Quote:
Originally Posted by VydorScope
Number ranges? As in "He could get 5-10 in the big house for that murder" ? I would have used hyphen there.
|
This is a matter of style. It is not mandatory that an en-dash be used in number ranges, but many publications do, particularly journals. The point I was making is that an en-dash is used in number ranges but an em-dash is not.
Quote:
Originally Posted by VydorScope
Also, in number two,
"It is better---probably for everyone---that he not be telephoned."
I would have done
"It is better, probably for everyone, that he not be telephoned."
(actually I would not use that word order at all, but this is comma vs --- question so ignoring that)
Why use --- vs , there?
|
I was not saying that the em-dash was the only alternative, just that the em-dash is used in this situation and the en-dash is not. That you would use commas indicates how much emphasis you want the reader to assign to the set-off phrase. The em-dash indicates greater emphasis than the comma. You could also have put the set-off phrase in parens rather than using commas or em-dashes.
Bottom line is that if I were writing the sentence, I wouldn't have used the set-off phrase at all, and I probably would have written: "It is best not to telephone him." In any event, I am not a writer (as you probably can tell), so my examples were not intended to have literary merit.
The point is that the dashes are used differently, not that they have to be used at all, just that if they are used they should be used correctly.