![]() ![]() Two sentences that stand on their own deserve their own endings - just use a period. While writing with too many em dashes is a common affectation - it’s easy to fix. If you’re using Microsoft Word, you can lay down an em dash with two hyphens in a row - the software changes them into a dash automatically, but that doesn’t make it any easier to read. And putting speed bumps in the reader’s way interrupts the fluid experience of reading - which you may think of as “flow.” It - to be perfectly frank - doesn’t have the desired effect. The em dash is the sophisticate’s way to ramble aimlessly - where the novice just uses an ellipsis (.), the “writer” says, “Ah, I’ll use an em dash.” We used to write sentences, end them, and write other sentences - but now sometimes we just trail off - and other times we just string phrases together - and it’s all just - I don’t know - stream of consciousness, man. I blame the Internet - why not blame it for everything, I say. ![]() It makes your prose look as if it has the measles - and makes it read as if you’re on a train that stopping and starting with a jerk every few seconds. It’s a modern - as well as ancient - habit. People - and by people I mean writers of all kinds - just can’t finish a thought without interrupting themselves. What - in the name of all that is holy - accounts for the popularity of this mark? (If you listen closely, you can hear me mutter, “Why, I oughta -”) Writers with sophisticated - and complex - thinking just seem to have a lot of connected things to say - the em dash allows them to connect those thoughts without working too hard on what the connection actually is. ![]() So many manuscripts I edit suffer from inflammation of the em dash - it’s rampant - as if these little buggers multiply like cockroaches. Unless - and I admit this is possible - you’re trying to annoy the reader, try not to fall in love - or even in like - with the em dash. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |