Interestingly, when I used to prepare manuscripts for publishers, -- for en
and --- for em was the convention. I suspect they just used a global replace
to convert the documents. I also have assigned a keyboard shortcut to the en
dash because, as you say, there is no simple way to insert one without
spaces, and where I use them most is in number ranges and the like (and I
don't have access to the numeric keypad and would find it awkward even if I
did).
--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA
Word MVP FAQ site:
http://word.mvps.org
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"Don Ellis" wrote in message
...
Hi Suzanne,
This, as you note, is most confusing. Especially since I never paid enough
attention to what creates an em dash (because I've assigned the symbol to
Ctrl-/).
Because it takes two hyphens create an en dash, I just figured it took
three
hyphens to create an em dash (not unthinkable considering it takes four
stabs
of the F8 key to select a paragraph).
Looking at all of this again, I see that to create my [space][en
dash][space], you can use either of these:
[space][hyphen][space]
[space][hyphen][hyphen][space]
And to create an em dash with no spaces, you use two hyphens.
Which means that if you want an en dash with no hyphens, you either have
to
use the keyboard shortcut, Alt + numeric keys, or insert the symbol using
the
mouse.
Given that, I must stay that my mistaken idea of three hyphens for an em
dash seems the height of simplicity and logic.
Thanks again for your time and insights.
Don
"Suzanne S. Barnhill" wrote:
It was a little confusing to me at first that two hyphens surrounded by
spaces produce a spaced en dash, whereas two hyphens without spaces
produce
an em dash without spaces, but, conveniently, these two results
represent
the usage in the U.S. (em dash) and U.K. (spaced en dash), so it works
out
nicely.
--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA
Word MVP FAQ site: http://word.mvps.org