or amplification (“expanding”) of an idea. This is the Dear World Instagram post I mentioned in the podcast: A photo posted by thegrammargirl (@thegrammargirl) on The em dash is often used to wedge a related thought into the middle of a complete sentence. For this usage, make sure you use two em dashes. Plug in a full-size external keyboard or keypad. For those that want to use the correct dashes in your copy—we thank you! Back in the day some email clients had issues with emdashes in subject lines. An easier (but no less infuriating) method is to open the … For more ideas on achieving that perfect way to add the en dash and em dash visit 5 Ways to Create an Em Dash by C.K. And of course, some of the best em dash … Feel free to find the one that works best for you. You want to be sparing in your use of an em-dash in place of a colon, and remember that by using an em-dash instead of a colon, your style becomes less formal. Identifying how an em-dash is used and actually using one in your own writing are two different things, the latter being trickier. “When choosing between two evils, I always like to try the one I’ve never tried before.” —Mae West; Other Uses for the En Dash. If that’s your intention and you want to add special emphasis to a word or phrase, then use the em-dash. Why is it called em dash? So, let’s start with parentheses versus em-dash, by comparing two sentences. Em dash on a PC: hit the alt + 0151 (from the numbers of your numeric keypad – not the … This option will … My personal preference is the space en dash space as it looks cleaner and less cluttered. Quick & Dirty Tips™ and related trademarks appearing on this website are the property of Mignon Fogarty, Inc. and Macmillan Publishing Group, LLC. For example: 2015–2016, pages 23–26, or September – December. Em dashes may be prone to overuse, but if you understand how beautiful the em dash can be, you won’t want to overuse it. If you've already registered, sign in. It’s up to you, but remember: Making a choice that is more apt—the semicolon is already a difficult piece of punctuation to navigate—will show off your skills as a writer. Unfortunately, that is what we often do. The stodgy semicolon and sinuous question mark might get thrown into the mix, but rarely—if ever—will somebody mention a punctuation mark that, while omnipresent, often goes unnoticed. another hack is typing an em dash in word and copying and pasting it into CC You must be a registered user to add a comment. One mark of good writing is the discerning choices the author makes in punctuation. If we copy those dashes “as is” into the HTML and don’t code the dash it will not display consistently across the email clients. Em Dash vs En Dash vs Hyphen: Let’s Dash it Out! But an em-dash is not the same as these other marks; it brings a different flavor to the sentence and adds a special emphasis that wasn’t there before. If you would like to listen to the audio, please use Google Chrome or Firefox. 1. An em-dash gives you another option when you are dealing with a phrase that describes or elaborates upon a noun. Sometimes it works and sometimes it won’t. But seriously, here are some short cuts and coding tips for getting the perfect dash. That’s it! 1. Marketing Automation and Lead Management Experts. You might want to highlight those names. The em dash keyboard shortcut differs depending on if you're using a Mac or PC. When people think of punctuation marks, it is usually the handy comma, the imperious colon, or the overly excited exclamation mark that comes to mind. If you do not want the spaces, you will need to delete them manually. Em dashes set apart parenthetical phrases or clauses in a sentence.In this use, em dashes are similar to commas and parentheses, but there are subtle differences.For example, em dashes are used when a parenthetical remark contains an internal comma or would otherwise sound awkward if enclosed by … Here’s a good strategy to use when trying to decide whether to use em-dashes or parentheses in your writing: If you find yourself wanting to throw in a little extra information about a noun in a particular sentence and are not sure whether the parentheses or the em-dash is the way to go, read the sentence out loud. Sep 2, 2014 at 1:57pm PDT. In the first sentence, the fact that he has a small Honda doesn’t seem that closely connected to the fact that he took a road trip. It can—depending on the context—add emphasis, add information, bring focus, or replace commas, colons and set off parenthetical information in brackets. 1. Please call my lawyer (Richard Smith) on Tuesday. Yet even in these more formal contexts, a well-deployed em-dash can give your writing a dash of sophistication. The em dash indicates a dramatic shift in … Dennis took his car (a tiny, two-door Honda) on a weekend road trip. See, lots of commas. Press [Ctrl]+ [Alt]+- to enter an em dash. In terms of adding emphasis to a phrase, the comma falls somewhere between the parentheses and the em-dash. If you have a numeric keyboard, hold down the Alt key and type 0151 for an em dash or 0150 for an en dash. I hope you find this helpful and as I stated above, there are no hard and fast rules to dash usage other than keeping it consistent (and of course, observing your own organization’s style guidelines, if any). The en dash is about the same width as an upper case N and when used may, or may not, have a space on either side of the dash depending on the use of alpha or numeric. A photo posted by thegrammargirl (@thegrammargirl). Use an em dash (—) without spaces on either side to offset an aside. The deadline is looming, and we type away in Word, creating our brilliant (or what we believe to be brilliant) copy, relying on Word to get our t’s crossed and i’s dotted but we never really consider our dashes. Em dashes are especially common in informal writing, such as personal emails or blogs, but it’s best to use them sparingly when you are writing formally. Take the following sentence as an example. Dr Lisa Lines explains how to use this punctuation mark correctly. Defaulting to the em-dash suggests you haven’t really thought through why you used the mark in the first place. Em dash Mac: hold down the option + shift + the hyphen keys and viola! Another thing to keep in mind is that many sentences already have commas so using them to set off a descriptive phrase can make things a little crowded with commas. Coding the En Dash and Em Dash in HTML Emails. Austin thought Brad was the donut thief, but he was wrong—it was Lain. I talked to Mr. Johns… We often see hyphens used in phone numbers, at the end of lines to wrap words or in compounded words like “up-to-date.”. Then replace the em-dashes with parentheses and reread the sentence without adding any emphasis to the phrase in parentheses. After 1,000 miles of sputtering along in his tiny Honda, Dennis could think only one thing as he approached his driveway—home. Another way to overuse em-dashes is by using them whenever a semicolon, colon, or parentheses show up. Dashes are tempting. But in the second sentence, the size of the Honda is relevant to the road trip. When you get to the information contained between the em-dashes, add a little bit of humph as you enunciate each word. You will notice that there are again, no spaces around an em dash. You must use the minus sign (-) on the numeric keypad, not the hyphen character on the alphanumeric keypad. Two or more em dashes can also be used to censor profanity or obscenity, or to suppress the name of a criminal suspect. Em dash The em dash is perhaps the most versatile punctuation mark. The em dash is about the same width as an upper case M. Whether or not spaces are used around the em dash depends on the style authority you consult: the Chicago Manual says no, AP Style says yes. To type it on a computer, you press Option/Alt plus the Hyphen key. Please call my lawyer—Richard Smith—on Tuesday. Of course, you could use a colon in this sentence, but the em-dash gives it an extra dramatic flair. In general, em-dashes could usually be replaced by commas, parentheses, or colons. In theory, that’s how your readers will interpret the sentence in their own minds—more emphasis, or “humph,” with the em-dash, and less with parentheses. But again, use it only when it is clear that you want to add emphasis to a phrase. Now he is “stuffing” four other friends into this small car. Depending on the sentence, the em-dash can have a similar function to parentheses, colons, commas, and even semicolons. We are currently experiencing playback issues on Safari. Em-dashes mark a pause, setting one part of a sentence off from the other, as in a parenthetical or appositive (“The weather—which was unseasonably hot—oppressed them.”, “I can think of only one exception—the platypus”). Can you tell the difference? Use a true em dash, not hyphens (- or --). The hyphen is about the same length as a dash and does not have spaces on either side of it when used. Depending on the context, the em dash can take the place of commas, parentheses, or colons ⁠—in each case to slightly different effect. Using em dashes instead of parentheses puts the focus on the information between the em dashes. On a PC, you can use an Emoji keyboard or type the "Alt Code," Alt + 0151. An em dash (—) is a punctuation mark. The em-dash allows you to do this. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. If you are writing fiction or using casual language (like an email to a close colleague), em-dashes work well. I wasn’t exaggerating when I said the em-dash was versatile—it can even take the place of the semicolon. Note: The minus used here is the minus in the number pad, not the hyphen in the top row. You want to be sparing in your use of an em-dash in place of a colon, and remember that by using an em-dash instead … As an Amazon Associate and a Bookshop.org Affiliate, QDT earns from qualifying purchases. Microsoft Word shows the em dash as soon you press enter after finishing the word. It’s also important that when you set off a phrase using em-dashes that you used one em-dash immediately after the noun the phrase is describing and one immediately after the phrase. For instance, let’s say you are writing about a young pianist who mastered the works of composers known for their challenging pieces. Although most informal publications don’t use en dashes, you might see them in major newspapers, such as The New York Times , or in research periodicals. Em-dashes in Place of a Colon Just as em-dashes add emphasis when they take the place of commas or parentheses, so do they add emphasis to an already emphatic punctuation mark: the colon. As a DemandGen Production Specialist, she uses her advanced knowledge of HTML, XHTML, CSS, PHP, and MySql to build and deploy emails, landing pages, forms/smartforms, and microsites in requesters’ Eloqua and Marketo systems. Notify me of follow-up comments by email. I saw a recent article about other special characters that still cause issues, but my most recent testing showed pretty much all modern email clients rendering the emdash correctly. To indicate the author of a quotation or to add an email signature. I’ll begin with parentheses, then discuss commas, move on to a semicolon, and finally end with a colon. Em dash: Type two hyphens, and your software will likely convert them to an em dash. Em Dash vs. En Dash vs. Hyphen Unlike an em dash, an en dash has a smaller number of appropriate uses. Once again, the em-dash adds more emphasis than the traditional punctuation mark. In his time at Magoosh, he has helped students across the globe dramatically improve on these difficult tests. If it sounds odd adding special emphasis to the composers when reading the sentence aloud, then parentheses are better. For instance, we could use em dashes … Mastering the works of her favorite composers—Rachmaninoff, Brahms, and Chopin—took many diligent years of practice. It also gives a writer the opportunity to avoid “comma clutter.”. used to separate phrases—as you would use commas, parentheses, semicolons, colons, ellipses—and Dennis took his car, a tiny, two-door Honda, on a weekend road trip. The "double hyphen" is a stand-in for an em dash (—), which is a punctuation usually used for expressing a pause before a related thought. Word tries to be helpful, sometimes, by providing the correct version of the dash depending on how you type it. That is the key there­­­­­—consistent usage of the incorrect dash. For instance, in the sentence below the em-dash highlights an unusual (and unfortunate) fact about this person’s friend: Her best friend, indeed her only friend, did not even send her a birthday wish. Almost all versions of … That professional writers—mostly—know how not to overuse em-dashes might account for why we tend to overlook them. But if you are applying for a job or asking for a letter of recommendation, you want to be careful in your use of the em-dash. The em or long dash is a writer’s favorite go-to punctuation mark. As we saw with parentheses, when an em-dash replaces the commas that set off a phrase, it adds more emphasis. Your email address will not be published. Finally, level of formality is huge. (Press Ctrl+C, or Command+C on a Mac); In your Word document, place the text cursor where you'd like the dash to … Otherwise, in Microsoft Office, click Insert, then Symbol, then the em … Do not use an em dash as you would a comma. Otherwise, register and sign in. We'll help you resist. Since we don’t want to bring too much attention to this information, we keep this information in parentheses. Now, some people just don’t care about these dash conundrums and that is fine. Re: inserting an Em Dash "Word allows you to insert an em dash (a long dash) by simply typing two dashes in a row. The main use of em dashes is to set off extra information in a sentence. Standard keyboards don’t come with a key to enter an em dash, you will have to use the text program’s built-in tools or use a supported keyboard command. Please call my lawyer, Richard Smith, on Tuesday. In MS Word and Scrivener (for Windows), the keyboard shortcut is Alt + 0151 (I love keyboard shortcuts). We use em-dashes to add emphasis to the size of the car. In fact, there is no longer a hard and fast rule to dash usage. How to type an em dash Not all fonts and keyboards allow you to produce a long em dash. Word senses this as you finished the word following the dashes, and then replaces them with the em dash. Use one before the parenthetical information and one after it. Don’t replace the second em-dash (as some tend to) with a comma or semicolon. If you were wondering whether you could have used commas in place of parentheses or em-dashes in the examples above, you can. Lori Mann is an expert in web and email design and deployment. What Is an Em Dash? So enjoy your dashes and if you are one of those lax dashers that likes breaking the rules then please let your coders know so we don’t spend time correcting your style. In place of a comma in order to set aside a unique idea from the main portion of the sentence. Things have changed a lot in the last year—mainly for the better. A good rule of thumb: try not to use them more than twice per paragraph. Em dash or long dash might be a less popular dash character compared to, say, a hyphen, but when you will have to use it; you won’t find a key on your keyboard. Dennis stuffed his four best friends into his car—a tiny, two-door Honda—for a weekend road trip. Em dashes are often used to set off parenthetical information. Too many times I have seen an en dash used where an em dash should be or a hyphen used everywhere, and unlike Word which does try to be helpful and place the dashes for you HTML is not so kind. Some of its functions are redundant with colons, semicolons, and even commas, although using it in place of a comma is typically frowned upon as unnecessary. Lastly, I’ll touch on how to avoid overusing or misusing the em-dash—which can become tempting once you learn its many uses. It can add a spice—or a dash, if you will—to a sentence by adding emphasis to certain words and phrases. On Windows it's...less simple: you need to use an alt code to get an em dash. Back to Punctuation. Insert an Em or En dash using copy and paste. The em dash is the longest of all the dashes and has very particular uses. Chris Lele is the GRE and SAT Curriculum Manager (and vocabulary wizard) at Magoosh Online Test Prep. It also makes your writing look full of dashes, which can confuse the reader. Thus, an em dash in 9-point type is as long as the height of a basic letter in 9-point type. To separate a thought inserted into a sentence. This sentence could also be written with commas or parentheses. a straight, horizontal line positioned about halfway between the bottom and top of a lower-case letter. Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window), Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window), Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window). Em dashes. The Word options won’t work when you are working in HTML, and I don’t know how or if WYSIWYG editors support dashes natively, so here are the codes to use for your en dashes and em dashes. Some have even gone on to get near perfect scores. To show how to wield this handy punctuation mark, I’ll start by comparing two sentences: one that contains an em-dash (or em-dashes) and one that contains another punctuation mark. The Em Dash. Example: The gopher dashed into the office—is he lost?—and all the interns stopped to stare. Lori also helps requesters make the most of their marketing programs through sophisticated email template development, script authoring for automated form input, and rigorous quality assurance testing. Let’s cover the basics and see what each one really looks like and how it should be used. Look … © 2021 DemandGen International, Inc. All Rights Reserved. We are in a hurry. Hyphens and dashes. Parenthetical Statements. Example: That is the key there­­­­­—consistent usage of the incorrect dash. Copyright © 2021 Macmillan Publishing Group, LLC. It is typically used in the following ways. It also has several uses, which we will look at below. Notwithstanding its versatility, the em dash is best limited to two appearances per sentence. As you develop your email marketing campaign, you may wonder how to remove invalid email addresses from your list and lower your bounce rate.Hyphens, minus signs, and dashes create plenty of confusion when it comes to syntax, so this article addresses some of the grey areas to help you achieve your email marketing goals. Note that there is no space added on either side of an em dash. Multivariate testing—just one of our new Pro features—can help you grow your business. The em dash (—) sets off a word or clause and adds emphasis. For an em-dash, hold down the Alt key and type 0151, then release the Alt key. This means that as long as the incorrect dash is used consistently it is perfectly acceptable. Your email address will not be published.

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