Hyphens (-)

Hyphens, the most commonly used (and misused) type of dash symbol. Let’s look at the common correct and incorrect usages of hyphens: To create a compound word: Correct example for… Read More

Exercise: Inserting hyphens

Can you complete the following by inserting the hyphen in the correct place? A solid, all round effort The well known actor My six year old daughter The out of… Read More

The minus sign (−)

The minus sign (−) receives its own special treatment because it denotes a mathematical function and thus does not belong to standard English grammar. Below are some examples highlighting the… Read More

Exercise on en dash

Which of the following show wrong usage of the en dash? (a) The starting time is from 6:30–6:45 PM (b) We’re closed between January–March (c) Please refer to pages 75–110… Read More

Em dashes (—)

Em dashes (—) are used less as scientific notation and more as a stylistic tool in creative writing to place emphasis and direct the reader’s attention to specific parts of… Read More

The 3-em dash (———)

The 3-em dash (———) is the least common type of dash symbol in academic writing, but appears primarily in the reference list or bibliography of a document to replace an… Read More

Colons (:)

The colon acts like a gate. After the gate, additional information is provided to explain something about the first part. In this section, we’ll look into how to use the… Read More

Exclamation mark (!)

In this final section, we will discuss an often-overused stylistic tool to convey emotive language, the exclamation mark (!). The exclamation mark is typically used to express emotion and carries… Read More