How To Use Em Dashes
Main em dash takeaways.
How to use em dashes. There are three forms of dashes. The most common types of dashes are the en dash and the em dash. Em dashes in place of parentheses. If you are on mac below is a shortcut to help you type the em dash sign in word. Use one before the parenthetical information and one after it.
Em dash shortcut 3 mac. Does your sentence contain a list that is introduced by a pause in the middle if so you can use either an em dash or a colon the colon is more formal. Em en and the double hyphen. Dashes are considered less formal than parentheses. Putting spaces before and after an em dash is a matter of preference.
They are much wider than en dashes and are also called long dashes. Type em dashes by pressing alt 0151 for windows or shift option minus for mac. Although many people call the hyphen a dash dash refers to another group of horizontal lines in text. Most commonly a dash connects an independent clause with another with a related thought plus a conjunction like or but yet as for and after the second dash. Using em dashes instead of parentheses puts the focus on the information between the em dashes.
Although colons and commas can serve the same function em dashes create a more dramatic effect. The above shortcuts are all valid ways you can use to type the em dash in word. Em dashes are often used to set off parenthetical information. There are three types of dashes the em dash the en dash and the hyphen. A good way to remember the difference between these two dashes is to visualize the en dash as the length of.
If you want to draw attention to the parenthetical content use dashes. Em dashes so called because they are at least historically the width of the character m are used for emphasis or interruption. The weary traveler forgot something in the airport bathroom her plane ticket. Use an em dash to join independent clauses. They can be used on their own or in pairs to offset a word or phrase.