quick questions about em dashes.

robertbevan · May 30, 2012

question 1. i've been using a double hyphen, which word autocorrects to an em dash. is that the best way to go about it, or is there an actual em dash key that i'm not seeing?

question 2A. are you supposed to put a space before the em dash, or have it come right after the last word in the interrupted dialogue?

for example:

“Get over here, you big fat pile of –“
“Hey now, no need for that.”

or...

“Get over here, you big fat pile of--“
“Hey now, no need for that.”

or am i doing something completely wrong, and that's why the quotation mark behind the em dash looks wonky?

question 2B. is the answer to 2A dependent on whether or not the sentence is being interrupted in the middle of a word?

for example:

“Get over here, you big fat pile of sh –“
“Hey now, no need for that.”

or...

“Get over here, you big fat pile of sh—“
“Hey now, no need for that.”

thank you.

alleycat · May 30, 2012

You need to turn off some of Word's autocorrect options. That will keep it from turn your double hyphens in to a dash.

I do not put a space before a dash.

Broken off dialogue is shown with a dash. --
Trailing off dialogue is shown with an ellipsis . . .

SomethingOrOther · May 30, 2012

It depends on what program you use—my word processor auto-converts double hyphens to em dashes. If yours is converting double hyphens to en dashes—or nothing—you should check its auto-replace settings.

Whether you put a space or not is up to you—I tend not to. For em dashes in quotations, follow the same spacing rule you use with em dashes outside of quotations, and keep all of the spacing consistent throughout any given work — inconsistency there can be a bit jarring. The quote mark looks wonky because word processors often screw up quote-curling around em dashes—you can fix it manually. In both cases — space or no space—it's assumed that the em dash is interrupting the word.

robertbevan · May 30, 2012

alleycat said:
You need to turn off some of Word's autocorrect options. That will keep it from turn your double hyphens in to a dash.

I do not put a space after a dash.

Broken off dialogue is shown with a dash. --
Trailing off dialogue is shown with an ellipsis . . .

thanks... but the question was whether or not to put a space before the dash.

also... do i want to turn that autocorrect option off? are two hyphens preferred to a dash?

alleycat · May 30, 2012

I meant before.

Deleted member 42 · May 30, 2012

1. For submitting, unless an editor or publisher says otherwise, please do not use an em-dash, curly quotes and apostrophes, or en-dashes. Use two hyphens for an em-dash, and a single hyphen with a leading and trailing space for an en-dash. (En-dashes are used for numeric ranges, like dates or pages, as in pp. 1–34).

2. There are two correct ways to set an em-dash; one has a leading and trailing space, and one does not. Your publisher will have a preferred style. For now, just pick one and be consistent.

3. Turn off the auto correct and substitution in Microsoft Word; it is evil in terms of correctly using curly quotes and em-dashes. Your publisher will bless you for not using them; let the typesetter do that.

Todd Young · May 30, 2012

The quote mark looks wrong because it is an opening quote (which looks like a 66) and not a closing quote (which looks like a 99).

robertbevan · May 30, 2012

Medievalist said:
1. For submitting, unless an editor or publisher says otherwise, please do not use an em-dash, curly quotes and apostrophes, or en-dashes. Use two hyphens for an em-dash, and a single hyphen with a leading and trailing space for an en-dash. (En-dashes are used for numeric ranges, like dates or pages, as in pp. 1–34).

2. There are two correct ways to set an em-dash; one has a leading and trailing space, and one does not. Your publisher will have a preferred style. For now, just pick one and be consistent.

3. Turn off the auto correct and substitution in Microsoft Word; it is evil in terms of correctly using curly quotes and em-dashes. Your publisher will bless you for not using them; let the typesetter do that.

thanks, medivalist. (and thanks everyone else as well.)

this will be a self-pubbed project, so i want to get everything right.

dpaterso · May 30, 2012

robertbevan said:
this will be a self-pubbed project, so i want to get everything right.

This fact (which should maybe have been stated up front) suggests that the correct answer to your question is your last example, using the real em-dash character:

“Get over here, you big fat pile of sh—”
“Hey now, no need for that.”

...since you're not submitting the ms. to a publisher.

And P.S. if you have to make up HTML pages, — is the code for em-dash.

-Derek

WildScribe · May 30, 2012

The publisher I work for doesn't care if you use an em dash or double dashes in subs as long as you don't use en dashes, which I used to, and I think it nearly drove my editor mad.

The finished product should have an em dash with no spaces.

Terie · May 30, 2012

Since it's a self-pubbed project you're asking about, whether to use leading and following spaces with em-dashes is up to you. Neither is wrong, just, as Medi said, be consistent.

I *think* (but am not positive) that most publishers don't use leading/following spaces. What I'd suggest is that you look at the published books on your shelves, decide which way you like it best, and do that. Consistently.

Captcha · May 31, 2012

For question 1: If you're self-publishing, you may end up converting your file to html, in which case it doesn't really matter what symbol you use to stand in for the m-dash html code, but it'll be easiest for you if you're consistent so you can do one simple search-and-replace and be done with it.

Mr Flibble · May 31, 2012

WildScribe said:
The finished product should have an em dash with no spaces.

Depends on the pub - my last one liked a--a. My current one likes a -- a

Matter of house style. But if you're consistent, you're probably cool. (although if you know the house style, or how they prefer it subbed, then obviously use that!)

quick questions about em dashes.

robertbevan

practical experience, FTW

alleycat

Still around

SomethingOrOther

-

robertbevan

practical experience, FTW

alleycat

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Deleted member 42

Todd Young

robertbevan

practical experience, FTW

dpaterso

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WildScribe

Slave to the Wordcount

Terie

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Captcha

Mr Flibble

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