“/?.- ,): It’s National Punctuation Day!

As M3’s resident ink slinger, National Punctuation Day, September 24, is kind of a big deal for me. This is my stuff; this is me in my element.

I could spit off the entire AP Style Guide in honor of this great grammatical holiday, but I know I’m a nerd to the nth degree, so I’ll spare the rest of you and do that on my own time. Instead, I’ve picked one punctuation-specific issue I see confused again and again — the difference between the hyphen, the en dash and the em dash. These differently sized lines are easily confused, and most people don’t even know they have names.

Hyphens (-) are the smallest of these three punctuation marks. Hyphens are joiners, as the AP Style Guide puts it. They are used to connect two separate words to create a single idea. It need only be used when not joining the two words with a hyphen will create confusion or cause ambiguity.

Example: This restaurant makes the most delicious homemade-style biscuits.

En Dashes (–) are the length of an “n.” These are used to designate ranges of time or amounts, or to phrase it differently, between numbers.

Example: The Great Depression, 1929–1939, devastated the United States.

Mac keyboard shortcut:	Option – Hyphen
PC keyboard shortcut:	Alt + 0150

Em dashes (—) are the longest, about the length of an “m.” These can be used to designate parenthetical information within a sentence, to attribute a quote, or in datelines — as seen at the beginning of news articles and press releases.

Example: She always has cooking basics on hand — like flour, sugar and yeast — so she can whip up baked goods whenever the mood strikes her.

Mac keyboard shortcut:	Option – Shift – Hyphen
PC keyboard shortcut:	Alt + 0151

Now that we’ve brushed up on a little grammar, learn a little more about National Punctuation Day and see how you fare on this fun grammar quiz.