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Subject:RE: On em dashes and other lingua interrupti From:rebecca rachmany <rebecca -at- COMMERCEMIND -dot- com> To:"'Karen Schriver'" <ks0e -at- andrew -dot- cmu -dot- edu>, TECHWR-L <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com> Date:Wed, 31 May 2000 10:26:01 +0200
I find overuse of m-dashes a common problem among beginning TWs. I simply
tell them that nothing in technical documents is exciting enough to warrant
an m-dash.
(When they get more advanced I allow them to use m-dashes again, but in
general, I find it's good practice to banish them completely.)
Rebecca Rachmany
Commercemind
PO Box 920, Kfar Saba 44109
972-9-7642000 x217
Mobile: 050-900600
rebecca -at- commercemind -dot- com
>There is a great one-page article by William Safire in this
>past Sunday's
>_New York Times Sunday Magazine_ entitled "Dash It All" (May
>28, 2000, p.
>19). It is a musing on the use of the em dash--its use,
>misuse, and abuse.
<snip>
>language. He
>also rightly points to the visual power of the em dash as a lingua
>interruptus stronger than a colon, a semi-colon or
>parentheses. If I
