The Controversial Em Dash

What it is, how to use it, and why you can tell jerks on the internet to STFU about it already.

Photo by 4motions Werbeagentur on Unsplash

If you don’t know what an em dash is, it means you’ve been blissfully isolated from the obnoxious conversations about whether the presence of one means a text has been written by AI. Congratulations! And apologies for what follows. As stupid as this sounds, it’s become a thing in our current literary discourse. Like those who once believed birthmarks were the sign of Satan, serious people now believe that the presence of em dashes in the written word indicates the work of LLMs. Or, maybe they just don’t realize that writers have been using them since the fifteenth century. Shakespeare was a big fan.

But society seems incapable of functioning without a witch or scapegoat to hunt. This latest mania, now that enthusiasm for the conquest of -isms has somewhat faded, is detecting traces of AI in every text we read. One of the weirdest forms this pursuit has taken is the persecution of the em dash. Does AI sprinkle a generous dose of em dashes throughout its generated texts? I suppose it does (I happen to think it’s far more profuse with the smarmy sales-speak and bullet points, but maybe that’s me). And while I sympathize with the concern—I’m not a great fan of AI generally—I’m extremely wary of people who feel compelled to scour others’ writing for heresies. Just as writers self-censored during the last decade or more of word-shaming and thought-policing, the risk now is that many will never fully explore the basic tools of style, grammar, and rhetoric for fear their writing will be branded as fake amid this latest hysteria.

This is a tragedy. These tools belong to us—not activists, ideologues, corporations, or computers. Writers get to decide how to deploy our tools in expressing ourselves. Machines and their programmers don’t get the final say. And neither do the nitpickers and punctuation police. It’s honestly shocking to me how freely so many so-called artists are willing to relinquish control over their minds and creativity at the first hint of friction.

But, we can take all those tools back: we just have to use them. Maybe you’ve been using em dashes all along and never gave it much thought. Maybe you’ve seen them in writing and never tried them yourself because you weren’t quite sure how they worked. Maybe you trusted that an editor would sort that stuff out for you in the finished product. Or maybe, like the internet naysayers, you think they’re an arcane character no real human uses naturally in their own prose, like semicolons and colons. I’ve read those ridiculous articles too, about how certain types of punctuation are uncool, ugly, or academic and have no place in fiction. Or how trendy writers don’t even use punctuation anymore, man. It’s passé. Seriously? I’m here to tell you that’s all bullshit. Deliberately limiting your punctuation or word choices while writing is like rowing a boat with one arm tied behind your back. What are you trying to prove? That you hate your readers? Message received.

A carpenter wouldn’t build a house without all his tools. Why would you try to write without employing everything in the writer’s toolbox?

---

Photo by Brett Jordan on Unsplash

So, what is an em dash anyway?

It’s called an em dash because in printing, the character was traditionally the same width as an uppercase letter “M” (—). Modern and digital typefaces aren’t always exacting about this, but side by side, you can see they’re pretty close.

The en dash is supposed to be the same width as the uppercase letter “N” (–). We’ll talk a little about the difference between these and how they’re deployed.

Unlike a standard hyphen (-), they serve very different functions in writing, though many writers neglect to differentiate between them or use them interchangeably.

Here they are in descending order:

Em, en, hyphen

— – -

There is actually a separate character for the minus sign (most of us casually use a hyphen or en dash here), and when creating text with lots of equations, it’s recommended to use the correct Unicode character for this. I don’t generally deal with equations because I suck at math, so I’m not going to get into minus signs, but if you have questions, send me a message or leave a comment, and I’ll see if I can help!

---

Photo by Tim Mossholder on Unsplash

What the em dash is not:

A hyphen

Hyphens are pretty familiar to most writers, so I’ll only touch on them briefly. Hyphens help split words across lines for formatting reasons (as in, breaking a word between syllables) and also join words and phrases more closely for semantic reasons. There is a dark art to hyphenating things like phrasal adjectives (book-length, passive-aggressive), noun compounds (mother-in-law, know-it-all, editor-in-chief, tug-of-war), and other grammatical elements. This topic could be its own post, so I’ll leave that discussion for another day.

Many writers will be familiar with these conventions even if they aren’t familiar with their grammatical rules or terms and use them pretty naturally in everyday writing. Most of it is a matter of feel and familiarity, but a few rules of thumb apply. Adverbs ending in “ly” are never part of a closed compound, so you don’t want to hyphenate them with another word:

No: poorly-fitted

Yes: poorly fitted

When in doubt, check the dictionary to see if a compound is open, closed, or hyphenated and, above all, be consistent in a manuscript.

Hyphens also separate non-inclusive numbers, such as phone numbers, Social Security numbers, and ISBNs. So, a hyphen can be used between numbers as a separator if you’re not trying to indicate a range from X to Y. It can also be used the same way for letters, as in spelling out a word, indicating faltering speech (“W-why not?”), or giving a string of characters, like a password. Otherwise, you’d use the:

Photo by Ana Petrenko on Unsplash

En dash

The en dash connects numbers or, occasionally, words. It can replace “to” or “through” to indicate a range. It is used with inclusive numbers, such as dates, times, and page numbers, to show continuity. A similar concept applies for words.

January–February

1756–1829

Miller, 196–208

6:30–9:30 a.m.

New York–Boston

Because it’s implied, you don’t need “from” or “between” in front of it, but if you want the sentence to flow like that, you’re better off spelling things out with “to” or “through” in between:

Rehearsals run 6:30–9:30 a.m. on Tuesdays.

Rehearsals run from 6:30 to 9:30 a.m. on Tuesdays.

While many people just use the hyphen in these situations, it’s correct to use the en dash here. It’s easy to type on your Mac keyboard once you know the shortcut.

Mac:

• Option + hyphen

It’s more involved on Windows (shakes fist at computer gods), which is probably a big reason fewer people use it or leave it for an editor to sort out. In a pinch, you can cheat and find one online, then copy and paste it into your doc.

Windows:

• Alt + 0150 (with numeric keypad)

To complicate matters further, an en dash can indicate a connection spanning more than two words. The idea is that when a hyphenated word joins an existing open compound (an unhyphenated set of linked words), the word requires a super-hyphen so readers understand it refers to all the words in the compound, not just the first one (e.g., post–World War II, where “World War II” is the open [unhyphenated] compound and “post” is the part requiring hyphenation). However, this one of those nitpicky things that most readers probably don’t even notice or care about. Would you ever look at the phrase above and think: I wonder if the writer means “post-World” or “post-World War II”? Hmm, let me check what type of dash he used to clear things up! I’m willing to bet nobody has ever done this. If you genuinely feel as if the hybrid compound you’re creating is going to cause this kind of confusion, abort the mission and either ditch the dash or rewrite the sentence.

There are a few more details surrounding this odd little piece of punctuation, but they rarely come up in regular writing. These are the main uses you’ll see and need. LMK if you have any questions so far!

---

I opened to a random page in the book I’m currently (re)reading and it had four em dashes in the first paragraph. These are definitely not a fad of the current age or AI. (The Destiny of the Warrior, Georges Dumézil, University of Chicago, 1970.)

So, that leaves the “controversial” em (—) dash.

First, making an em dash is super easy:

Mac:

• Shift + option + hyphen

Windows:

• Win + Shift + Hyphen

And most programs and platforms now automatically convert a double hyphen (--) into an em dash. So people acting like there’s some arcane alchemy involved in using them are being disingenuous dicks. Unlike in the days of typewriters, em dashes basically make themselves now.¹

Style Note: British style uses an en dash with spaces, like so – where American publications typically prefer em dashes. However, it’s common in journalistic publications like newspapers and magazines to see the em dash flanked by spaces on either side, and many editing programs will insert these automatically — like so. Of the major style guides, only AP calls for these spaces; Chicago, MLA, and APA recommend no space between dash and text—like so, and this is the format preferred for books and many journals. Choose the style most appropriate to your work and target audience.

---

How it’s used:

You’ll mainly see an em dash (henceforth “dash”) used as an alternative to parentheses, commas, and colons. According to the Chicago Manual of Style (CMOS), these versatile dashes “are used to set off an amplifying or explanatory element . . . especially when an abrupt break in thought is called for” (6.85).

To set off a defining phrase or list:

The bookstore specialized in fiction genres—science fiction, fantasy, and horror—popular among the neighborhood’s younger demographic.

As an alternative to a colon or semicolon when the final clause serves as a summary:

To make room on the shelves for new releases, the bookshop planned a clearance sale of unsold books—everything must go!

As a summary after a series of words or phrases:

Thoroughbred, Quarter Horse, Appaloosa, Arabian, Trakehner, and Percheron—the diversity of horse breeds competing in the same class was a sight to behold.

Between noun and pronoun

Another weirdly specific, and somewhat tricky, instance of dash usage is between a noun and a pronoun when the writer wants to set off the noun (or a series of nouns) in a definitional way from the main clause.

Alcohol—that was the only thing that made the dating scene bearable.

Jealousy, resentment, and wounded pride—those were the forces driving the divorce.

---

Additional Uses:

Interruptions

You’ll probably also be familiar with its use to indicate sudden breaks or interruptions, particularly in speech and dialogue:

“After everything that’s happened,” she began, “I thought you would—”

“Would what?” he asked.

“Name your cockatoo after me.”

The dash, like the hyphen, should ideally not break over the line if it can be helped (i.e., it should stay at the end of the line and not jump to the start of the next line). This is especially true when accompanied by a quotation mark. It can’t always be helped in digital formats.

“After everything that’s happened,” she began to cry, “I thought you would—”

Awkward.

---

“For Example”

Chicago prefers the spelled-out phrases “for example,” “namely,” and “that is” to be preceded by an em dash (the abbreviations [e.g. and i.e.] are enclosed in parentheses in formal writing). A semicolon is also acceptable. Otherwise, the entire phrase can be enclosed in parentheses (6.51). Confused yet? Perfect. But it’s all good. This is what the dash might look like:

Single dash

The bookshop sells several fiction genres—for example, contemporary, speculative, historical, and romance.

Or

Dashes acting like parentheses

Several fiction genres—for example, contemporary, speculative, historical, and romance—are sold in the bookshop.

Or

Parentheses

Several fiction genres (for example, contemporary, speculative, historical, and romance) are sold in the bookshop.

Or if you must:

Semicolon

The bookshop sells several fiction genres; for example, contemporary, speculative, historical, and romance.

---

Bullets

The dash can also be used in place of bullets in a list:

—Duct tape
—Rubber Gloves
—Tarp
—Bleach
—Garbage Bags
—Saw
—Shovel
—Margarita Mix

---

Missing Words & Dialogue

And a double dash can indicate missing words or parts of words (sometimes a triple dash is used for whole words):

—I told him to go —— himself.

—Why?

—Because he’s a selfish d——head.

(based on a true story)

You’ll notice the first double dash is surrounded by spaces. This indicates that the entire word is missing. The second one connects to the letters, indicating that only some letters are missing.

You’ll also notice that dashes precede these little snippets of dialogue. This is another use of the em dash. It can replace quotation marks when indicating dialogue.

---

Attributions

A dash often precedes an author or source name in a quote—like an epigraph, extract, or blurb. The attribution can be right after the quote or on the next line.

“Easy reading is damn hard writing.” ―Nathaniel Hawthorne (a quote found on the internet, so probably misattributed)

---

What to do about punctuation.

A question mark, exclamation point, or period can precede a dash only if it’s part of an abbreviation. So, if dashes bracket your phrase and it needs clarifying punctuation, it’s fine, but keep it inside the dashes. You can also use parentheses inside dashes and dashes inside parentheses, but don’t let the latter touch—that would be weird.

—words (words)—

(words—words)

After her favorite smoothie shop closed, Maya struggled—how could she not?—to get out of bed in the morning.

Punctuation is trickier after a dash. Quotation marks are ok, as we saw above. Commas and periods are eliminated. The dash does the work of ending the clause that other punctuation would do, so there’s no need to add any more.

---

Photo by Daniel Romero on Unsplash

Conclusions

Those are the basic points. There are deeper dives, but most people will never use them in their regular writing. However, I hope you can see from these few quick examples that the em dash is a perfectly normal, versatile, and useful piece of punctuation that writers use every day for a host of reasons. Though it’s used in formal writing all the time, it’s often seen as more flexible than parentheses and colons, and therefore can be more inviting—and more foolproof. It allows more leeway in a sentence where the clause being set off may not integrate seamlessly, as it must when using commas, but still forms an integral part of the sentence. It allows the rhythm of a sentence to ebb and flow without the full stop of a period, while signaling that the gears might be shifting, but the idea still has road to travel. It’s hard to imagine what other punctuation one might use except the em dash in these circumstances.

But do you really need to fuss over all these details?

Maybe not. Rules don’t need to be applied stringently in every kind of writing, and if all of this gives you a headache and makes you not want to write, ignore it. Let the grammar scolds fuss over the details, and if someone is going to stop reading your work because you used a hyphen instead of an en dash or overdid it with the em dashes, let them. Who needs readers like that?

But I believe it’s good to understand how and why these things are used and experiment with them, even if it’s not something you worry about every time you sit down to write an email, essay, or whatever. A lot of us handle our own publishing now, and it’s wise to be aware of correct usage so that, at publication time, we can make sure our work looks professional, even if we’re not the ones managing the editing or design. But for everyday writing, no one really minds, and the people who do mind really don’t matter. If they’re policing others’ punctuation that minutely, they’re jerks—especially when the writing’s free.

Will you look like a fraud if you use em dashes?

The fact that AI has also extracted the em dash’s benefits from the writing it’s been trained on should never discourage its use. It just shows that its value has long been recognized by writers. The tricks “learned” by AI have been incorporated into its repertoire because they’re effective rhetorical, grammatical, and style practices. And sure, some may be overused, but that’s because they’re sound writing techniques that writers have been employing to great effect in the places most likely to be scraped by AI in the first place. That shouldn’t prevent real writers from including these practices and techniques in their work—quite the opposite. Writers are the true owners of these techniques which are the tools of our trade. Why let AI monopolize them?

Yes, it’s important to develop our own human voices—to remain human in a world expanding its digital footprint into our most intimate and creative spaces. The response to AI is not to relinquish our core skills and dumb ourselves down, but to reclaim our essential art forms and create them as only humans can—with nuance, feeling, and originality. We should learn these rules, master them, and even break them as needed, but only for worthwhile reasons. Fear of the AI witch hunt is a foolish and cowardly reason. After the last decade or so, haven’t writers surrendered enough? What did it get us?

As an editor, I find it absurd to see writers celebrate their typos or their ignorance of characters like em dashes as a victory over AI. Victory over AI doesn’t take the form of deliberately debased writing but of refusing to allow machines to dictate how humans create or consume art in the first place. We fail at that when we let machines—or the corporations that own them—set the terms for us.

My hope is that you go out there, say what you mean, in the way you mean to say it, and be your eccentric, unique self. Use all the traditional language tools at your disposal and use them well. And tell anyone who doesn’t like it to STFU.

---

1. I watched a “spot the AI user” tutorial someone linked to (spoiler alert: it’s the em dashes, silly!). It featured a punchable little dweeb on YouTube smugly saying, “I bet you don’t even know the keyboard shortcut to type an em dash!” As if: 1) he were the only person alive in possession of this mysterious, sacred knowledge, 2) it’s not readily available on your computer and the internet (no one is hiding this info), and 3) it were incontrovertible proof that every instance of an em dash in existence not conjured by his wizardly fingers is an AI creation. I’ve known the shortcut for over twenty years—probably longer than he’s been walking—but even if I didn’t, the average writer rarely needs it because Word autocorrects double hyphens to dashes, as do most online platforms. I won’t link to his video because he doesn’t deserve the views.