In case you’re not familiar with this favorite of fiction writers, the em dash, often written as two dashes side by side, is used to highlight parenthetical information, as I did in this sentence, or to indicate an interruption. —
Than? Mommy is writing. No, you can’t have any more ice cream.
The em dash also indicates a change or break in the character’s thinking or speech, like my break above. Another overuse of favorite punctuation authors is the ellipsis (three periods in a row), often “used to suggest hesitant or fragmented speech accompanied by confusion or insecurity” (Chicago Manual of Style, 15th edition, p. 457). Em dashes differ from ellipses in that they indicate “abrupt interruptions or changes in thought” (ibid.).
Does your writing suffer from too many of these text links? Careless authors often use them in place of a comma which would have been a comma splice, joining two independent clauses. How to solve the loss or excessive use?
It takes a step away from work. Open “search” (CTRL+F in Word), type an em hyphen (keyboard shortcut ^+), and use “highlight” to turn them dark blue, an erased square in the text.
Do this and then read the individual sentences that used to have a hyphen but now have a dark spot instead. You can leave any em dash paired with information in parentheses or any that ends a sentence with an interrupted thought or quote.
For everyone else: How would you rate it if you couldn’t use your favorite em dash? Are they two separate and complete sentences? Why not break them? Would a comma suffice (remember to check dependent vs. independent clauses – this could lead to comma splices)? How about a semicolon?
Damn misleading, the semicolon. If they talk, it is better to avoid them; but used appropriately in narrative, they take the place of a conjunction to join two independent clauses. You can also use them before together to highlight an independent clause that has internal punctuation, as I did in the previous sentence.
The same erasing technique can also be used for ellipses. Remember, special punctuation marks lose their effectiveness when overused.
Happy wedding!
