The Constant Clash between the Hyphen and the Dash!

[In their Ads]

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8th November 2023

This blog post intends to highlight the difference between the hyphen and the dash by looking at a few advertisements and news reports, that were carried in the major English-language dailies quite recently, to emphasise on the important fact that -

the Hyphen and the Dash are NOT the same!

That means, the hyphen can never be used in the place of the dash, and vice versa!

Yes! 

There’s always a Clash!

between the Hyphen and the Dash! 😊

Hence, it would do well for us—language enthusiasts—to remember this simple formula -

The Hyphen Unites!

The Dash Separates!

With this in mind, now let’s go ahead and look at a few news reports and advertisements that were carried in the Chennai Edition of some major English-language dailies, quite recently.

Consider this advertisement released by Samsung –

6 months is an adjectival compound.

And as we know, the hyphen unites!

So it should be written as: six-month screen protection plan. ✅

Yet another general rule is that, numbers between 1 and 9 are usually written in letters.

So

It’s not a 1-month course. ❌

It’s a one-month course. ✅

It’s not a 6-month course. ❌

It’s a six-month course. ✅

Numbers from 10 onwards can be written in numerals.

So it’s a 12-hour programme. ✅

Or 

It’s a 15-hour journey. ✅

Now, consider this sentence –

1. The Department of English, MCC, offers a six-month certificate course in Communication Skills. ✅

Or it could also be written as -

The Department of English offers a six months' certificate course in Communication Skills. ✅

The tenant is usually expected to deposit six-months’ rent, as advance, to the house owner. ✅

The bus stand is just a five-minute walk from the railway station. ✅

The bus stand is just five minutes’ walk from the railway station. ✅

Trivandrum is a 12-hour journey by train. ✅

Now, let’s consider this advertisement from Apple Inc.

They’ve rightly made use of the hyphen in 1-month.

It’s “one-month free trial”. ✅

It’s 5000-server rack capacity. ✅

As regards the word centre circled in red - 

although we prefer the British variant ‘centre’ to ‘center’, there are no hard and fast rules on that aspect. 

However, for parity and clarity sake, it’s better to stick to the same spelling for uniformity’s sake. 

So it’s either ‘centre’ or ‘center’! Not a mix of both! 😊

Note: In the Indian context, almost all the major newspapers, [including Times of India, The Hindu, New Indian Express], and magazines [India Today, Outlook] and books, that are printed in the English language, always follow the British variant, as regards spelling.

The 100-year plan is also an example of correct usage. ✅

Consider this news report in today’s Times of India, Chennai Edition –

The phrase circled in green, “First of its kind” becomes a compound adjective when it is hyphenated!

So it’s hyphenated here, and not dashed!

[based on the rule – a hyphen unites; a dash separates!]

One more example, from today’s Times of India, Chennai Edition, on hyphenating adjectival compounds.

Note: An adjectival compound usually precedes a noun. So it could be written as –

A first-of-its-kind mobile phone.

Now let’s dash ahead to the DASH! 😊

Well, as regards the DASH –

They’re of two types!

1) the en dash (as it’s the size of the letter n)

and

2) the em dash (as it’s the size of the letter m)

Now let’s look at an example of the en dash from today’s newspaper - 

In the above news report, we have instances of the en dash and the hyphen as well!