Page 165 - Perfect English Grammar: The Indispensable Guide to Excellent Writing and Speaking
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Some words formed with these suffixes are now common enough that they have
lost their hyphens, such as antibiotic, childlike, and streetwise.
Hyphens also appear in numbers written out as words, and when connecting
numbers to the thing they’re counting.
■ ninety-eight
■ seventy-one
■ two-thirds
■ nine-sixteenths
■ twentieth-century economics
■ six-stroke engine
■ 50-yard dash
16.8 Dash
There are two kinds of dashes: en dashes and em dashes. Especially in formal
writing, their functions are kept distinct.
16.8.1 EN DASH
An en dash (–) is the width of a lowercase letter n. It is used in ranges of
numbers or dates. Usually there is no space on either side of an en dash.
■ pages 45–90
■ March 19–21
■ 1904–1924
It can also be used to show an open-ended date range, where the final date is
not yet known.
■ Terrell Owens, 1973–
16.8.2 EM DASH
