Wikipedia's Manual of Style is one of our most important resources for shaping articles into a cohesive resource that people around the world can rely on. One reason Wikipedia is such a popular site is that it packages high-quality, reliable information in somewhat standardised style and format. The Manual of Style (or "MoS"—often pronounced "moss") aims to assist editors in this goal by providing a balance between two extremes:
a framework that is too strict for the variety of texts we offer, the writing preferences of individual editors, and their creative impulses; and
a framework that is too loose to provide the standardisation that makes us a cohesive authority on the Internet.
Please keep in mind that seemingly trivial aspects of English style can be important in giving our visitors a smooth reading experience. We hope that these exercises will help you to absorb and apply the MoS guidelines. Feedback is welcome on the talk page.
Hyphens and dashes are basic to stylish writing in English. Even if your readers aren't quite sure of the precise rules that govern their use, their reading will be easier and their comprehension aided by your knowing how to use them properly. The Manual of Style clearly sets out how to use all three punctuation symbols: hyphens (-), en dashes (–) and em dashes (—). If these three symbols are hard to distinguish (- – —), you may need to change your font or browser to a standard one that renders them properly.
If you're unsure how to input en dashes and em dashes, please see this.
Here, we present texts in which hyphens and/or dashes may be either wrongly used or wrongly absent; in other words, some of the examples are wrong, and some are right. Remember, mostly it's a matter of:
whether to use a symbol at all;
if so, whether to use a hyphen or en dash; and in a few cases
whether the symbol should be spaced or unspaced.
Em dashes are a quite separate beast, and much easier to use. Many writers don't use them at all; they choose instead to use spaced en dashes – like this – intead of unspaced em dashes—like this—for their "interrupters". It's up to you.
For each exercise, decide on the answer in your mind before clicking on the solution. In most exercises there's an intermediate hint.
Science lab
THE EXAMPLE:
Lady Featherstone-Morley carelessly ashed her cigarette on the butanol sample.
HINT:
Lady Featherstone-Morley carelessly ashed her cigarette on the butanol sample.
Does the hyphen indicate conjunction (joining together) or disjunction (the separateness of both elements)?
THE ANSWER:
The hyphen as given is correct. "Featherstone" and "Morley" are joined together here into a compound surname. Removing the hyphen would be wrong:
Lady Featherstone Morley
So would an en dash: there's no opposition or particular relationship between the names here, other than their coming together into someone's compound name:
Lady Featherstone–Morley
An em dash would look really gawky:
Lady Featherstone—Morley
Nice inflation
THE EXAMPLE:
During the period 2005-07, the number of articles on the English Wikipedia quadrupled.
HINT:
During the period 2005-07, the number of articles on the English Wikipedia quadrupled.
THE ANSWER:
The hyphen is incorrect. Here, there's a year range, requiring an en dash, which stands for "to":
During the period 2005–07,...
If the reader is already familiar with what you're saying, you might even drop "the period".
Many people prefer just two closing digits, as here, to the full expression ("2005–2007"). MOSNUM says that one and three closing digits are unacceptable.
Nasty inflation
THE EXAMPLE:
From 2005–07, house prices in Capetown rose by a third.
HINT:
From 2005–07, house prices in Capetown rose by a third.
There's something inconsistent in the coloured text. Say it aloud.
THE ANSWER:
The example is incorrect; this is what you need:
From 2005 to 2007, house prices in Capetown rose by a third.
The en dash stands for "to", and that's how you'll vocalise it in reading it aloud. We need both prepositions spelled out: "from ... to", not "from ... –", which is awkward.
Either that, or recast it:
In the period 2005–07..., or During 2005–07 ...
Supreme Court
THE EXAMPLE:
The case was upheld by the Supreme Court in a 4–3 judgement.
HINT:
The case was upheld by the Supreme Court in a 4–3 judgement.
What word could be substituted for the symbol?
THE ANSWER:
The en dash is correct. An en dash can stand for "to", "against" or "versus"—these functions are all disjunct (indeed, adversarial) relationships between the items. It's the same for sports scores:
"The Vancouver Canucks massacred the New York Islanders in an 11–2 victory."
Canadian weather
THE EXAMPLE:
By mid-afternoon, the low pressure area had moved east into Ontario.
HINT:
Double adjectives often require hyphenation. Two double adjectives are at issue in this sentence. It's nothing to do with en dashes this time.
THE ANSWER:
By mid-afternoon, the low-pressure area had moved east into Ontario.
The presence of the first hyphen is correct, and the absence of a hyphen from the second double adjective was incorrect.
"Mid-" anything is usually hyphenated by convention, probably because "mid" itself isn't a whole word, yet doens't jam into the noun nicely the way some prefixes do.
"Low-pressure area"—the noun is "area", qualified by a double adjective. There's no such thing as a "pressure area", which could be low or high. Same for "upper-level jet stream"; it's not a "level jet stream" that happens to be the upper one of two.
What about "the area of low pressure over the coast"—shouldn't it be "an area of low-pressure"? Nope. There's no double adjective, so no hyphen should be used: here, "low" is an adjective; "pressure" is a noun.
Coloured balls
THE EXAMPLE:
The introduction of contrasting red and blue–striped balls transformed the game.
HINT:
Two things wrong: The introduction of contrasting red and blue–striped balls transformed the game.
THE ANSWER:
The introduction of contrasting red- and blue-striped balls transformed the game.
There are two problems:
An en dash is used to conjoin two adjectives; this is the job reserved for hyphens.
Not just "blue", but "red" requires a hyphen to link it to the coupled word "striped"; there are two double adjectives (qualifying "balls"). The hanging hyphen added to "red" is useful for making this double compound expression neater. It's a rare case in which a hyphen is followed by a space. See MoS.
Wikipedia Prize
THE EXAMPLE:
Five classes–comprising more than 100 students–will compete against each other to win a prize for the best Wikipedia collaboration on an article on their chosen suburb of Seattle.
HINT:
Five classes–comprising more than 100 students–will compete against each other to win a prize for the best Wikipedia article on a suburb of Seattle.
These en dashes are "interrupters", like very strong commas; they usually occur in pairs to mark off explanatory text.
THE ANSWER:
::Five classes – comprising more than 100 students – will compete against each other to win a prize for the best Wikipedia article on a suburb of Seattle.
The en dashes are required, but their formatting is incorrect; as interruptors, they must be spaced. The alternative is unspaced em dashes, like this:
Five classes—comprising more than 100 students—will compete against each other to win a prize for the best Wikipedia article on a suburb of Seattle.
Distance
THE EXAMPLE:
The 10-kilometre (16-mi) distance between the centres has been a major impediment to economic development.
HINT:
*There's nothing wrong with the choice of units or the fact of the conversion per se.
THE ANSWER:
The example is incorrect: there should be no hyphen where a unit abbreviation is used.
The 10-kilometre (16 mi) distance between the centres has been a major impediment to economic development.
Sure, both main unit and conversion are used as double adjectives, describing "distance". But the ISO rules, which WP agrees with in this case, are that a hyphen must be used to connect a value and a fully named unit ("30-kilogram weights"), but must not connect a value and an abbreviated unit ("30 kg weights"). Fussy, isn't it.
Trade agreement
THE EXAMPLE:
Australia–New Zealand Free Trade Agreement
HINT:
*Yep, an en dash is required, since a relationship is indicated where "and" could be substituted. But it's all in the spacing.
THE ANSWER:
The example is incorrect. The Australia – New Zealand Free Trade Agreement.
If either of the items has an internal space (here, "New Zealand") the en dash needs to be spaced as well. This is particularly important in full date ranges, which often appear at the start of Wikipedia articles: "August 3, 1979 – November 30, 1980", not "August 3, 1979–November 30, 1980", ouch.
Seats at the game
THE EXAMPLE:
The season was fully-subscribed months before the first game.
HINT:
No hint this time.
THE ANSWER:
The hyphen is incorrect:
The season was fully subscribed months before the first game.
Say after me: "No hyphen after "-ly".
Why? you might ask. Because an "-ly" word, as an adverb, always qualifies a verb (an action), so your readers will already be expecting it to be joined grammatically to the next word. It's not rocket science. This is one of the most common hyphen glitches on Wikipedia.
Transatlantic love affair
THE EXAMPLE:
In 2003, the name of the body was changed from "the British–American Commission" to "the Anglo–American Commission".
HINT:
Both have en dashes, but one of them should have a hyphen instead. Now we really are being fussy.
THE ANSWER:
The second en dash is incorrect; thus, "In 2003, the name of the body was changed from "the British–American Commission" to "the Anglo-American Commission".
An hyphen should be used in favour of an en dash between two items if one item (or both) is just a word particle; "Anglo-" is such a particle, being merely a prefix, whereas "British" is a full word. An acronym or abbreviation in this context would count as a full word ("US–UK agreement").
Hot town
THE EXAMPLE:
At -25°C, it was unseasonably warm in Yellowknife.
HINT:
There are two things wrong.
THE ANSWER:
At −25 °C, it was unseasonably warm in Yellowknife.
First, you may think this is an en dash, but it's a minus sign, which mathematicians are fussy about. Until early 2008, MOS used to allow en dashes for negative signs (−3.5) and subtraction operators (4 − 1 = 3); not any more. A minus sign is very subtlely different from an en dash—something to do with lying lower on the line. Squint and ... you won't see it. Here they are: hyphen, minus sign, the en dash, and the em dash: - − – — . As a superior race, these mathematicians have the run of the place. Hmmmph.
Second, MOS insists on a space between all values (−25) and units (°C), with two minor exceptions (angular degrees and geographical coordinates); so it's −25 °C, not −25°C. There's no space between the minus sign and the value (never − 25)
Take a look at how you should key it in:
At −25 °C, it was unseasonably warm in Yellowknife.
Quotation techniques
Here, we help you to brush up on the tools for effective direct quotation, including the use of square brackets and ellipsis dots.
The critic in Game Revolution said that "[this] game is brimming with horror".
Comment: The original text was "the game is brimming with horror", but in the context of the Wikipedia article, "this" is better, so the editor replaced "the" with "[this]", correctly using the square brackets to indicate this replacement. But can we avoid the square brackets to make it read a little more smoothly?
HINT:
Fiddle with where the first quotation marks are placed.
THE ANSWER:
The critic in Game Revolution said that this game "is brimming with horror".
We've made the actual direct quote smaller, so we can wind the "this" into Wikipedia's sentence; therefore, we can avoid the square brackets. Why didn't we include "game" within the direct quotation? Well, that would sound a little clumsy (try it).
Manipulating exactly where that boundary goes between what you are saying and what your quoted source is saying is a valuable tool, provided you never distort the meaning of the source.
