It's called en dash because the dash is about the size, the width, of the letter n. It's usually spelled en although there's some debate on how to actually write down the word en dash. So the first type of dash I want to talk about is called the en dash. But there are other places you would be using a dash. Those are the only places you should be using a hyphen.
So when you see a hyphenated name you would use the hyphen. It's also used to separate numbers in things like telephone numbers. But if you do make sure you just type the plain normal hyphen that's on your keyboard. Now, sometimes, depending upon which dictionary you're using, you may not use a hyphen on any of these. It's usually to the right of the zero on American keyboards and is the correct one of use. So, for instance, you may want to type a compound word like this, well-liked, and using the hyphen on your keyboard. Many of us use the hyphen for all of the different dashes. One of them, the one we use most often, is actually not even called a dash. There are three different types of dashes. Now this is one thing when talking about letters and words.
Video Transcript: So whether writing a book, an email, or text message a lot of us like to be grammatically correct when typing on our computers. Check out How and When To Type En and Em Dashes On a Mac at YouTube for closed captioning and more options.
