By Colons, Accents

This use of the m-dash is somewhat a personal idiosyncrasy, I suppose, but not unprecedented. It serves mostly to replace a colon, and I find that it makes a clearer visual relationship between what precedes and what follows it. I may be wrong, but it is my habit. I would not use it in formal...

Hi Mr. Micawber, I remember reading this in my writing handbook. Does this distinction still exist? Here it is: When do you use dashes? "To join a phrase to the end of a sentence. The phrase might clip on an example, illustration, or summary. Or it might add a surprise, a contradiction,...

This use of the m-dash is somewhat a personal idiosyncrasy, I suppose, but not unprecedented. It serves mostly to replace a colon, and I find that it makes a clearer visual relationship between what precedes and what follows it. I may be wrong, but it is my habit. I would not use it in formal...