![]() After the introduction of the Linotype typesetters frequently reached rates of at least 6,000 ens per hour. Many workers fell short of this figure, while skilled workers were known to set 2,000–3,000 ens per hour, and late-1900s typesetting competitions often saw participants reach a corrected rate of 4,000 ens per hour. In the United Kingdom, a commonly cited "standard" rate was 1,000 ens per hour, although actual compositors' output varied widely. ![]() īeginning in the late 18th century, compositors were frequently paid by the en, rather than by the page. Some sources claim the term "en" was derived from the letter "n", which is roughly half the width of the letter "m." This etymology, however, is disputed. This is standard practice in the German language, where the hyphen is the only dash without spaces on either side ( line breaks are not spaces per se). When using it to replace a long dash, spaces are needed either side of it – like so. The en-dash is also increasingly used to replace the long dash ("-", also called an em dash or em rule). In English, the en dash is commonly used for inclusive ranges (e.g., "pages 12–17" or "Aug– November 26, 2005"), to connect prefixes to open compounds (e.g., "pre–World War II"). ![]() The en dash (–) and en space ( ) are each one en wide. The en is sometimes referred to as the "nut", to avoid confusion with the similar-sounding "em". By definition, it is equivalent to half of the body height of the typeface (e.g., in 16- point type it is 8 points). En is half of an emĪn en (from English en quadrat) is a typographic unit, half of the width of an em. This explanation is not intended to be exhaustive (for much more, see chapter 6 in CMOS), but I do hope that it helps to frame the different potential of each length of dash.Unit of measurement in the field of typography. In interrupted speech, one or two em dashes may be used: “I wasn’t trying to imply-” “Then just what were you trying to do?” Also, the em dash may serve as a sort of bullet point, as in this to-do list: An en-dash is generally used in two situations. It is called n dash because in some traditional fonts, it is as wide as the letter n. For example, in a bibliographic list, rather than repeating the same author over and over again, three consecutive em dashes (also known as a 3-em dash) stand in for the author’s name. The en dash () is longer than a hyphen but shorter than an em dash. Its use or misuse for this purpose is a matter of taste, and subject to the effect on the writer’s or reader’s “ear.” Em dashes also substitute for something missing. It allows, in a manner similar to parentheses, an additional thought to be added within a sentence by sort of breaking away from that sentence-as I’ve done here. Now, that is a rather fussy use of the en dash that many people ignore, preferring the hyphen. In that example, “pre” is connected to the open compound “World War II” and therefore has to do a little extra work (to bridge the space between the two words it modifies-space that cannot be besmirched by hyphens because “World War II” is a proper noun). En dashes are also used to connect a prefix to a proper open compound: for example, pre–World War II. And in fact en dashes specify any kind of range, which is why they properly appear in indexes when a range of pages is cited (e.g., 147–48). The en dash connects things that are related to each other by distance, as in the May–September issue of a magazine it’s not a May-September issue, because June, July, and August are also ostensibly included in this range. The hyphen connects two things that are intimately related, usually words that function together as a single concept or work together as a joint modifier (e.g., tie-in, toll-free call, two-thirds). I frame it this way because the work they do is roughly related to their length (though I don’t think CMOS puts it this way outright). ![]() First of all, there are three lengths of what are all more or less dashes: hyphen (-), en dash (–), and em dash (-). En dashes are mainly used in four situations: ranges of numbers or dates, scores, conflicts, and connections. I will try to condense the various bits of information scattered throughout CMOS. What Is an En Dash An en dash () looks similar to a hyphen (-), but it’s slightly longerthe same length as the letter n. En dashes, which are shorter than em dashes but longer than hyphens, have two primary uses: (1) create number ranges and intervals and (2) establish. What is the difference in usage between an em dash and an en dash?Ī. ![]()
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