Grammar expert and enthusiast June Casagrande dives into the world of hyphens and how to actually use them in writing.

Learn how to type Hyphen (-), En dash (–), and Em dash or long dash (—) in Word in Windows 11/10 using keyboard shortcuts, Alt Codes, and other methods.

When to use a hyphen A hyphen is what appears when you just press the button next to the zero key. In short, a hyphen links words together. It’s what you use to create a compound word, like ...

Many word processing programs will create an em dash when the user types two hyphens — but the symbol above a hyphen on many keyboards is an underscore.

Hyphenation rules focus a lot on compound modifiers. The rules say to hyphenate two or more words that work together to modify another word whenever doing so makes the meaning clearer.

A debate surrounds the em dash, dubbed the 'ChatGPT hyphen'. Gen Z and social media users link it to AI content. However, ...

"Hyphens are joiners. Use them to avoid ambiguity or to form a single idea from two or more words. Use of the hyphen is far from standardized.

How to use hyphen, en dash and em dash? As mentioned above, use a hyphen in intimately related concepts such as toll-free, tie-in, well-known and more.