9/10/2023 0 Comments Em dash examples![]() ![]() ![]() All at once Clara-can she have been out of her mind?-hauled off and socked Joe in the nose.And never use an Em Dash with a colon, or a semicolon, and rarely with a period except in endnotes/footnotes/editor’s notes. We may use an Em Dash with a question mark or an exclamation point, but never a comma (except in dialogue, see #5). “What the hell were you thinking? You might what? Go to-,” Joe said, but Clara slammed the door in his face.Ħ. If we used an Em Dash at the end of dialogue to show interruption, we should use a comma inside the quotation marks before the words that identify the speaker. Will he-can he-really leave without me? Clara wondered.ĥ. “Someday she’s going to need me and,”-his voice turned icy-”I’ll be gone.” Joe’s dialogue, trails off, so we use an ellipsis. ( Notice in Clara’s dialogue we use an Em Dash because her dialogue is interrupted. “What the hell were you thinking? You might what…” Joe tried to control his anger and paced in front of the kitchen table. Until we are told that they too have been run out of town and have joined up with Butch Colon and the Sundance Semicolon. Avoid colons and semicolons except … which clarifies absolutely nothing. In the same way I’d never suggest that a punctuation mark doesn’t have its uses. I’d never tell anyone to always cut out the use of a particular word-for example, don’t eliminate all uses of the word that some are necessary. To deny yourself the use of any punctuation mark is to cut yourself off from an option that might serve your sentence, your scene, or your story. Punctuation is used for clarity, for emphasis, for rhythm. I found this quote to be great advice, so I wanted to share it with you. And plenty of noted and famous authors use colons and semicolons. ![]() Stephen Carlick The ExceptionĪs with anything-especially writing fiction-there are exception. Cormac McCarthy joined the pile-on in the 21st Century by dismissing them as “idiocy”. By the mid-19th Century, Edgar Allan Poe was already calling for the dash to dethrone it in the 20th, Gertrude Stein found them showy, while George Orwell unkindly referred to them as “an unnecessary stop”. Yet, long before Vonnegut saw to its modern humiliation, the semi-colon had scores of detractors. behlerblog (I thought this was good advice, however, this website no longer exists.) Colons and semicolons are about brevity, and they interfere with the natural flow of fiction. All they do is show you’ve been to college.― Kurt Vonnegut, A Man Without a Country.Ĭolons and semicolons have no place on your pages unless absolutely necessary. They are transvestite hermaphrodites representing absolutely nothing. Marcy Kennedy Grammar For Fiction Writers. There’s a running joke in the fiction world that you only get one semicolon per career, so you need to use it wisely. Just look at the following: (Dare I use a colon here?) (And I should know, it’s happened to me…a lot.) Oh, you didn’t know they outlawed colons and semicolons in fiction? Yes, newbies will get their knuckles severely rapped if we use these hooligans. I have a sneaky suspicion-nothing concrete-that the use of Em Dashes became a favorite among writers when writers, editors, and publishers outlawed colons and semicolons. Em dashes are sometimes used to set off summaries, lists, or definitions.It can show an abrupt change in thought or be used where a full stop (period) is too strong and a comma too weak.Using an en dash for this phrase may better clarify the intent for readers over using a hyphen.The Em dash is used to replace a comma, a colon or a set of parentheses. However, consider the open compound expression apple orchard scented candle. Some writers and publishers prefer using an en dash for these situations, but a hyphen would work as well. New York and Charles Dickens are called open compounds in these cases because we would not normally hyphenate them. We expect 300–325 people at the reception.Įn dashes also can be used to punctuate open compound adjectives like New York based artist or Charles Dickens inspired writer. The student council will meet Thursday, 3:15–3:45 p.m.ĭuring the years 1999–2016, Joshua lived in Fargo, North Dakota. Like hyphens, they can be used for number ranges (see Rule 6 of Hyphens Between Words). Some writers and publishers prefer spaces around dashes.Įxample: Joe - and his trusty mutt - was always welcome.Įn dashes are shorter than em dashes and longer than hyphens. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |