Popular articles

Do you use an em dash for quotes?

Do you use an em dash for quotes?

The en dash sometimes replaces a hyphen for clarification. Use an em dash when attributing a quote.

How do you quote an em dash?

When listing the author of a quote, you’ll sometimes see an em dash before the author’s name, like this: Live long and prosper. If I were human, I believe the correct response would be “Go to hell.” In most cases, Microsoft Word automatically makes an em dash for you when you type two hyphens.

What is the meaning of em dash?

or em dash (ĕm′dăsh′) A symbol ( — ) used in writing and printing to indicate a break in thought or sentence structure, to introduce a phrase added for emphasis, definition, or explanation, or to separate two clauses.

What is an em dash used for in writing?

Em dashes are often used to set off parenthetical information. Using em dashes instead of parentheses puts the focus on the information between the em dashes. Use one before the parenthetical information and one after it. Putting spaces before and after an em dash is a matter of preference; just be consistent.

How do you quote someone?

Quoting a portion of dialogue: If you quote something a character says, use double quotation marks on the outside ends of the quotation to indicate that you are quoting a portion of the text. Use single quotation marks inside the double quotation marks to indicate that someone is speaking.

How do you quote someone in writing?

Use double quotation marks (“”) around a direct quote. A direct quote is a word- for-word report of what someone else said or wrote. You use the exact words and punctuation of the original.

What’s the difference between en and em dashes?

Dashes come in two sizes—the en dash and the em dash. The em dash ( —) is typ­i­cally about as wide as a cap­i­tal H. The en dash ( –) is about half as wide. En and em dashes are of­ten ap­prox­i­mated by typ­ing two or three hy­phens in a row ( — or — ). Don’t do that—it’s an­other type­writer habit. Use real dashes. The en dash has two uses.

Which is wider an em dash or a hyphen?

It is wider than an en dash (–) or a hyphen (-). The term “em dash” comes from the field of typography—an “em” is a width equivalent to the height of a given font. Thus, an em dash in 9-point type is as long as the height of a basic letter in 9-point type. Not all fonts and keyboards allow you to produce a long em dash.

Which is the correct way to type em dash?

An em dash is a dash that is the width of an M. How to type an em dash The hyphen, double hyphen, and minus sign have been encroaching on the territory of the em dash with increasing frequency in recent years.

Who are some famous writers who use em dashes?

A lot of writers have adapted the em dash to suit their own purposes. James Joyce—rebel that he was—used the em dash (rather than quotation marks) throughout Ulysses. Emily Dickinson used em dashes (rather than commas) in most of her poetry.