

Hyphen & Dash

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Hyphen & Dash

Tap an officer to meet them, then work through each one.

Join two words with a hyphen

A hyphen joins the parts of a compound number (twenty-one through ninety-nine) and joins a prefix to a root to avoid ambiguity (re-cover a chair versus recover from an illness).

In a sentence

My brother turned twenty-one today.

I had to re-cover the torn chair.

Now you try

Two words acting as one describer before a noun. You could try ice-cold, well-known, or first-place.

Set off or break with a dash

A dash marks an abrupt break or an emphatic aside, stronger than a comma. It is longer than the hyphen, and it breaks rather than joins.

In a sentence

I opened the box and -- nothing.

She had one rule -- never quit.

Now you try

Use a dash where a comma would be too quiet. Like: My brother -- a chef -- cooks dinner.

Three marks, three jobs

A hyphen joins words into one unit (the shortest mark). A dash sets off or breaks a sentence for emphasis (longer). An ellipsis, three periods, marks an omission. Each does a different job; tell them apart by length and by what they do.

In a sentence

A first-place finish!

I reached for it and -- missed.

Now you try

A hyphen joins two words; a dash breaks or sets a part off.