GrammarBook.com

Your #1 Source for Grammar and Punctuation

Em Dash: What Is an Em Dash?

The em dash in American English is a punctuation mark that helps to convey emphasis, introduction, interruption, or a swift change of thought. In doing so, the em dash acts similarly to commas, semicolons, colons, and parentheses.

In formal writing, an em dash is the width of an m and longer than both a hyphen and an en dash. It also has no spaces around it.

Let's look at how we can apply the em dash in our writing.

Em Dash: Emphasis and Introduction

The em dash can add greater emphasis to a sentence element by giving it extra pause and separation where it is introduced.

Those who achieve their goals tend to share a common trait—a refusal to give up.
The handicap that had been his obstacle for so long—a prosthetic left foot—became the reason for his triumph in the end.
Speed, strength, smarts, agility—Shania's athletic assets make her a great competitor.


Em Dash: Interruption

The em dash lets us interrupt a sentence with other thoughts or information without notably slowing the sentence:

Dad was relaxing—well, sleeping, actually—throughout the ball game.


In this way, the em dashes resemble parentheses, but their tone and effect in the sentence are subtly different. Consider how the sentence would read if we used parentheses to express the same thing:

Dad was relaxing (well, sleeping, actually) throughout the ball game.


Both 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.

Em Dash: Swift Change of Thought

Sometimes we may write as we think or speak: in other words, in a nonlinear way. We might start with one thought and abruptly shift to another. In writing, the em dash allows us to express such rapid changes:

I just wanted to say—oh, it's nothing.


Em Dash: Other Uses

The em dash can be used for the following functions as well.

Separate appositives that contain commas: Randy can throw a range of breaking pitches—a slider, a curveball, and a screwball. (Compare to Randy can throw a range of breaking pitches, a slider, a curveball, and a screwball.)

Separate a nonrestrictive relative clause within a main clause: Martin—who has served as facilities manager, customer service manager, employee trainer, and floor clerk—was recently promoted to vice president of operations. (Compare to Martin, who has served as facilities manager, customer service manager, employee trainer, and floor clerk, was recently promoted to vice president of operations.)

Introduce words, phrases, or statements that include expressions such as that is, namely, e.g., or i.e.: Roland tends to notice those who go above and beyond their duties—i.e., those who pay attention to details even when they're not being supervised.

Connect sentences as a semicolon would: Colleen wants to be a classical musician—she currently studies the cello.

Em Dash: How to Make One

You can enter an em dash into your document on a PC in a few different ways.

Hold down the ALT key and type 0151 at the same time.
Hold down CTRL, ALT, Num Lock, and the hyphen symbol (-) together.
Type a word, type two hyphens in a row, and continue typing (no spaces before or after the hyphens).
Go to the Insert menu at the top of your file, click on Symbol, and locate the em dash in the font you are using; then click Insert.


If you use a Mac, hold down the Shift and Option keys and type the minus sign located at the top of the keyboard. You can also press the Hyphen key twice and press Space.

Related Topics

En Dash: What Is an En Dash?
Dashes
Dashes vs. Hyphens

View and comment on this
article on our website.


Pop Quiz

Now that you further understand what an em dash is, determine how you could use it in the following sentences.

1. Jeanette is kind, polite, and smart, all wonderful qualities.

2. You bring the tacos; I'll bring the rice.

3. But yesterday you said…oh, never mind.

4. Right now Brian is doing twelve-ounce curls, his favorite exercise, out on the patio.

5. Fire, wind, rain, snow: none of it would have mattered to Cassie as she ran.

The Blue Book of Grammar and Punctuation


by Lester Kaufman and Jane Straus

Revised and Expanded Blue Book of Grammar and Punctuation Now Available!

The twelfth edition of The Blue Book of Grammar and Punctuation made its debut on May 4, 2021. It has been seven years since the eleventh edition was published. So when the publisher, Jossey-Bass, requested another go-round, the team at GrammarBook.com was elated.

You will find the new, extensively revised and expanded version in keeping with our consistent vision of a direct, concise, unfussy grammar book.

The Blue Book, which started life as a booklet for California state employees, has now sold hundreds of thousands of copies. Over the years, we’ve seen the number of subscribers to our weekly newsletter grow from dozens to scores to hundreds; now, there are over 40,000 of you worldwide.

The new edition continues to stress the difference between rules on the one hand and conventions, customs, and tendencies on the other. We also added previously uncovered material, such as irregular verbs, that have been popular topics in our newsletters and blogs. In addition, the Confusing Words and Homonyms section has been greatly expanded, and we have developed all-new quizzes covering even more topics.

The new Blue Book takes on English in all its often maddening complexity, acknowledging its quirks, gray areas, exceptions, limitations, and contradictions. We realize that people want straight answers, but with English, there sometimes aren’t any, and we would be remiss in saying otherwise.

Order your copy of the new edition of The Blue Book of Grammar and Punctuation from Amazon now!

Get Even More Useful Grammar Tips

In addition to our weekly newsletter, we post new entries about American English grammar on Mondays and Fridays. The following are two of our most recent articles. Bookmark our GrammarBook blog and be sure to check it often.

Nonrestrictive Clause: What Is a Nonrestrictive Clause?

Alternate vs. Alternative: Which Word Do You Need?

Free BONUS Quiz for You!

[[firstname]], because you are a subscriber to the newsletter, you get access to one of the Subscribers-Only Quizzes. Click here to take a Who, Whom, Whoever, Whomever Quiz and get your scores and explanations instantly!

We will be adding many more quizzes this year to our already substantial list of quizzes. If you have suggestions for topics we have not yet covered, please send us a message at help@grammarbook.com.

Hundreds of Additional Quizzes
at Your Fingertips

Subscribe now to receive hundreds of additional English usage quizzes not found anywhere else!


Teachers and Employers

Save hours of valuable time! You may assign quizzes to your students and employees and have their scores tallied, organized, and reported to you! Let GrammarBook.com take the hassle out of teaching English!

"Fun to test my skills."

"The explanations really help ... thanks!"

"I can select the quizzes to assign to my students, and then the results are reported to me automatically!"

Find out more about our
subscription packages

99¢

QUIZZES

Don't need all the quizzes?

You can now purchase the same quizzes individually for ONLY 99¢ each.

Purchase yours here.

If you think you have found an error in a quiz, please email us at help@grammarbook.com

The Blue Book of Grammar and Punctuation


by Jane Straus, Lester Kaufman, and Tom Stern

The Authority on English Grammar! Eleventh Edition Also Available

An indispensable tool for busy professionals, teachers, students, homeschool families, editors, writers, and proofreaders.

Available in print AND as an e-Book! Over 2,000 copies are purchased every month!

To order the book, simply click the link to order the book from the GrammarBook.com website.

Order Your Copy Today!
 

Wordplay





Pop Quiz Answers

1. Jeanette is kind, polite, and smart—all wonderful qualities.

2. You bring the tacos—I'll bring the rice.

3. But yesterday you said—oh, never mind.

4. Right now Brian is doing twelve-ounce curls—his favorite exercise—out on the patio.

5. Fire, wind, rain, snow—none of it would have mattered to Cassie as she ran.

English In A Snap:
68 One-Minute English Usage Videos FREE

Learn all about who and whom, affect and effect, subjects and verbs, adjectives and adverbs, commas, semicolons, quotation marks, and much more by just sitting back and enjoying these easy-to-follow lessons. Tell your colleagues (and boss), children, teachers, and friends. Click here to watch.

Forward this e-newsletter to your friends and colleagues.

If you received this FREE weekly e-newsletter from a friend, click here to have it sent to you each week.

Look for more grammar tips or writing advice from GrammarBook.com next week.

Miss a recent newsletter? Click here to view past editions.