Five-Minute Writing Tip #7: Dashing Through the Prose

I love the em-dash. I love the way it looks in text—that long, straight line punctuating our prose. It can take the place of commas, colons and parentheses. It’s more emphatic than the tiny comma, not quite as much as the emphatic colon, and, sometimes better than parentheses, which can interrupt the flow of the text. The em-dash is resourceful and multitalented. It is zealous in manner. It stands out, causing the reader to pause and pay attention to what comes next.

The em-dash is so named because the length of the dash equals the length of the letter “m.” But because of its diversity, I like to think it earned its name from its “m”ultitalented ability.

Comma alternative
Good:  Vladimir slipped away in the middle of the night, as he did during every full moon, to metamorphose into a vampire.
Better:  Vladimir slipped away in the middle of the night—as he did during every full moon—to metamorphose into a vampire.

Colon alternative
Good: When Archimedes climbed into the bathtub and noticed the water level rose, he shouted, “Eureka!” The water displacement theory was born.
Better:  When Archimedes climbed into the bathtub and noticed the water level rose, he shouted—“Eureka!” The water displacement theory was born.
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Parenthesis alternative
Good:  The last time Earl hauled his monthly accumulation of beer cans to the recycling bin (all 151), he decided to improve his health by switching to wine.
Better:  The last time Earl hauled his monthly accumulation of beer cans to the recycling bin—all 151—he decided to improve his health by switching to wine.
And now, here are a few other examples for substituting the em-dash for emphasis:
Before:  The last donut (chocolate cream) sat on the plate calling my name.
After:  The last donut—chocolate cream—sat on the plate calling my name.
Before:  The weary editor, whose eyesight was strained, had a difficult time noticing the difference between a colon and a semi-colon.
After:  The weary editor—whose eyesight was strained—had a difficult time noticing the difference between a colon and a semi-colon.