Let’s talk about punctuation.

It’s not everyone’s favorite subject, I know (plenty of exasperated sighs and abrupt subject-changes from friends and family have taught me that). But it contributes nearly as much to the voice and style of your writing as your word choice does.

And while any editor worth her salt can wax poetic about the Oxford comma (it’s necessary, dammit!) far fewer soliloquies have been written about one of my favorite—albeit misused—punctuation marks, the dash.

You see, there is so much more to the dash than meets the eye. Appearing deceptively simple to the uninitiated, dashes can either elevate your writing by juxtaposing contradictory ideas and non sequiturs, or they can be slapped confusingly and haphazardly wherever the writer thinks they should go.

Why all the confusion, you may ask?

Just like the Oxford comma serves a very specific purpose in defining lists and grouping items, dashes serve different functions—and in fact there are multiple types of dashes, all with their own names and uses!

Let’s start with the dash that’s already appeared in this post several times: the em (M) dash.

It looks like this: —

This dash derives its name from the fact that it is the same width as an ‘M’ when typed. It is not, I repeat, it is not to be confused with a hyphen.

Em dashes are possibly the most versatile form of punctuation, easily adding oomph that commas can’t: breaking up disparate ideas in a sentence, mimicking the way people actually speak in dialogue, taking the place of parentheses, or even stepping in for a colon before listed items.

I. Love. The. Em. Dash.

In real life, I talk and think fast—I like to string my words and ideas together in a blitz while the moment is upon me, and clarify afterwards. I don’t think in a straight line, and I don’t speak in one, either.

The em dash is ideal for breaking up linear sentences and implying “leaps” between separate ideas and phrases.

It is not, and should never, ever, be confused with another popular dash, the hyphen.

Hyphens look like this: –

Like me, they are short and don’t take up much space on the page.

Hyphens are used for basically one purpose only—creating compound words. That’s it. They should never be used in place of an em dash. You wouldn’t use an exclamation point instead of a question mark, would you!

See, it felt a little off, didn’t it?

Hyphens are great for creating long words that are highly emotive and quirky. For instance: Talking this much about punctuation gives me an I-didn’t-know-I-could-care-this-much feeling.

They’re also used (and misused) frequently on menus, describing salty-sweet, well-done, hard-boiled, rock-hard, and grass-fed items, respectively.

So to summarize thus far: em dashes are versatile, used for dialogue and breaking up ideas, while hyphens are used to make compound words. Simple.

Then there’s the red-headed stepchild of the family, the en dash. Not as splashy as the em dash or as useful as the hyphen, the en dash is frequently forgotten or unnoticed by writers and readers alike.

It’s the same width as an ‘N’ on the keyboard, stuck firmly in the middle-child spot between em dashes and hyphens.

Now, the en dash (as far as I know) also has but one purpose in life: to fill in ordinal lists.

Did you answer all the questions, 1–10, on the test? Are you busy Tues–Thurs this week?

In text, the en dash could often be read to oneself as “through” or “to.” That’s it. That’s all it does, but all too often this unknown punctuation mark is skipped over in favor of an incorrectly-used em dash or hyphen.

If you made it to the end of this, congrats. I can tell you from experience that not many people have a vested interest in the proper use of dashes in their writing. But when used correctly—and with a pinch of style—they will add a dash of flair to your work that no mere comma ever could.