Repeat after me: "I will not be afraid to use an em dash."
Or an en dash . . . or a hyphen.
And what are those three things anyway?
Em dashes can indicate a sudden break in thought, most often in dialogue or narrative. They are also used in dialogue to show that one person has been interrupted by another. Em dashes can set off an explanatory comment, when a comma isn't enough but using parentheses doesn't seem to work either. (Yes, these are definitely judgment calls.) Here are examples of each:
Or an en dash . . . or a hyphen.
And what are those three things anyway?
Em dashes can indicate a sudden break in thought, most often in dialogue or narrative. They are also used in dialogue to show that one person has been interrupted by another. Em dashes can set off an explanatory comment, when a comma isn't enough but using parentheses doesn't seem to work either. (Yes, these are definitely judgment calls.) Here are examples of each:
An en dash is a rarer animal (at least in my writing) and is used to connect numbers in dates, times, or references.
Hyphens are often incorrectly pressed into use as dashes. They separate numbers that are not inclusive, such as telephone numbers or social security numbers. They also appear between the syllables of a word in dictionaries and other references.
Understanding the differences between em dashes, en dashes, and hyphens makes it easier to know when to use them. Each has a valuable job to do in our writing.
Understanding the differences between em dashes, en dashes, and hyphens makes it easier to know when to use them. Each has a valuable job to do in our writing.
RSS Feed
