What will I talk about today? Emm….
Oh, how about em dashes? These guys can be put to several good uses.
To add emphasis
Em dashes are longer – they’re the length of an ‘m’.
This sentence implies that ‘m’s are particularly long. Compare it to: Em dashes are longer; they’re the length of an ‘m’. Here, the semi-colon shows the two statements are related, but it removes the emphasis.
To show an example
There are three kinds of dashes – the hyphen, en dash, and em dash.
I could also use a colon here, and there would be no change in meaning. (Be sure to use a colon in formal writing.)
As parenthesis
(For details on parenthesis see http://camitchell.net/2013/01/10/wee-extras/)
Em dashes are longer – they’re the length of an ‘m’ – and used more often than en dashes.
Here, the dashes don’t show emphasis, but add a bit of extra information. The actual length of the em dashes isn’t crucial to the sentence, but it’s been added to help the reader.
There are three kinds of dashes – the hyphen, en dash, and em dash – available to the writer.
The dashes still show an example, but the example is more of an ‘aside’.
When using parenthesis, make sure what comes before and after each dash is grammatically correct.
Em dashes are longer and used more often than en dashes.
There are three kinds of dashes available to the writer.
To show a change in thought
Take a left at the end of the street – oh I forget its name – and then continue past the Post Office.
Em dashes in dialogue
When writing speech, you can use an em dash to show if a speaker has been interrupted.
“I thought you said-”
“You know what I said.”
Em… that’s all for now.
English: Comparison of hyphen, en dash, and em dash, and letters n and m, in various fonts. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
