(Compare to Randy can throw a range of breaking pitches, a slider, a curveball, and a screwball.) Separate appositives that contain commas: Randy can throw a range of breaking pitches-a slider, a curveball, and a screwball. The em dash can be used for the following functions as well. In writing, the em dash allows us to express such rapid changes: We might start with one thought and abruptly shift to another. Sometimes we may write as we think or speak: in other words, in a nonlinear way. Consider how the sentence would read if we used parentheses to express the same thing:ĭad was relaxing (well, sleeping, actually) throughout the ball game.īoth the em dash and the parentheses formats are acceptable, but the em dash offers extra movement in sentence flow if that is the desired effect of the interruption. In this way, the em dashes resemble parentheses, but their tone and effect in the sentence are subtly different. The em dash lets us interrupt a sentence with other thoughts or information without notably slowing the sentence:ĭad was relaxing-well, sleeping, actually-throughout the ball game. Speed, strength, smarts, agility-Shania’s athletic assets make her a great competitor. The handicap that had been his obstacle for so long-a prosthetic left foot-became the reason for his triumph in the end. Those who achieve their goals tend to share a common trait-a refusal to give up. The em dash can add greater emphasis to a sentence element by giving it extra pause and separation where it is introduced. Let’s look at how we can apply the em dash in our writing. In formal writing, an em dash is the width of an m and longer than both a hyphen and an en dash. In doing so, the em dash acts similarly to commas, semicolons, colons, and parentheses. The em dash in American English is a punctuation mark that helps to convey emphasis, introduction, interruption, or a swift change of thought.
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