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No matter how you use an em dash, whether it’s replacing other forms of punctuation, representing interruption in the text, or as part of a missing word, you do not capitalize the first letter following it. The only exception to this is if the following word is a proper noun, in which case you should capitalize them…

This has to be the most common mistake of all of them. Because so often people say that you can replace colons with em dashes, writers assume that this is the case in every situation. Unfortunately, it is not. A colon’s primary purpose is to join an independent and dependent clause together to show emphasis…

Again, the em dash (—) can sometimes be confused with the hyphen (-). We use hyphens most often for compounding words such as ‘dog-friendly’. A hyphens job in a sentence is to join two words together or a prefix to a word such as ‘co-ordinated’. Em dashes are used in place of punctuation and are never seen…

Most mistakes to do with em dashes’ are made when an individual confuses them with other punctuation. So below we’ll look at the key differences to help you avoid making similar mistakes. Em dash vs. En Dash One of the most common mix-ups between different punctuation has to be confusing the em dash and en dash.…

Windows ‘Ctrl’ + ‘Alt’ + ‘-‘ is the shortcut for the em dash on Windows. Mac ‘Command’ + ‘M’ will create an em dash on Mac. Alt/Option Codes Failing that, use the Alt or the Option button (depending on whether you have a Mac or Windows PC/Laptop) and type the following code: 0151. This should produce…

We shouldn’t use em dashes at the start of a list to replace a colon, nor in lists to replace semicolons. We should also be careful not to overuse the em dash in our writing because the other forms of punctuation listed are the standard accepted forms and should be used, mostly. If you need the reader…

As you can see from the guide so far, when using an em dash we rarely put a space before or after the punctuation unless we are using multiple em dashes together to represent an omitted word such as in the section above. Some establishments require you to write to a certain style guide which…

Whether you are intentionally omitting the word to protect somebody’s identity (such as in legal documents, for example) or you are deliberately withholding the word for another reason (such as cursing or something similar) then we use either two or three em dashes to represent that something has been omitted. You should pick one that…

We can also use em dashes’ to signal that an interruption has taken place. It might be within the scene, or within a conversation, or even within a character’s own thoughts. Whatever the case, we can use an em dash to signal interruption. Here are some examples from within a scene, a conversation, and thoughts:…

Using an Em Dash in Place of Other Punctuation Below we’ll show you just one example of each punctuation mark being replaced with an em dash so you can see how it would work. Remember though, that as with anything in writing you should always use it sparingly. The other punctuation on the list is the more…