Can you use between or from and to with a number range expressed using numerals and an en dash?
Note: This post relates to content in the eighth edition of the MLA Handbook. For up-to-date guidance, see the ninth edition of the MLA Handbook.
You can express a number range using words (“from . . . to”):
The party will take place from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m.
Or you can use an en dash:
The party will take place 6 p.m.–10 p.m.
But you cannot combine words (“from”) and an en dash to convey a range:
The party will take place from 6 p.m.–10 p.m.
The reason is that the dash does not stand in for “to”; it stands in for “from . . . to.” Thus “from” has nothing completing it.
Here’s another example:
Americans between the ages of eighteen and twenty-four check their phones approximately seventy-four times each day.
or
Americans who are 18–24 years old check their phones approximately seventy-four times each day.