Hyphens, En Dashes, Em Dashes
Q. When using an en dash to indicate a range of time, is it wrong to use from in front of the time range (from 9am–5pm)?
A. Although most readers will know what you mean by it, “from 9–5” is inelegant because it uses a spelled-out word for the from part of the expression and lets a symbol (the en dash) take the place of the to part of the expression. The reader is left hanging, waiting for the to part, as in “We work a variety of shifts, anywhere from 9–5 to 11–3.” Or “Several age ranges were surveyed, from 5–10 to 70–75.” If you want to use from with 9–5, make the to explicit: We work from 9 to 5. Otherwise omit from: We work 9–5.