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The BBC’s quality of writing across all its websites can hardly be faulted. The news organisation pays great attention to detail. And visitors coming to its news site expect and do get quality writing.

But one thing strikes discerning readers as oddly jarring: the use of hyphens (-) where em dashes (—) should be used. The BBC is probably the only major news organisation that misuses hyphens and gets away with it.

This screenshot, taken from a BBC news article, shows hyphens used as em dashes. There are countless examples on the BBC website.

To be fair, the BBC is consistent in the way it (mis)uses hyphens as em dashes. It is arguable that its readers have become accustomed to the way it punctuates and do not care. However, something wrong does not become right just because it is done consistently.

There is a real difference between hyphens, en dashes and em dashes—not just in appearance (- – —) but also in usage. The en dash and em dash are so named because they have the same width as the letters after which they are named (N, M).

So how are the three punctuation marks used? Let us break it down.

A hyphen joins words together to get a new one. For example, in the sentence “They export high-value products”, a hyphen is used to join “high” and “value”. “High-value” describes “products”. The two words have to be connected. Another example: People living in high-income countries enjoy high standards of living.

For ranges, an en dash—not a hyphen—is used. Some examples: The March–April report is out now. You can also use the en dash to show a connection between two words. The Entebbe–Gatwick flight is boarding at Gate 5. An en dash can also be used for a score in a football match. For example: Arsenal won the match 2–1.

When you use an en dash to show a range, you are not supposed to use words such as “from” or “between”. For example, you cannot write: Our office is open between/from 8:30am–5pm weekdays. The en dash between “8:30am” and “5pm” makes “from” and “between” redundant. The correct sentence should be: Our office is open 8:30am–5pm weekdays.

Do not write: Museveni was president from 1986–1996 before he contested his first presidential election under the NRM. Write: Museveni was president from 1986 to 1996 before he contested his first presidential election under the NRM.

Now we turn to the em dash, a favourite of AI chatbots, copy editors and subeditors largely because of its panache. The em dash is versatile and can be used to mark off parentheses, defined as words or phrases added to a sentence to provide extra information.

In the following example sentences, em dashes are used to set off parentheses:

• When we visited the tourist attraction in 2021—and that was the second time we had been to the site—we were welcomed by a guide named Ajiro Ajango.

• The club’s loss—the latest in a series—means they will be relegated.

Em dashes do not always have to be used as a pair. You can use just one to join two separate sentences that are related. In other words, you can use an em dash in place of a semicolon.

Example: Akello is not blaming you for being late—she is saying you should have phoned to say you were going to be late.

A single em dash can be used to draw a reader’s attention to a contrast. The screenshot below illustrates the point. However, the BBC did not use a real em dash before “but”; it used a hyphen, which is an incorrect punctuation mark to use in this context. As you can see in the rest of the screenshot, there are hyphens—and they are used differently—indicating the BBC should have used an em dash.

A key point about styling em and en dashes: whether you leave spaces around them or not, just be consistent. This is a matter of style—and whatever you choose, you have to stick to it.

As examples, the Economist and the World Bank do not leave space around em dashes—but the New York Times and the Washington Post do.

The BBC’s hyphen-for-em-dash habit is a small but striking one. But since it cares about clarity and precision in writing, its incorrect use of punctuation marks is surprising.

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