Let’s talk about dashes.
Not the hyphen (which has its own job), but the real players:
EN DASH (–): Used for ranges like 1990–2024 or Monday–Friday.
EM DASH (—): A punctuation POWERHOUSE that adds emphasis, breaks up thoughts, and makes writing flow better. And I’ll add, has no spaces between the letters
Lately, I’ve seen people calling out others for using the em dash, claiming it’s a dead giveaway of an AI-generated post.
Seriously? The irony? The em dash has been around far longer than ChatGPT—it’s just finally getting the attention it deserves again.
As a Literary Agent, I’m all for it. Whether someone picked it up from ChatGPT or their high school English teacher, good writing is good writing.
If AI is reminding people how to use punctuation properly instead of overloading posts with ellipses (…), THAT’S NOT A BAD THING. Texting has already bastardized spelling and grammar—at least this is helping people learn again.
And those calling people out for using AI? I’ll say with confidence, they’re probably using it too—just tweaking things a little more to make it sound authentic.
P.S. Mac users, if you’re wondering how to type an em dash: OPTION + SHIFT + HYPHEN.
I looked this one up for Windows, which isn’t quite as simple: Alt key and type 0151 (em dash ) or 0150 (en dash)
Now you have no excuses!
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