![]() to 6 p.m.-certainly showed concern for customers’ manifold circumstances. The butteriness of the pastries did say something about an appropriate level of commitment to decadence-at least there was that.Īnd the wide range of its hours of operation-6 a.m. In this particular task, em dashes occupy a kind of middle ground among the three: when commas do the job, the material is most closely related to what’s around it, and when parentheses do the job, the material is most distantly related to what’s around it when dashes do the job the material is somewhere in the middle. Em dashes are used in place of commas or parentheses to emphasize or draw attention to parenthetical or amplifying material.“That is-I suppose it is concerning.” The Em Dash in Action: Attention Must Be Paid “Of course you have a point,” Mabel murmured. “That the bakers fail to recognize the crucial importance of the cheese Danish-” An em dash can indicate interrupted speech or a speaker’s confusion or hesitation.Mabel the Cat was delighted with the assortment of pastries the new bakery featured, but Harry the Dog-he felt otherwise. An em dash can mark an abrupt change or break in the structure of a sentence.How to type one, however, depends on your machine. This website prefers the latter, its style requiring the closely held em dash in running text. Most newspapers insert a space before and after the dash, and many popular magazines do the same, but most books and journals omit spacing, closing whatever comes before and after the em dash right up next to it. The em dash is sometimes considered a less formal equivalent of the colon and parenthesis, but in truth it’s used in all kinds of writing, including the most formal-the choice of which mark to use is really a matter of personal preference. Like a colon, an em dash introduces a clause that explains or expands upon something that precedes it. Like commas and parentheses, em dashes set off extra information, such as examples, explanatory or descriptive phrases, or supplemental facts. The em dash can function like a comma, a colon, or parenthesis. It looks like - or sometimes (as when one’s word processing program fails to convert it) - and it’s called the “common dash,” or “em dash.” The two names are well-earned this dash is the most common true dash, and it’s the approximate width of a capital M. There are various punctuation items that can be described as dashes, and we will get to them all, but we’ll begin with the most useful, and most used. They take the reader aside, and then draw that reader to the next bit like a good dance partner in the lead. It’s a technique that’s often used when authors transcribe verbal communications.Among punctuation marks, dashes have a certain panache. To Signal an InterruptionĮm dashes can signal an interruption, particularly in dialogue and other forms of written speech. Let’s take a closer look at each way you can effectively use this versatile punctuation mark in your sentences: 1. Finally, you can use em dashes as an alternative to parenthesis. On the other hand, they can substitute missing information or missing parts of a word. What’s more, an em dash can also signal a sentence break when you want to clarify something or give extra focus to a list of items. Use the em dash to indicate an interruption or an abrupt change in thought. It has multiple uses, making it a especially useful in informal writing or fiction. ![]() What is an Em Dash Used for?Īn em dash is the longest of the dashes. Between hyphen and en dash, there’s em dash, one of the most versatile punctuation marks that you can use. This versatile symbol helps adding structure, clarity, and even personality to otherwise complex sentences. When a comma or colon isn’t enough, or you want to avoid using parentheses, the em dash may be the punctuation mark for you. An em dash can replace commas, parentheses, and colons.Typically, you shouldn’t include a space before or after the em dash.Long dashes help add clarity, signal a break, or indicate an interruption in a sentence.They often help emphasize specific information. When you think of an em dash, think of emphasis.An em dash is about the width of the letter ‘M’, which is where it gets its name.Type em dashes by pressing Alt+0151 for Windows or Shift+Option+Minus (-) for Mac.They are much wider than en dashes and are also called long dashes. ![]()
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