It wasn't long ago that the innocent em-dash was perfectly ordinary and unobtrusive ... now it's potentially embarrassing: Use one in your writing and many see it as a flashing neon sign that ChatGPT did the heavy lifting.
Give me a break. The em-dash existed long before AI learned to write LinkedIn posts about leadership. Writers have used it for centuries to create a pause, add emphasis, or slip an aside into a sentence. It's a tool, not a confession.
Could you replace an em-dash with a comma, parentheses, or a full stop? Of course. That's called having options.
The problem isn't the punctuation. It's overusing it. When every other sentence contains an em-dash, the writing starts to feel repetitive. Don't confuse an editing problem with a punctuation problem.
AI overuses certain writing habits. Humans do too. We've been producing cliches, clumsy metaphors, and painfully predictable sentences for centuries without needing a computer to help.
But before you abandon use of the em-dash, please remember that good writing isn't about avoiding everything AI might do. It's about making deliberate choices. Use the em-dash when it works. Remove it when it doesn't.
I'd rather read something with a little personality and an occasional overworked punctuation mark than prose so terrified of looking artificial that it sounds like nobody wrote it at all.
Edit your writing. Don't let internet trends do your thinking for you.
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NOTE: The 3 different horizontal punctuation marks:
- An em-dash interrupts a thought or gives it emphasis—as demonstrated here.
- An en-dash connects ranges, as in pages 12–18.
- A hyphen joins words, as in well-known.
How to type en-dash and em-dash on your MAC keyboard:
- En-dash: Option + Hyphen
- Em-dash: Shift + Option + Hyphen
How to type en-dash and em-dash on your Windows keyboard:
- En-dash: Windows Key + Hyphen
- Em-dash: Control + Alt + Minus on the numeric keypad
