A defence of the em dash — not written by AI
Is the em dash — punctuation mark — an endangered species?
Seems the — em dash and – en dash are under attack. Those handy little marks have been dragged into the world of fraud by Large Language Model (LLM) AI.
I like them, en dashes too, and use ActiveWords to make using them easier anywhere I type:
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Em dashes (—) are punctuation marks used to indicate a change in direction mid-sentence. They often take the place of a comma or a parenthesis.
The en dash (–) is slightly wider than a hyphen (-) but narrower than an em dash (—). It is primarily used to represent a span or range of numbers (like 1–10), dates, or time
The en dash (–) is slightly wider than a hyphen (-) but narrower than an em dash (—). It is primarily used to represent a span or range of numbers (like 1–10), dates, or time
But
Em Dashes, Hyphens and Spotting AI Writing
The em dash has become a popular way to detect AI-written work. But does the approach work? I tested six AIs to find out.
Jonathan Bailey
This
Dear Harvardians — Please Save the Em Dash. | Opinion | The Harvard Crimson
The future of the em dash — and the elements of style more broadly — is in our hands. Let us be a beacon for writers everywhere and keep the shift-option-hyphen in our toolboxes.
and
You can take my em dashes from my cold, dead hands
Are em dashes really a telltale sign of AI writing?
Adam Cecil
