How do you write a dash with letters?
- They are really f––––d up. (Typically used for offensive words.)
- I will look ––––– the children. (Typically used in "missing word" questions.)
To add a macron to a vowel, on your keyboard, press the top left tilde key (it has these symbols ~ and `) followed by the vowel. 3. To add a macron to an uppercase vowel, press ~, then hold down the shift key and select your vowel.
For desktop PC: press “alt+ctrl+minus” on the numeric keypad (the number section on the far right of your keyboard). The trick will not work if you press the hyphen-key on the typewriter section of the keyboard.
- To set off material for emphasis. Think of dashes as the opposite of parentheses. ...
- To indicate sentence introductions or conclusions. ...
- To mark “bonus phrases.” Phrases that add information or clarify but are not necessary to the meaning of a sentence are ordinarily set off with commas. ...
- To break up dialogue.
To insert an em dash, click where you want to insert the em dash and then press Ctrl + Alt + – (minus sign on the numeric keypad). To insert an en dash, click where you want to insert the en dash and then press Ctrl + – (minus sign on the numeric keypad). If this doesn't work, press NumLock on the numeric keypad.
Ā, lowercase ā, is a grapheme, a Latin A with a macron, used in several orthographies. Ā is used to denote a long A.
Diacritical marks can be squiggles, lines, or dots, and they can hover above a letter or be attached to it. They're also known as diacritics or accents. No matter what you call them or what they look like, diacritical marks are there to show you how a letter sounds when you say it out loud.
Go to File > Options > Proofing. Add the word and then the word with a macron. Use the tilde (~) symbol key and then the vowel to create the macron.
- In Word, choose File > Options.
- In the Word Options dialog box, choose Advanced.
- Under Editing options, do one of the following: To use Insert key to control Overtype mode, select the Use Insert key to control overtype check box.
If you have a numeric keyboard, hold down the Alt key and type 0151 for an em dash or 0150 for an en dash.
What are the three ways to use a dash?
Dashes are used to separate groups of words, not to separate parts of words like a hyphen does. (Learn more about the difference between a dash and a hyphen here). There are three forms of dashes: em, en, and the double hyphen. The most common types of dashes are the en dash (–) and the em dash (—).
There are actually three different types of dashes: the em-dash, the en-dash, and the 3-em dash. The em-dash can be used to replace parentheses, colons, and commas. Generally, using the em-dash makes the writing style more informal—as if you were writing to an old friend.

The shorter en dash (–) is used to mark ranges and with the meaning “to” in phrases like “Dover–Calais crossing.” The longer em dash (—) is used to separate extra information or mark a break in a sentence.
AP style tip: Use a dash before an author's or composer's name at the end of a quotation. so, to clarify: use an en-dash and insert a space between it and the name? That looks like an en-dash with a space on either side.
Creating a 3-em Dash
Create a 3-em dash by entering the em dash three times or six hyphens. You can find the em dash in the symbol drop-down menu in Microsoft Word. Alternatively, press CTRL + ALT + minus key on the numeric keypad, three times.
Updated: 05/02/2021 by Computer Hope. Alternatively known as a dash, subtract, negative, or minus sign, the hyphen ( - ) is a punctuation mark on the underscore key next to the "0" key on US keyboards. Pictured is an example of the hyphen and underscore key on top of the keyboard.
Dashes replace otherwise mandatory punctuation, such as the commas after Iowa and 2020 in the following examples: Without dash: The man from Ames, Iowa, arrived. With dash: The man—he was from Ames, Iowa—arrived.