Em dashes, en dashes, spaces?
As long as I'm talking em dashes, what's the deal with spaces? I thought unspaced em dashes were the rule, but my ailing knowledge is based on studying the Chicago Manual of Style about 18 years ago. I've seen people mention you can use en dashes with spaces as a substitute for an unspaced em dash. Is that true? I kinda like the look of spaces better.
So I asked Gemini for an answer. (Yeah yeah, I know.) Do any style guides let you to substitute a spaced en dash for an em dash? Here's what it said, edited for brevity:
- British English Style: Many UK style guides, including the Oxford Style Manual and others, prefer the spaced en dash ( – ) for the functions that an em dash (—) serves in American English. This is arguably the most common and accepted use of the spaced en dash as a substitute. Â
- Associated Press (AP) Style: The AP Stylebook, which is the standard for most journalism and news writing in the United States, uses the em dash but with spaces on both sides ( — ). AP generally does not use en dashes at all. Â
- The Chicago Manual of Style (CMOS): CMOS, the go-to guide for most book publishing in the United States, uses an unspaced em dash (—). However, it acknowledges the spaced en dash as a valid British style.
- MLA Style: The MLA Handbook uses the em dash (—) without spaces.
Sounds like I can do whatever I want, basically. Cool. I think em dashes with spaces look the best, at least with the fonts I'm using, so I'll probably go that route for a bit. AP style, baby.
Cheers to David for his post on em dashes and reaching out for a nice email exchange!