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Victo Posted 13 years ago
Grammar

The Em Dash (With or Without Spaces)

In your opinion, which style below (using the em dash) is the best choice?


Do you think two hyphens to represent an em dash looks good? I don't.


Without spaces:

1. America's finest prose—in blogs, magazines, newspapers, or novels—is littered with so many dashes among the dots it's as if the language is signaling distress in Morse code.


With a space on each side:

2. America's finest prose — in blogs, magazines, newspapers, or novels — is littered with so many dashes among the dots it's as if the language is signaling distress in Morse code.


Or could we just use the spaced en dash, yes or no?


America's finest prose – in blogs, magazines, newspapers, or novels – is littered with so many dashes among the dots it's as if the language is signaling distress in Morse code.


Thanks.
  

Top answer

victo In your opinion, which style … is the best choice? Em dash. No hyphens or spaces.

— RandomGuy

  • victo In your opinion, which style … is the best choice?
  • Em dash.
  • No hyphens or spaces.
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9 Answers
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victoIn your opinion, which style … is the best choice?
Em dash. No hyphens or spaces.
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I assume you have read the whole article in Slate. I support the writer's reservations about the use of dashes. I consider them a mark of informal writing, and thus I don't think it matters what style one chooses.

I know that others on the Forum will disagree with me, and I am sure they will answer your specific questions.
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I think they’re OK to use once in a while.
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An alternative is to follow the traditional way of solving the problem when one can't use commas; use semicolons.
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Wow, two of my hobby horses in one thread . Emotion: angry

Let me just
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Clive....Let me just say that I don't remember the last time in my life that I ever used a semicolon. I find that careful sentence structure is key.
That's an extremely odd response indeed.
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victoIn your opinion, which style below (using the em dash) is the best choice?
I'm told that 1 is correct and 2 is wrong, but I prefer 2 anyway.

I like dashes; I try to use them as often as I can — and semicolons too.
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CliveLet me just say that I don't remember the last time in my life that I ever used a semi-colon. I find that careful sentence structure is key.
Now if you could just find some sentence structures that are so careful we can get rid of the commas too!
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Hi guys,
Well, I stuck my neck out, and the reactions are just about what I expected.
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