En and Em Dashes in Word

[Vivian Carroll]

When I select in AutoFormat As You Type to replace hyphens with dashes, it
replaces both "space hyphen space" and "space hyphen hyphen space" with
"space en dash space". To be correct, shouldn't it be inserting the dash
with no spaces around it? (I reasearched this in articles on the internet
and know that some people opt to use the spaces - but will it now become
standard practice because Microsoft does it?)

Also, it seems to me that in what I type, I usually need and em dash, not an
en dash. Is it reasonable just to ignore the difference and use "space en
dash space" everywhere? (Note that "Special Edition Using Microsoft Word
2002" says "When Word recongnizes that you've typed characters typically
used in place of dash syumbols, such as two consecutive hyphens in place of
an em dash, it can substitute the proper character automatically." -- It
doesn't seem to substitute the "proper" character for me.)

Is there some article that explains Microsoft's reasoning? (Yes, I know
about using ALT+0150 and ALT+0151.)

TIA,
Vivian

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

If you type two hyphens without spaces before and after, Word will
substitute an em dash. The rationale for this behavior is that UK presses
use space en dash space the way we use an em dash (with no spaces).

IOW, if you use a spaced hyphen - like this - Word will convert it to an en
dash (and it evidently assumes that if you type two hyphens you meant just
one).

But if you type two hyphens without spaces--like this--Word will replace
them with an em dash.

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA
Word MVP FAQ site: http://www.mvps.org/word
Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the newsgroup so
all may benefit.

 

[Vivian Carroll]

Thanks once again for your help Suzanne. I feel better about the feature
now. Now that I read your reply, I looked up "em dash" in Word's Help and it
said what you said:

When you type a space and one or two hyphens between text, Microsoft Word
automatically inserts an en dash ( – ). If you type two hyphens and do not
include a space before the hyphens, then an em dash ( — ) is created.

I should have looked in Help first - I'm just so used to not finding what I
need in Help and finding a lot of what I need in the Que books that when I
didn't find the answer in the Que book, I turned to the newsgroup and forgot
about Help.

Sorry to take your time, but I really appreciate it!

Vivian