Revised as of
24 Mar 2023
I do adore the em dash! It makes a very emphatic point whether it conveys fear, hurry, finger-pointing . . . *grin* . . . or the abrupt stop! They will also stand-in for the missing. Yep, they’re multi-taskers, all right.
The em-dash family does have relatives, and you may want to explore their cousins: the en dash and the hyphen, a.k.a. the dash. For a milder option, explore the ellipsis.
The Properly Punctuated explores . . .
. . . the proper use of quotation marks, commas, semicolons, colons, ellipsis, etc., including how to properly mark dialog, ahem. As Properly Punctuated is in no way complete, I would appreciate suggestions and comments from anyone on punctuation with which you struggle or on which you can contribute more understanding.
If you found this post on “Em, 2-Em, & 3-Em Dashes” interesting, consider subscribing to KD Did It, if you’d like to track this post for future updates.
| The EM-Dash Family | |||||
| Technically, an em dash is not considered punctuation, but a glyph. A variation on a hyphen. I still think that makes it punctuation . . .
FYI: The basic em dash is three dashes slammed together. A 2-em dash is two sets of em dashes while a 3-em dash is three sets of em dashes.
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| Em Dash, – – – (—) | |||||
Punctuation: Three dashes (– – –) that run together |
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| General Rule: Separates thoughts similar to parentheses, semicolons, or colons, generally giving a greater emphasis to the separated text.
When used in hardcopy, use a closed dash.
When used on a website, the current practice is to insert an open dash. CAUTION: Never use more than two em dashes in one sentence. |
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| “Spacing the Em Dash” Rule: Accepted practice is to insert an em dash without any spaces between the words.
Hardcopy usage is—without spaces between words. Website and eBooks currently — insert spaces between words. |
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| Closed Em Dash | Rule: Hardcopy uses a closed dash, meaning there should be no spaces between the words preceding and following an em dash.
The British equivalent of the closed American em dash is an open en dash (Hartwell, 80–81). This is a very basic rule regarding British usage. If you are using or editing British-style, you’ll need to delve deeper. |
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latest—a very realistic | ||||
| Open Em Dash | Rule: Websites currently use an open dash (character code: —) to allow for line breaks as the display space available changes. Ebooks haven’t adopted a guideline on it, but the same principle applies as the display space on eReaders changes depending upon the device and the choice of font size. | ||||
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latest — a very realistic | ||||
| Dialogue | Rule: Introduces a sharp, decisive, or confident break in thought or an interruption of a sentence. | ||||
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“Wait, you can’t go—” | ||||
| Emphasis | Rule: Highlight or specially emphasize an element. | ||||
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Jackson finally decides to get scientific about his time traveling—with Adam’s help.
John Varley’s latest — a very realistic apocalyptic thriller — has me jumping in my boots! |
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| More Detail | Rule: Allows the inclusion of greater detail (like a colon, but less formal). | ||||
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I need three volunteers—one to watch the door and two to punch tickets. | ||||
| Separate Subject from Pronoun | Rule: Separates a subject or series of subjects from a pronoun that introduces the main clause. | ||||
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Consensus—that was the will-o-the-wisp he sought.
Broken promises, petty rivalries, and false rumors—such were the obstacles he faced. |
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| Index Subentry | Rule: Sometimes a sub-entry in an index requires sub-subentries. In this case, use an em dash for the subentry and run-in the sub-subentries (Chicago, 18.27). | ||||
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Armor and weapons
—attack weapons (general): Early Helladic and Cycladic, 33; Mycenaean, 225, 255, 258–60; from shaft graves, 89, 98–100; from tholos tombs, 128, 131, 133 —body armor: cuirass, 135–36, 147, —bow and arrow, 14, 99, 101, 166, 276 Asine: Early Helladic, 29, 36; Middle Helladic, 74; Mycenaean town and trade, 233, 258, 263; tombs at, 300 |
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| Using Punctuation with an Em Dash | |||||
| !s, ?s, ⚫s | Rule: You may use an exclamation mark, a question mark, and sometimes a period preceding an em dash. | ||||
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John Varley’s latest—a very realistic apocalyptic thriller!—has me jumping in my boots. | ||||
| French Dialogue | Rule: French writers sometimes use them to set off dialogue. | ||||
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—Gnagnagna —Ah, ouais? |
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| 2-em Dash, — — | |||||
Punctuation: Two Sets of Three dashes (– – – – – –) with a single space between the sets. |
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| Rule: Represents a missing word or part of a word, either omitted to disguise a name (or occasionally an expletive) or else missing or illegible in quoted or reprinted material (Chicago, 6.95). | |||||
| Whole Word Missing | Rule: If a whole word is missing, add a space on both sides of the dash. | ||||
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“The region gives its —— to the language spoken there.” | ||||
| Part(s) of a word are missing | Rule: When only part of a word is missing, no space appears between the dash and the existing part (or parts) of the word. | ||||
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David H——h [Hirsch?] voted aye. | ||||
| End of a Word is Missing OR Concealing a Name |
Rule: When the dash represents the end of a word and no punctuation follows it, a normal word space follows it. | ||||
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Admiral N—— and Lady R—— were among the guests. | ||||
| 3-em Dash, ⸻ ⸻ ⸻. | |||||
Punctuation: Three Sets of Three dashes (– – – – – – – – –) with a single space between the sets or use ⸻ once. |
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| Rule: Uses three em dashes or a combined em dash in a bibliography. Follow it with a period. This represents the same author or editor named in the preceding entry (Chicago, 6.96)
Hexadecimal: ⸻, ⸻ |
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| Mitchell, J.T. The Last Dinosaur Book. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1998. ———. Landscape and Power. Chicago: University Of Chicago Press, 2002. OR Mitchell, J.T. The Last Dinosaur Book. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1998. |
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C’mon, get it out of your system, bitch, whine, moan . . . which words are your pet peeves? Also, please note that I try to be as accurate as I can, but mistakes happen or I miss something. Email me if you find errors, so I can fix them . . . and we’ll all benefit!
Satisfy your curiosity about other Properly Punctuated posts on its homepage or more generally explore the index of self-editing posts. You may also want to explore Book Layout & Formatting Ideas, Formatting Tips, Grammar Explanations, Linguistics, Publishing Tips, Word Confusions, Writing Ideas and Resources, and Working Your Website.
Resources for Em, 2-Em, & 3-Em Dashes
Burckmyer, Becky.Awesome Grammar. Franklin Lakes, NJ: Career Press, 2008. Print. 147.
Chicago Manual of Style 15. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2003. Print. 263–265.
Hartwell, David and Kathryn Cramer. The Ascent of Wonder: The Evolution of Hard SF. New York: Tom Doherty Associates, 2008. Print.
Lakin, C.S. “Make a Dash for It.” Live Write Thrive.com. 31 Jan 2014. Web. 12 Sept 2018. <http://www.livewritethrive.com/2014/01/31/make-a-dash-for-it/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+LiveWriteThrive+%28Live+Write+Thrive%29>. This post has additional examples.
Pinterest Photo Credits
Luckily, Antsy has a number of friends who can help haul all those dashes.
