One of my favorite punctuation marks—the em dash—(see what I did there?) is under siege. I’ve made liberal use of the em dash in all five of my novels, deploying it early and often in my writing style:
STASH (page 1): “But she reminded herself that Nora was only seven, a loving, intelligent girl, tall and strong and for the most part capable, yet fearful of small things going wrong—such as dropping a tray of cupcakes.”
CLEAN BREAK (page 4): “Her friends from around the corner—Emery and Stephen Weber—were helping, Emery having volunteered her husband, along with his pickup truck.”
THE CULLING (page 4): “During business hours people who worked for companies that occupied more than one floor used the stairs, but at night, and especially on Lottery nights, Maren had the stairs to herself, and she could run and pant and grunt with abandon—and almost, but not quite, forget.”
IN FLIGHT (page 1): “He probably wouldn’t feel a thing—if that were any consolation.”
THE SUITOR (page 2): “Now there’s an internship lined up at the appellate court for Anna—if she wants it.”
This bit on the em dash from Tech Radar:
The em dash—that long, handsome horizontal line—is incredibly flexible, which is why many people feel anxious about employing it. It can replace commas, parentheses, colons, and ellipses and serve as a stylistic flourish for any kind of writing. It’s been popular with everyone from Ernest Hemingway and Emily Dickinson to James Joyce and Stephen King. However, it’s now seen as the calling card for AI writing.
In fact, when em dashes appear, AI writing is now a primary suspect. This is very upsetting to me. I asked Chat GPT: Why do you use so many em dashes?
Its answer:
Great question! I tend to use the em dash (—) often because it’s a flexible punctuation mark that helps with:
- Adding emphasis or interruption: It’s useful when a thought shifts mid-sentence or when something needs to stand out — like an aside or clarification.
- Creating rhythm: Em dashes can break up longer sentences in a way that feels more conversational and dynamic than commas or parentheses.
- Avoiding comma clutter: In complex sentences, dashes can prevent too many commas from piling up, which makes things easier to read.
That said, I can adjust my style to use fewer em dashes if you prefer a different tone — just let me know your preference.
Fine, but I don’t have any preferences regarding how AI uses em dashes, because I don’t copy and paste from AI and call it my own work. But apparently, many people do, and for experienced teachers, editors, and writers, it’s easy for us to sniff out AI writing, with the elegant em dash being one of the red flags.
Of course, now that the AI em dash bruhaha is getting media attention, clever cheaters will simply instruct Chat GPT or other AI tools to do exactly as it recommends to me—adjust its style to use fewer em dashes.
It’s sad, really, that the brand essence of one of my favorite punctuation marks is getting a tarnished reputation. But I’m not giving in. I’m still using the em dash as often as I like—and there’s nothing anyone can do about it. I doubt anyone will see my writing as AI-generated.
But I’m warning AI writing tools: you’d better not start getting frisky with the seldom-used, but oh so subtle and sophisticated semi-colon that I also appreciate; do that, and it’s war.
