Nothing in online writing has been ruined more by AI than the em dash.

Whole debates about original authorship arise simply because a writer has used an em dash—so what’s an online writer to do?

I suggest first learning how to use the em dash correctly. This may seem obvious, but I fear that we trust our AI writers too much and simply assume that they are always using words and grammatical style correctly—which is not always the case.

I’m going to talk about four common ways em dashes are used.

📋Parenthetical Phrase

I used this type of em dash above where the phrase “which is not always the case” followed an em dash.

The phrase could also be in the middle of a sentence:

I went to the library—the one on main street—and found five new releases to read.

To test if a phrase set off by em dashes is correct, you can replace them with parentheses and it would still make sense:

I went to the library (the one on main street) and found five new releases to read.

📋An Abrupt Change in Thought

If you want a sentence to suddenly change structure or you want to “interrupt yourself” with an aside, em dashes can help you with that.

I did this in the second sentence of this article where I used an em dash to turn a declarative sentence (that would normally end with a period) into an interrogative sentence (a question).

Here is another example:

I was so taken aback—how could she end the book that way?

📋Inserting Information

This may be how I have seen em dashes used the most in my conversations with AI. The robot giving me information loves to organize by inserting a list (of three things, usually) into its response.

Here is an example I made without talking to AI:

I love all genres of books—fantasy, historical, classics, retellings—as long as they are clean and have a happy ending.

📋Cutting Off in Dialogue

Lastly, em dashes are suitable for dialogue when someone is interrupted or cut off by something else.

This is different from the ellipsis, which would represent someone leaving a sentence unfinished intentionally or because they are getting lost in thought.

Notice the difference in these two sentences:

“I just wanted to share this book—” She looked around to see that he had left the room.

“I just wanted to share this book . . .” She held out the book in her hand, wondering what he would think of the gift.

Notice how the first dialogue implies that there is more to be said. The second one implies the character has lost her nerve and can’t think of more to say.

I hope you enjoyed this little lesson and have more confidence using the em dash in your writing!

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🤖 Always written and edited without the use of AI.

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