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A hyphen is not a dash. Hyphens are used within words or to join words, but not in punctuating the parts of a sentence. Use an en dash (–) with before, and a space after – or use an em dash (—) without spaces (see Wikipedia:How to make dashes). Avoid using two hyphens (--) to make a dash, and avoid using a hyphen as a minus sign.
Editors should structure articles with consistent, reader-friendly layouts and formatting (which are detailed in this guide). Where more than one style or format is acceptable under the MoS, one should be used consistently within an article and should not be changed without good reason. Edit warring over stylistic choices is unacceptable. [b]
A hyphen is not a dash. Hyphens are used within words or to join words, but not in punctuating the parts of a sentence. Use an en dash (–) with before and a space after; or use an em dash (—) without spaces. See Wikipedia:How to make dashes. Avoid using two hyphens (--) to make a dash; and avoid using a hyphen for a minus sign. read ...
One solution might be to rewrite this page, but my view is that the use of hyphens and dashes is important enough to treat in more detail in the summary MOS. Such detail, I think, should at least match that in other sections (e.g., capital letters and italics). Tony 07:44, 6 June 2007 (UTC) I agree that this page is poor shape, Tony.
The advice in this guideline is not limited to the examples provided and should not be applied rigidly. If a word can be replaced by one with less potential for misunderstanding, it should be. [1] Some words have specific technical meanings in some contexts and are acceptable in those contexts, e.g. claim in law.
However, if one goes to the web site for Science magazine, and searchs for "naturally-occurring" with or without a hyphen, one finds that Science does not use the hyphen. The fact that one of the best science journals in the world does not use a hyphen suggest that this case is not an exception to the MOS rule.
Support and oppose divided almost equally; more importantly, most of the opposition thought that it was too stringent, and should have permitted hyphens more readily. That's one majority Casliber's close ignored. We ended it with this poll. Read point 5b; a majority "prefers" dashes in that context; but the strongest posssible minority (14 out ...
Two points: first, the current MoS says that spelling and "usage" of a country should be used in articles "specific to" that country. That ought to include punctuation. The MoS is just a bit inconsistent here. Second, the MoS is a guideline, not policy, so no one should be changing people's commas or quotation marks.