There are two types of dashes: en dashes and em dashes. An en dash is about the length of an "n." An em dash is about the length of an "m." See how they got their names? Very inventive.
An en dash is pretty much a hyphen. We're not going to differentiate between the two because it's pointless. The one you need to know about--the one people screw up all the time--is the em dash. See how I did that there? It's an em dash in action!
Em dashes are used when you can't have a complete thought without interrupting yourself. Watch:
Martin Prado will play left field--and third base once Chipper gets hurt--for the Atlanta Braves.
Some people want to make it impossible to get a safe abortion--because we all saw how well that worked in "Dirty Dancing"--by defunding Planned Parenthood.
I have to go to softball practice--we're talkin' 'bout practice--so perhaps I won't get hit in the face this year.
See how that works? The stuff between the dashes is totally irrelevant commentary that I just threw in there because I couldn't maintain one consistent thought for the duration of a sentence. This is the purpose of an em dash.
Here's how you make an em dash: write your last word before the dash. Then hit your hyphen key twice. Then continue on with your sentence. No spaces. Your magical friends at Microsoft will automatically correct this for you, and if you're not using a Microsoft program--like right now--everyone will know what you mean anyway because it's the universal symbol for an em dash.
So there's your lesson on dashes. Why is this so mystifying to people? Nobody knows. But now you know how to do it right--thanks to your favorite grammarian dictator--so you can once again use your superior knowledge to belittle others!
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