![]() By signing up you agree to our terms of use Thank you for signing up! Keep an eye on your inbox. Here are some beautiful em dash examples from literature. However, even when tasked with its regular occupations-that is, sandwiching text within a sentence as an aside, adding a parenthetical of sorts, or showing a cutting off of speech-the em dash opens up countless, dazzling possibilities for constructing sentences. (Passions have always run high when it comes to punctuation issues, it would seem.) Emily Dickinson used it as a kind of dividing mark in her poetry. James Joyce used it to set off dialogue because he had a particular antipathy for quotation marks. It’s pretty much agreed that there’s not really a wrong way to use an em dash-or rather, most ways in which people are naturally inclined to use it are acceptable. Some authors have employed the em dash non-traditionally to their own tastes. So there’s no better way to celebrate this fabulous mark than by looking at how writers have used it to enhance their crafts. And of course, some of the best em dash examples exist in the world of literature. 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. The em dash, aka possibly the most adaptable and intuitive punctuation mark there is, gets a lot of love-and the occasional bit of hate. You can follow her on Twitter where she talks about food and complains a lot, or contact her at All posts by Elisabeth Cook She strongly identifies as someone who is willing to use or maybe not use the Oxford comma. She writes poetry, is working on a novel, and blogs at. It’s a small punctuation swap that makes a big difference on screen, which, when it comes down to it, is really what the em dash is all about: a small mark with a mighty impact.Elisabeth Cook lives in Wisconsin with two cats, one person and a lot of books. This mighty mark is particularly great for business owners developing website copy who want to give a little extra “punch” to their content or emphasize playful portions of a sentence. Rather than saying “Our secret family recipe makes for the best barbecue in town, and we aren’t about to spill the beans,” you can change that comma to an em dash, making the second part of the sentence so much more punchy: “Our secret family recipe makes for the best barbecue in town-and we aren’t about to spill the beans.” While your reader may not know the exact name of the punctuation mark they’re looking at, it will still work to visually break up your content and emphasize the area you want it to-regardless of the reader’s knowledge of (or lack of knowledge of) the punctuation mark itself. Great punctuation is like gravity: your reader doesn’t have to understand why it works well for it to work. Keep in mind, though, just because the em dash is a sophisticated punctuation mark doesn’t mean it’s too “highbrow” or inaccessible for the everyday reader. It indicates you’re a strong writer who has a firm grasp on punctuation-and who knows how to use it to her advantage. The em dash can take your writing from everyday “ehh” to super sophisticated. The most versatile punctuation mark there is and my go-to solution for lightening up sentences that are overladen with commas, I am a thorough believer the em dash is one of the best things to happen to the English language. If I liked sliced bread, I might even go so far as to say the em dash is the best thing since sliced bread-but, as a writer, I naturally hate clichés, and, as an Italian, I prefer my bread come in massive, unsliced, fresh-baked loaves…so we’ll scrap that one for now. ![]() To generate an em dash on a PC: hold down alt+0151 (only the numbers on the numeric keypad work for this-not the numbers above the letters on your keyboard) To generate an em dash on a Mac: option + shift + the hyphen key Then, once I’m done writing, I go back through and do a “find and replace.” You can also use the following keyboard shortcuts: If I’m working on a platform that doesn’t auto-generate an em dash, I simply use two hyphens throughout the doc (like this - ) wherever I want an em dash. iMessages and Microsoft Word both do-Google docs, though, doesn’t (at least as of yet-maybe they’ll change their minds once they read this post. PRO TIP: Not all programs automatically give you an em dash when you type two minus signs (or hyphens). ![]() To generate an em dash in Word, simply hit the minus key twice, and then hit the spacebar, and-voila!-the two dashes will turn into one long em dash. I feel like this is leading me into a “When two dashes love each other…” bit. ![]()
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