Em Dash: What Is an Em Dash?

The em dash in American English is a punctuation mark that helps to convey emphasis, introduction, interruption, or a swift change of thought. In doing so, the em dash acts similarly to commas, semicolons, colons, and parentheses.

In formal writing, an em dash is the width of an m and longer than both a hyphen and an en dash. It also has no spaces around it.

Let’s look at how we can apply the em dash in our writing.

Em Dash: Emphasis and Introduction

The em dash can add greater emphasis to a sentence element by giving it extra pause and separation where it is introduced.

Those who achieve their goals tend to share a common trait—a refusal to give up.

The handicap that had been his obstacle for so long—a prosthetic left foot—became the reason for his triumph in the end.

Speed, strength, smarts, agility—Shania’s athletic assets make her a great competitor.

Em Dash: Interruption

The em dash lets us interrupt a sentence with other thoughts or information without notably slowing the sentence:

Dad was relaxing—well, sleeping, actually—throughout the ball game.

In this way, the em dashes resemble parentheses, but their tone and effect in the sentence are subtly different. Consider how the sentence would read if we used parentheses to express the same thing:

Dad was relaxing (well, sleeping, actually) throughout the ball game.

Both the em dash and the parentheses formats are acceptable, but the em dash offers extra movement in sentence flow if that is the desired effect of the interruption.

Em Dash: Swift Change of Thought

Sometimes we may write as we think or speak: in other words, in a nonlinear way. We might start with one thought and abruptly shift to another. In writing, the em dash allows us to express such rapid changes:

I just wanted to say—oh, it’s nothing.

Em Dash: Other Uses

The em dash can be used for the following functions as well.

Separate appositives that contain commas: Randy can throw a range of breaking pitches—a slider, a curveball, and a screwball. (Compare to Randy can throw a range of breaking pitches, a slider, a curveball, and a screwball.)

Separate a nonrestrictive relative clause within a main clause: Martin—who has served as facilities manager, customer service manager, employee trainer, and floor clerk—was recently promoted to vice president of operations. (Compare to Martin, who has served as facilities manager, customer service manager, employee trainer, and floor clerk, was recently promoted to vice president of operations.)

Introduce words, phrases, or statements that include expressions such as that is, namely, e.g., or i.e.: Roland tends to notice those who go above and beyond their duties—i.e., those who pay attention to details even when they’re not being supervised.

Connect sentences as a semicolon would: Colleen wants to be a classical musician—she currently studies the cello.

Em Dash: How to Make One

You can enter an em dash into your document on a PC in a few different ways.

Hold down the ALT key and type 0151 at the same time.

Hold down CTRL, ALT, Num Lock, and the hyphen symbol (-) together.

Type a word, type two hyphens in a row, and continue typing (no spaces before or after the hyphens).

Go to the Insert menu at the top of your file, click on Symbol, and locate the em dash in the font you are using; then click Insert.

If you use a Mac, hold down the Shift and Option keys and type the minus sign located at the top of the keyboard. You can also press the Hyphen key twice and press Space.

Related Topics

En Dash: What Is an En Dash?
Dashes
Dashes vs. Hyphens

Pop Quiz

Now that you further understand what an em dash is, determine how you could use it in the following sentences.

1. Jeanette is kind, polite, and smart, all wonderful qualities.

2. You bring the tacos; I’ll bring the rice.

3. But yesterday you said…oh, never mind.

4. Right now Brian is doing twelve-ounce curls, his favorite exercise, out on the patio.

5. Fire, wind, rain, snow: none of it would have mattered to Cassie as she ran.

 

Pop Quiz Answers

1. Jeanette is kind, polite, and smart—all wonderful qualities.

2. You bring the tacos—I’ll bring the rice.

3. But yesterday you said—oh, never mind.

4. Right now Brian is doing twelve-ounce curls—his favorite exercise—out on the patio.

5. Fire, wind, rain, snow—none of it would have mattered to Cassie as she ran.

If the article or the existing discussions do not address a thought or question you have on the subject, please use the "Comment" box at the bottom of this page.