Basic Guidelines For English Spellings
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An em dash, or long dash, is used:
Thousands of children—like the girl in this photograph—have been left homeless.
My son—where has he gone?—would like to meet you.
One thing’s for sure—he doesn’t want to face the truth.
Things have changed a lot in the last year—mainly for the better.
Note that there is no space added on either side of an em dash.
Em dashes are especially common in informal writing, such as personal emails or blogs, but it’s best to use them sparingly when you are writing formally.
Back to Punctuation.
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