Experienced writers know that you don't have to draw a little top hat and monocle on a sentence to make it more sophisticated and dashing. Instead, you can take the literal route and master the dash.
You have two types of dash at your disposal: the en dash and the em dash.
First, you should know that all dashes aren't created equal. The en dash (–) is a little bit wider than a hyphen (-), or about as broad as an uppercase N. The em dash (—) is a little bit wider than the en dash, or about as roomy as an uppercase M.
Don't worry; you don't actually have to print out and laminate an N and an M to measure your dashes. You can if you want to, we guess, but we'd recommend making a quick Internet search for your operating system's keyboard shortcuts instead. That will give you simple directions for calling up en and em dashes whenever your dashing little heart desires.