<p>When should you use which?</p>
<p>Example:</p>
<p>The game was good; it just would have been better if there was more fighting</p>
<p>or</p>
<p>The game was good -- it just would have been better if there was more fighting.</p>
<p>I never, in all my years, have used "--" for anything. So, answer this people!</p>
<p>For whatever reason, no one uses "--" any more - they use " - ". For me, it depends on how I would say it - if I mean it as "almost" two separate sentences, I use a semi-colon. For what it's worth, I do not know what is "correct," although the last place that I worked that had a "Style" manual directed " - " instead of the more ancient "--"</p>
<p>arent - and -- the same?</p>
<p>Semicolon separates two independent clauses that are closely related to one another.</p>
<p>Dashes (--) are for inserting trivial or descriptive phrases mid-thought.</p>
<p>Hyphen and dashes serve very different purposes.</p>
<p>rmadden15, in all of your years of existence you have never used--perish the thought--a pair of dashes? That's absurd; it is nearly absurd as that time I saw a grown man shed tears due to a poorly written paper.</p>
<p>I use these all the time-- they're my favorite form of punctuation!</p>
<p>'-': hyphen, used for line continuation
'--': en-dash, used for ranges (e.g., 3pm--4pm).
'---': em-dash, used for parenthetical remarks. (e.g., She also came---the *****. ) </p>
<p>HTH</p>
<p>I read in a grammar book that using -- indicates a change of thought. </p>
<p>Like: The movie was great -- if you managed to ignore the annoying music.</p>
<p>Or would a comma be better in that situation?</p>
<p>If you managed to ignore the annoying music in the film, the film was not that bad.</p>
<p>I use -- all the time man, its become like my annoying habit in writing. I think it is genuinely best used to denote something that is a little off topic from the main point of the sentence, but is still relevant enough to be included. Semicolons are for the loss though.</p>
<p>I've been extremely fond of colons lately: they emphasize that I am serious business :3</p>
<p>I use the dash all the time- just not on anything graded.</p>
<p>-- or even - is not a form of proper grammar or punctuation. It's shorthand, but not proper. Use ; because it is the proper way to combine two complete thoughts into a single sentence.</p>