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I'm wondering if there is a name for the misuse of a dash in English Grammar. For clarity, I say 'dash' because I see them used in a way that the writer may think is an em dash, but more often writers online seem to use the hyphen symbol (-) rather than the dash symbol (—), possibly because it does not appear on all keyboards (particularly laptops without a numeric keypad).

I understand their correct use - em dashes to introduce parenthetical information and en dashes to indicate a range - but I often see them needlessly breaking up sentences, or being used in the place of a comma, such as these examples from a local newspaper:

  • When I accepted the invitation - I should have realised I was in it for it.
  • After a few minutes wait - the games began.

I have found articles about the misuse of commas, but I'd like to know if there is a proper name for any of these errors, as with some other grammatical mistakes, such as the 'comma splice'.

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  • Compare is it acceptable to use a single hyphen as a dash and lots of other questions (this covers the basics). It's not necessarily an error, but a matter of style. I doubt it has a more specific name than "character set limitation" or "using the wrong type of dash".
    – Stuart F
    Commented Jul 20, 2023 at 8:55
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    Hyphens are too frequently used where dashes are appropriate. You do it twice yourself ( '... correct use - em dashes to ...' should be '... correct use – em dashes to ...' or '... correct use—em dashes to ...'). But in your examples, ellipses are more appropriate, in the first example to show a pause for reflection then a change of focus, and in the second just a dramatic pause (= drum roll).
    – Edwin Ashworth
    Commented Jul 20, 2023 at 13:23
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    @EdwinAshworth Not sure you can say ellipses are 'more appropriate'. It's a style choice to include parenthetical information with ellipses, parenthetical commas, or em dashes. But I can see my mistake is to ask about 'hyphens' when I mean their use as dashes.
    – Astralbee
    Commented Jul 20, 2023 at 13:52
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    Ooh, I like dash splice for the two examples, which needed commas.
    – Yosef Baskin
    Commented Jul 20, 2023 at 14:10
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    @EdwinAshworth I'm not asking about better choices. That would be an opinion-based question and off-topic. I'm asking if such a word exists, yes or no. Are you able to authoritatively answer that question?
    – Astralbee
    Commented Jul 20, 2023 at 14:38

1 Answer 1

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Your expectation that there might be a word relating solely to the misuse of various types of dashes is over-optimistic. Contrary to common mythology, English does not have a word for everything.

Merriam Webster:

mispunctuate: transitive verb

mispunctuation (¦)mis + noun

Word History Etymology MIS- entry 1 + punctuate

See also Collins

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  • Don't you think your answer is rather rude? I have no such expectation that English has a word for everything. If I did, my question would have been "what is the name", not "is there a name". Further, I don't think it is unreasonable to wonder that there might be such a word, given that I mentioned the 'comma splice', which is a specific kind of mispunctuation. This perhaps should have been a comment rather than an answer, although it still would have been rude.
    – Astralbee
    Commented Jul 20, 2023 at 9:40
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    No. I don't. "I have no such expectation that English has a word for everything." Then the generalisation does not apply to you. A comma splice is a relatively common grammatical error that occurs when a comma is used to join two independent clauses without a conjunction: this is far more likely to be a topic of conversation when teaching than the mysteries of en- and em-dashes, hyphens.
    – Greybeard
    Commented Jul 20, 2023 at 12:46

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