[English Writing] hyphen and dashes

Three types of dashes and its corresponding Latex within parentheses

• Hyphen - (-)
• en dash – (--)
• em dash — (---)

Hyphen - (-)

A short horizontal mark of punctuation ( - ) used between the parts of a compound word or name or between the syllables of a word when divided at the end of a line. (from About)

Examples:

• concatenation of compount words, e.g. eight-year-old
• on-site support
• follow-up

en dash – (--)

• An en dash, roughly the width of an n, is a little longer than a hyphen. It is used for periods of time when you might otherwise use to. (from grammarbook)
• An en dash is also used in place of a hyphen when combining open compounds.
  • attaches a prefix or suffix to an unhyphenated compound

Examples:

• section 3–5
• post–World War I treaty
• New York–based writer

em dash — (---)

A mark of punctuation (—), technically known as an em dash, used to set off a word or phrase after an independent clause or to set off words, phrases, or clauses that interrupt a sentence. (from About)
"A dash is a mark of separation stronger than a comma, less formal than a colon, and more relaxed than parentheses." (William Strunk, Jr, and E.B. White, The Elements of Style)

Set Off Words or Phrases After an Independent Clause

"Life, said Samuel Butler, is like giving a concert on the violin while learning to play the instrument—that, friends, is real wisdom." (Saul Bellow, "My Paris," 1983)
"By trying we can easily learn to endure adversity—another man's, I mean." (Mark Twain)

Dashes Used to Set Off Words or Phrases That Interrupt a Sentence

Then, a review of model checking approaches—refinement based and temporal logic based—for currently applicable tools is taken, which provides the insight into the appropriate approaches for Circus and CML
"Copper Lincoln cents—pale zinc-coated steel for a year in the war—figure in my earliest impressions of money." (John Updike, "A Sense of Change." The New Yorker, Apr. 26, 1999)