by Jennie Ruby
The em dash represents an abrupt, surprise, important interruption in a sentence. Think of an em dash as a tornado warning interrupting your sitcom on TV.
The interruption is of more urgency and import than the sentence itself. The surprise thought can come at the end of the sentence, following one dash, or it can come in the middle of the sentence, surrounded by two dashes.
Here are some examples of em dashes at the end of sentences:
- The actor had a reaction to winning the Oscar–he cried.
- A blurr buzzed by my window, whizzed across the porch, and zoomed around the corner to the flower bed–it was a hummingbird.
Em dashes used this way can be seen as the equivalent of a colon introducing something:
- He wanted just one thing for his sixteenth birthday–a car.
Two em dashes set off an interruption in the middle of a sentence, like this:
- My old flame from high school–you remember, the one with a beard like ZZ Top–found me on Facebook.
- The Microsoft Word Developer tab–it only appears on the screen if you have specifically chosen the option to display it–has some convenient Macro tools.
Do not use dashes in two sentences in a row. The dashes actually draw more attention than the period at the end of a sentence, and they can distract the reader and cause misreading, like this:
- He had just one goal–learn InDesign. He had only one problem–no computer.
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About the Author: Jennie Ruby is a veteran IconLogic trainer and author with titles such as "Editing with Word 2003 and Acrobat 7" and "Editing with MS Word 2007" to her credit. Jennie specializes in electronic editing. At the American Psychological Association, she was manager of electronic publishing and manager of technical editing and journal production. Jennie has an M.A. from George Washington University and is a Certified Technical Trainer (Chauncey Group). She is a publishing professional with 20 years of experience in writing, editing and desktop publishing.