![]() They think we are not intelligent enough to use the unspaced em dash. This, I propose, is why the writers of the Style Manual wish to sound the death knell for one of our most cherished pieces of punctuation, loved by writers, editors and grammarians alike since its birth (in its modern form) in the 1550s. This is the most disturbing and, I suspect, the main reason driving the decision. Reason the second: ‘Users may not know the difference between hyphens and unspaced dashes.’ In the ‘Style Manual update’ issued by email to subscribers on 29 June 2020, the writers gave four reasons for their decision. (Since I’ve just compared changing the rules surrounding em dashes to the Hindenburg Disaster, now is probably an appropriate time to mention that I have nothing but the utmost respect for the highly experienced and talented staff who have been working tirelessly to bring us the new Style Manual.) Why? What has caused this depressing turn of events? Instead of spaced em dashes, the Style Manual stipulates-I can barely bring myself to type these words-the use of spaced en dashes. The Style Manual is proposing that the unspaced em dash no longer be used in Australian English for parenthetic purposes or to amplify, explain or signify an abrupt change. ![]() (Did they seriously just use ‘2’ in a heading? And then in the following sentences? Don’t worry, there will be another article on that next!) The newly released online version of the Australian Government’s Style Manual -still in its beta stage-has stripped the em dash of its most significant purposes, leaving it with only these: ‘use 2 em dashes for some quoted speech and deliberate omissions in text’. For there are evil forces afoot conspiring to destroy our beloved em dash … ![]() Not if we stay silent and simply allow this great injustice to transpire. to introduce an explanatory aside or signify an abrupt change in the direction of the sentence.īut no more.to introduce an amplification or explanation (standing in for a colon or semicolon).Style Manual-as well as all the most significant texts on the correct usage of Australian English-the em dash has three main uses (along with several others): The em dash is an essential punctuation mark-one that the writers of the Style Manual think the Australian public is not intelligent enough to use.Īccording to the sixth edition of the Snooks & Co. ![]()
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