em dashes
Parenthetical pause marks
An em dash is a punctuation mark the width of a capital M, longer than a hyphen or en dash.
Em dashes set off parenthetical material with more emphasis than commas or parentheses: The answer—if there was one—eluded him.
They can also introduce an explanation or afterthought: She had one goal—escape.
Some style guides require spaces around em dashes; others forbid them.
- hyphenMark joining compound words
- pausingStopping briefly mid-action
- punctuationWritten clarity symbols
- appositionAdjacent nouns, one explaining
- interruptionBreak in continuity
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