em dash becoming question mark. What is a hyphen? It is a short horizontal line (-) used as a punctuation mark. em dash becoming question mark

 
What is a hyphen? It is a short horizontal line (-) used as a punctuation markem dash becoming question mark  En dashes (–) represent a range between numbers, dates, and times

In Google docs, use insert special character. Option C is eliminated because there must be some punctuation for linking. dashes Use a true em dash inserted from the symbol menu (not one or two hyphens), and use spaces around dashes (“Jo — a Washingtonian — hates rain”). En Dash: –. (An em dash, or long dash, is used: in pairs, to mark off information or ideas that are not essential to an. 2. The em dash (—) is twice as long as the en. –8:30 p. Original text in html page Click the Edit button to change a field's label, width and type-ahead options Replace text in html page Click the Edit button to change a. Em-dashes in Place of a Semicolon. When the dash is used, the change in the thought or sentence structure should be evident and distinct. ”. Go to the system preferences and choose "Language & Text". . The question mark needs to go after Language. It is used to indicate a range of values, such as numbers, dates, and times. En and em dashes are longer than the hyphen. First, one is longer: The em dash (—) → which is like two hyphens joined together. 1. Use a dash instead of a comma when you want to strongly set off an idea. These are the em dash (—) and the en dash (–). For degrees, use a space between the en dash and the degree and the emphasis. " Wikipedia has a descent overview on dashes, especially noting the differnet ways to reflect either and em-dash or an en-dash. En dashes can be used to separate a date range or span of time. 6 Dash [UEB §7. They are usually used in two different ways. g. Any grammer Nazi's out there that have the answer, please do so ASAP. If the list follows the independent clause, it is best to use a colon instead. However, despite its flexibility, it can only be used. (An em dash, or long dash, is used: in pairs, to mark off information or ideas that are not essential to an. The en dash (–) is one-half the width of an em. It can also be used to indicate each person’s speech in a dialogue. I agree that it should try to match the size of the missing word. Notwithstanding its versatility, the em dash is best limited to two appearances per sentence. An em-dash can be used alone, as in this example from the online The Punctuation Guide: After months of deliberation, the jurors reached a unanimous verdict—guilty. Learn more about punctuation. For your example: “Well, I thought you—” He stopped himself. The space needed after these punctuation marks is proportioned automatically. –5:00 p. 2. We met during the 2011 – 2012 school year. For instance, you would render a character named Mr. The quotation marks indicating Isaac's thoughts emphasize his uncertainty about the future. Look at how the entire sentence uses different punctuation marks. ” Originally, typewriters had monospaced fonts (skinny letters and fat letters. Look at my use of em dashes in this post, aside from the previous sentence. In traditional Japanese, questions were simply punctuated with a full stop rather than a question mark. Alt codes only work on the. The employee, hoping to go home early, rushed her tasks. Em dashes can also signal an interruption or a sudden change in the direction a writer was heading with a particular sentence. I have to warn them—no, no what am I doing? An ellipses indicates omission, which is what I think you are looking for. The dash ( — ), also called the em dash, is the long horizontal bar, much longer than a hyphen. Em dashes can replace ellipses to show an abrupt break in a conversation. 2] In braille, a dash is represented by dots 6, 36 (,-). [Emphasis mine. But instead of eating the period, the em dash will completely bail when they’re about to meet up. Intuition is important to survival: studies show that instinct can beat analytical thinking in a crisis. Note: An en dash is slightly longer than a hyphen. (Check out more punctuation. In fact, there can be great confusion when incorporating dashes in reading and writing. ’ — Eleanor Roosevelt. em. 157). An em dash is longer than the en. Write with Grammarly What is an em dash? Em dashes differ from other hyphens and dashes not only in usage, which we will discuss shortly, but also in appearance. 5. ”Command for an Em dash on a mac : Shift-Option-Hyphen; Command for an Em dash on Microsoft Word : Alt + Ctrl + (minus) Em dash in HTML : — or — En Dash. Most of the time you will see a space before and after this dash. Em Dashes Besides being my favorite piece of punctuation, an em dash (—) is used to indicate a break in thought or sentence structure, to introduce a phrase added for emphasis, definition, or explanation, or to separate two clauses. The word is usually spelled ether in all main varieties of modern English. the first word of a subtitle. A colon is quieter; a dash is more emphatic and dramatic. Dashes. That should explain it. APPLICATION. (Learn more about the difference between a. ] There’s even more explanation: If the break belongs to the surrounding sentence rather than to the quoted material, the em dashes must appear outside the quotation marks. To turn smart punctuation off, all you have to do is go to Settings > General > Keyboard, and then turn off the "Smart Punctuation" toggle. Translation. &#x1F67D. 4. The dash can also be used to represent a pause, but a more. It can have a couple of uses, but it’s most commonly used in representing a range of numbers. It can separate independent clauses. The long dash is the widest of the three horizontal marks that may be used in the middle of a sentence. Em Dash (—) An em dash is one of the three kinds of dashes that functions like a comma, a colon, or parentheses in introducing a clause. Examples. 48 The En Dash, Numerals. There should be no space on either side of the dash, including when it is followed by a quotation mark. Most authorities, including The Chicago. C-----. Share. 87): English learners commonly make the mistake of using em dashes incorrectly. You create an em-dash by typing two hyphens, and most word processing programs will tie them automatically into the longer dash. Intuition is important to survival: studies show that instinct can beat analytical thinking in a crisis. Capitalization rules. That is much better than the translation witnessed in other systems, where a bullet in a bulleted list was changed to &bull. ”. , May–December or 1995–2020) or pages (e. Thus, an em dash in 9-point type is as long as the height of a. Mistakes with hyphens are very common: leaving them out when they’re needed, adding them when they’re unnecessary, or putting them. en-dash — Midsized hyphen (–) named en-dash because the dash historically is the length of a lowercase m. En dashes are incredibly useful punctuation marks, used to add extra emphasis to a sentence or statement. Don’t overthink it—let intuition guide you. NOTE: An em dash is not a hyphen. En dashes (–) represent a range between numbers, dates, and times. 4. However, they are meant to be used for different purposes: an en dash (–) is most often used to indicate ranges, while an em dash (—) is used to mark breaks within a sentence. They are named en dashes but they are as wide as the letter N. The comma is the punctuation mark most likely to cause angst. A parenthesis set off by dashes (or commas) rather than parentheses is still a parenthesis. In order to type an en dash on a Mac product, you can hold down the ‘Option’ and ‘-‘ keys simultaneously and an en dash ‘–’ should appear. They represent something. An ellipsis may be preceded or followed by other punctuation. While the em dash is used to indicate a sudden break or interruption in a sentence, the en dash is primarily used to show a range or connection between two elements. An en dash (–), the second-longest “dash,” is used to show how a range of things in writing are related to one another. Perhaps a door was closed on the speaker’s face, cutting off her sentence. A space is used before and after the en-dash when used in literary copy. Mac. FWIW, my product_codes that have a dash show as a dash (hex 2D). There are two types of dash. 87 Em dashes for sudden breaks or interruptions; 6. Note, however, that if the quoted material itself ends with a question mark or exclamation point, the. This technique is best suited for creative or informal writing. The dash kind of serves that role, because it's a very fancy actor. I think the real question is whether it's allowed. British authors often prefer to use an en-dash ( – ) with spaces on either side rather than the em. They are: the period, question mark, exclamation point, comma, colon, semicolon, dash, hyphen, brackets, braces, parentheses, apostrophe, quotation mark, and ellipsis. And an example:There are 14 punctuation marks that are used in the English language. Actual output : 1993 1995 Expected output : 1993 – 1995 I have done the UTF-8 encoding in Java but still getting the same output in the excel. Periods (), question marks, exclamation marks, and commas are used as in English. You would simply end the line of dialogue, have a sentence of narration, and then have a new line of dialogue, even if it's the same speaker continuing. Notwithstanding its versatility, the em dash is best limited to two appearances per sentence. Press the space bar. An em dash or colon is part of the same toolkit, but they serve slightly different purposes. At the risk of being pedantic, an ellipsis is a single symbol, not three dots. g. When. The 2010⁠–⁠2011 season was our best yet. When interrupters fall midsentence, always use a pair of punctuation marks to surround them. A dash is used to separate part of a sentence and indicate a break. In Unicode, the em dash is U+2014 (decimal 8212). An em dash is preferred to divide elements within a sentence and pack a punch. em-dash — Long hyphen (—) named em-dash because the dash historically is the length of a lowercase m. Fiber in the U. Microsoft Word shows the em dash as soon you press enter after finishing the. Remember to: Use a colon to emphasize dialogue, show titles and time, or introduce a list. Em dash is an impressively versatile punctuation mark that can take the place of commas, parentheses, or colons, depending on the context. In fiction, as in other kinds of writing, you'll still want to use the em dash to indicate. 2, Period, Question Mark, Exclamation Point, Question Mark, Placement], is never combined with another exclamation point, question mark, period, semicolon, colon, or comma; thus, there is no comma in the first example below. “I didn’t expect to — “An em dash or a pair of em dashes may indicate a sudden break in thought or sentence structure or an interruption in dialogue. Example. An em dash can also mark dialogue, signify an interruption, indicate a sudden break in thought, and introduce a list. The Manual of Style explains the differences between the hyphen and four types of dashes. An em dash (—) is a punctuation mark. When interrupters fall midsentence, always use a pair of punctuation marks to surround them. As such, it should not be followed by a period or question mark. First type a period (or question mark or exclamation mark) immediately after the word before the ellipsis; then type three spaced ellipsis points. By changing the console code page to something that does support the en dash character, such as 1252, this problem may be corrected. In English writing, quotation marks or inverted commas, also known informally as quotes, talking marks, speech marks, quote marks, quotemarks or speechmarks, are punctuation marks placed on either side of a word or phrase in order to identify it as a quotation, direct speech or a literal title or name. This is largely the result of the many different ways the comma is used. Think of them as shouting, speaking, and whispering. In formal writing, an em dash is the width of an m and longer than both a hyphen and an en dash. Joined: May 14, 2009. The question mark can be followed with a dash where necessary: He left—would you believe it?—immediately after the ball. Ah, the ol’ 疑問符 (ぎもんふ ) — gimonfu, a. a. The patient reported taking 15 (?) milligrams of alprazolam. Most commonly, a dash connects an independent clause with another, with a. the first word after a colon, em dash, or end punctuation in a heading. In the "Text" tab you will find the list of substitutions. In modern usage, a question mark or an exclamation point—but never a comma, a colon, or a semicolon—may precede an em dash. The en dash is approximately the length of the letter N, and the em dash the length of the letter M. Imagine someone saying the line, rather than it being inner monologue. left single quotation mark: 146 ’ right single quotation mark: 147 “ left double quotation mark: 148 ” right double quotation mark: 149 • bullet: 150 – en dash: 151 — em dash: 152 : ⃜ : small tilde: 153 ™ trade mark sign: 154 : š : Latin small letter s with caron: 155 › single right-pointing angle quotation mark: 156 : œ. ) The question mark can be used to indicate editorial uncertainty, either in parentheses or in brackets. Capitalize only the following words: the first word of the title or heading. Question Mark (?) In grammar, a question mark is a familiar punctuation used to end interrogative sentences. Comments. Em dashes are used to set off elements of text with internal punctuation, and en dashes to indicate a numerical range or hyphenate an open compound: The library is organized so that any question—whether technical, reference, or circulation—can be answered by staff. . “What space?”. Typically I replace special characters with plain text but on some occasions desire to replace them with other. Alternatively, pairs of em dashes are used to mark off additionalMy question is the same as keymap swap underscore and dash, but for Windows instead of Linux. TWO-EM DASH U+2E3A: Pd, dash Common ⸻ THREE-EM DASH U+2E3B: Pd, dash Common ⹀ DOUBLE HYPHEN U+2E40: Pd, dash Common 〜 WAVE DASH U+301C: Pd, dash Common 〰 WAVY DASH. Consider the examples below: 3. Below is a list of punctuation marks written in English; translate each term into French. When a pair of em dashes sets off material ending with an exclamation point or a question mark, the mark is placed inside the dashes. Yes, the em dash is used in formal writing. Example em dashes:Fun fact: The en dash is called the en rule in British English, and the em dash is called the em rule. ; fibre everywhere else. 4. One other exception is dialogue, where authors will. 92 Em dashes in lists, indexes, and tables;. The en-dash – so named because (you guessed it) it’s the width of the skinnier letter n – is the shorter of the two. Two hyphens typed together form a dash: (--). Write an en dash. I am thinking the product_code value may actually contain an -en-dash- or an -em-dash- or something other than 0x2D that is getting displayed correctly (somehow) with the combination of CubeCart, PHP, the web server and the web browser. The em dash is also used for denoting an incomplete speech. A. Google Docs: Type two hyphens in a row (it will become an en dash) If you’re using Microsoft Word, you can use autoformat to create an en dash. ). Examples of when to use an en dash include the following: pages 10–25. It indicates that the width of a printed matter is equal to its point size or height. It is slightly shorter in length, visually resembling a hyphen, but with different usage. Within moments of our first interaction — over. On a Windows-based system, you can form an em dash on a keyboard by holding down the Alt key and typing 0151. On Macs, the long dash symbol situation is much easier. 8. Very heavy reverse solidus. Those textual examples presented by Chicago that use dashes all use em dashes—and there is no space between the dash and the epigraph's source attribution. The correct use of dialogue tags. To create the em dash on a Macintosh-based system, hold down the Shift and Option keys and press. The em dash is perhaps the most versatile punctuation mark. Hold down the left. Actual output : 1993 1995 Expected output : 1993 – 1995 I have done the UTF-8 encoding in Java but still getting the same output in the excel. Resume the dialogue with another opening quotation mark, complete the dialogue, and end with a period and a closing quotation mark. The em-dash would indicate something like raising the eyebrows right at the end, or tilting the head down and looking up from under the. Em Dash — : ALT 0151; En Dash – : ALT 0150; Double Left Angle Quotation Mark « : ALT 0171 ; Double Right Angle Quotation Mark » : ALT 0187; Inverted Question Mark ¿ : ALT 0191; Inverted Exclamation Mark ¡ : ALT 0161; Symbol and Special Characters. 1 Answer. I tried using sharpkeys but it wouldn't let me use a chord, only single key press. No commas following the em dashes. An em dash or a pair of em dashes may indicate a sudden break in thought or sentence structure or an interruption in dialogue. ” The slash is sometimes used to convey the same meaning. To show a break in narration or conversation in place of an ellipsis. Dashes and hyphens aren’t the same thing. , I need 1 thing – money. The Oxford Learner’s Dictionary defines a dash as “the mark (—) used to separate parts of a sentence. In something called an appositive—a phrase that provides more information—you can use an em dash instead. The closest thing I could find was this: Is it acceptable to place a dash after a question mark? An em dash—or dash for short—is a straight, horizontal line positioned about halfway between the bottom and top of a lower-case letter. g. Write an em dash. -->if the information being set off is at the end of the sentence, use just one em dash. When print spacing or font types make it difficult to determine the length of the line, remember that hyphens join words and word parts together and dashes separate thoughts or ideas. For example: C++ is a rich language—one requiring extensive experience to fully understand. While the ellipsis and the dash both represent breaks in text, the dash—or more precisely, the em dash —represents an abrupt interruption. If the action is in the middle of a sentence, use em dashes outside the quotation marks. Commas allow for a smoother read than dashes, which interrupt the sentence to draw the reader’s attention. Guion Largo o Raya – Em Dash. . A hyphen is no substitute for the versatile em dash, a sentence punctuation mark some may simply call "dashes. At a fundamental level, an Em dash is used to create a strong break in the structure of a sentence. To punctuate dialogue correctly, there are a few rules you should know: The correct use of quotation marks. Punctuation marks, like words and paragraph breaks, are tools. [4] 3. For instance, you would render a character named Mr. (stenoscript) When used as punctuation, an en or em dash is doubled, like a long ⹀, to distinguish it from its phonetic use. I wasn’t exaggerating when I said the em-dash was versatile—it can even take the place of the semicolon. Mac. drutgat • 2 yr. (I usually just replace all curly single quotes with ' and all curly. Exclamation point. However, the semicolon, colon, dash, question mark, and exclamation point fall outside of the quotation marks (unless, of course, the quoted material has internal punctuation of its own). The different styles of dashes include the en dash “–”, the em dash “—”, and the horizontal bar “―”. Make sure you switch on the Num Lock from the keyboard and you type the number from the Numpad and not from the top row of the keyboard. Command (⌘) + M. The em dash, also known as the long dash or mutton dash, is a punctuation mark used in writing to indicate a pause or break in a sentence. Examples. For example, one em in an 18-point typeface equals. [4] 3. Another way to create them is to press and hold Alt and type 0151 on a Windows device or select Option, Shift, and the hyphen key ( ‐) on a Mac. However, I can't recall an em dash being used according to your first case in modern publishing. These sentences can be in the form of a direct question or an indirect question. – this would be the correct answer because the question is asked within the quotation marks so the question mark must appear here too. 8. Press the Spacebar. Like commas and parentheses, em dashes often set off descriptive or parenthetical information. m. ex. Informally, they separate comments that stray from the central idea of the sentence. It is shorter than an em-dash and longer than a hyphen. (stenoscript) When used as punctuation, an en or em dash is doubled, like a long ⹀, to distinguish it from its phonetic use. Do not put a space before or after the dash. 2 - En dashes are shorter than em dashes. Wagon and waggon are different spellings of the same word meaning, among other things, a sturdy four-wheeled vehicle for transporting things. The em dash is as wide as the letter m—about twice as wide as a hyphen. . This is also true for the dot part of the question mark, and exclamation mark. To format an em dash in Word, type two hyphens, with no spaces, between the words—the dash will automatically form as you continue typing. As noted, MS Word and other word processors substitute an em dash for two hyphens, whereas TeX uses three hyphens. An em dash is a punctuation mark used in writing to denote a break or pause. Examples. To help indicate this “cut” between the two parts, many poems use punctuation, typically an em dash (—) or an ellipsis ( . How to create en dashes and em dashes. Nevertheless, you will have to use. ” No spaces on either side of the em dash. By and large, an em dash serves to insert a break in your thought without ending your thought entirely. The shift from em dash to en dash reflects contemporary writing practice and the new focus on digital content. Modern Japanese uses the question mark in the same way English speakers do to denote a question, be it typed or handwritten. "Four!"Em Dash (—) Question Mark (?) Slash (/). Please read pages 70–77 in your text. For example: (1) Em dashes can replace colons. An em dash is a versatile punctuation mark that looks like an extended dash. An en dash is. In this century, the shorter one is preferred in all main varieties of English. CORRECT: The score right now is 3–1. In Word, you’ll hold down Shift+ Option+minus rather than the Ctrl+Alt+minus mentioned above. I went out with a guy based on his use of dashes once. If you need to indicate that someone pauses in speech, say "John paused". Enclose the first part of the dialogue in quotation marks but omit the comma. You don’t need to worry about this; both en dashes and em dashes do the same job. In Unicode, the em dash is U+2014 (decimal 8212). Breaking dialogue into multiple paragraphs. Once again, the em-dash adds more emphasis than the traditional punctuation mark. Trademark ™ : ALT 0153;There are three types of dashes in writing used to convey different ideas in an engaging way. The en dash is a symbol (–) that is slightly wider than a hyphen (-). But the most important use of dashes in dialogue is to show one speaker interrupting another. Most commonly, a dash connects an independent clause with another, with a related thought plus a conjunction like or, but, yet, as, for, and after the second dash. A hyphen (-) is a punctuation mark that’s used to join words or parts of words. Depending on the context, the em dash can take the place of commas, parentheses, or colons ⁠—in each case to slightly different effect. The Unicode standard introduced a separate character U+2015 ― HORIZONTAL BAR to be used as a quotation dash. When you type the hyphen, en dash, and em dash, no spaces should appear on either side of the punctuation mark. I'm working on being able to read transcripts of dialogue into R. It’s a long dash, the length of two connected hyphens. Dashes and hyphens. The following list shows some of the most. If you want to make your writing easier to read and generally look more professional, you should know what. Em dash—hold down the Alt key and type 0151 on the numeric keypad. The final, foolproof way to type an em dash in Word is to go to the. For example, with mo—n for 'more than', the dash is likely to be written at x-height. You can also use the Alt key in combination with a sequence of numbers of insert an em dash or en dash. When typing, a hyphen looks like this: (-). Hence, 12/5/2010 means December 5, 2010, in American usage. . I now seem to be able to do this if I type a character - any character - after the dash, then type the curly end quote mark, and then backspace. Upon firing the company’s non-salaried employees—and. Don’t use end quotes between paragraphs of speech. An em dash represents a longer pause—a bigger break—than a comma. Underscore: _. The dash works somewhat like parentheses or commas, but it is used where a stronger punctuation is needed. The exclamation point is a mark of terminal punctuation. The em dash is the chameleon of punctuation marks. It probably wouldn’t get away with trying to impersonate a question mark or an exclamation point, but it can stand in for. The en dash is less well known than. For example, don’t use a dash to begin the interrupter and a comma. nouns followed by numerals or letters. “Wait!” she shouted. One to look out for: the colon. Em-dashes in Place of a Semicolon. em. While closely related to other dashes—like the en dash (–) and hyphen (-)—the em dash serves a unique role in typography. There's no shortcut and the only way to do it on a keyboard is to type the em dash alt code (Alt + 0151) or the en dash alt code (Alt + 0150). An alternative way of displaying speech is via the em dash. Hyphens are used to create compound words like: Load-bearing; Well-loved; Great-looking; Less-commonly used punctuation marks Interrobang. a) She is wearing a new yellow dress, and looks clean and neat. On a PC, the em-dash is made by holding down the ALT key and typing 0151 on the number pad. AP style calls for a space on both sides of an em dash, but most other styles, including MLA and APA, omit the spaces. The correct use of question and exclamation marks. 1. The president’s speech both began and ended with the word “freedom. On a Mac: En dash—press option+hyphen key. Easily find character codes for the HTML # sign, HTML @ symbol (at symbol), HTML percent sign, HTML ampersand (& HTML code), HTML copyright symbol and HTML caret insertion point, along with regular punctuation like the question mark, exclamation point, non-breaking hyphen, non-breaking space and more. The em dash symbol is a single, longer horizontal line — that should not be confused for an en dash - or a hyphen. Also, "overuse of the em dash weakens the flow of material" (APA, 2020, p. In particular, do not use the colon-dash (:—) to introduce a quotation or a list. However, some style guides, such as the Associated Press. The conventions for dialogue allow a narrator to “interrupt” the speakers at any time and for any reason. An en dash is always used without any space before or after it. Dashes are generally more abrupt and can signify a rapid change of topic. In Spanish, the en-dash is not widely used although, due to English influence, its use has become rather common nowadays. Use to indicate duration or continuing or inclusive numbers such as dates, times or reference numbers, use an en-dash (a slightly. The em dash is perhaps the most versatile punctuation mark. In MS Word, enable Num Lock and press Ctrl + Minus Key. Treat etc. APPLICATION. It. The “slightly different” part is, to me, the em dash’s appeal summarized. It can be used in the middle of a sentence. Simply type a word, then space, then the. Don’t be confused: punctuation can change!) Also, em dashes don’t get along with periods at all. I've found questions asking about an em dash in quoted speech, and punctuation rules for em dashes in quotes, but this question is quite different. Note that although this answer cites only CMOS, I'm fairly confident (based on experience) that most major style. If the information in parentheses has a question mark or an exclamation mark, use the punctuation mark inside the parentheses only if the sentence ends with a different mark. Wave dash ( ~) Sorted by: 58. At the word level, hyphens differentiate parts of words to help in readability. In sentence case, lowercase most words in a title or heading. The British practice (followed in most of the world) is to put the. Use an em dash to mark sharp turns in thought. This is really useful if you're a few words over the 650 word limit and need to trim a bit. To insert an interjection in the middle of a sentence, place one em dash on both sides of the interjected phrase. g. April 5–June 4. It was originally a humorous and slightly sanitized version of the curse word, but it has become the standard form. For instance, we could use em dashes in place of commas or parentheses: One of the twins—she couldn’t tell them apart—ran to greet her. 857k 235 1581 1959. Included marks are the period, comma, semi-colon, colon, question mark, exclamation point, quotation mark, parenthesis, and dash. parentheses. , accordingly, consequently, for example, nevertheless, so, thus). In doing so, the em dash acts similarly to commas, semicolons, colons, and parentheses. you might notice em dashes and commas getting along just fine. Quotation marks may be used to indicate that the. You may see an EN dash used in the same way as the EM dash. (stenoscript) The dash may be written low, along the baseline, or high, at x-height, as convenient for whichever letters it links to. However I run into a bump with special characters like curly quotes en and em dashes etc. However, I can't recall an em dash being used according to your first case in modern publishing. AP refers to these simply as dashes and requires a space on either side. For example, “the years 2020–2022” or “the hours 9:00 a. Em dashes are rarely found in formal texts. An em dash is the width of the letter "m" in the font and type size being used, and should never be used in place of an en dash or hyphen.