As Mignon Fogarty and the University of Puget Sound note, both the colon and the em-dash can both serve (amongst other things) to introduce a related element after a sentence. The words after either type of punctuation serve to define or clarify meaning. The difference is that a colon throws the reader's attention forward, whereas the dash throws the reader's attention backward.
The Colon (:)
Translation: a colon is "les deux points" in French.
Rules: an independent clause precedes the colon. A colon may precede a word or phrase, a clause, a series, or a lengthy quotation.
① The reaction of the crowd signified only one thing: apathy.
② The courses I am taking this semester are as follows: English, sociology, economics, political science, and psychology.
Em-dash (—)
Word processors create an em-dash (or just "dash") from two hyphens (traits d'union) placed between two words, with no spaces.
The crowd clearly indicated their indifference to the provocative speech—an apathy that later came back to haunt them.
The dash can also act as a parenthetical aside that has more emphasis than two commas.
Peter chose to eat the sushi—knowing he was allergic to seafood—and then complained to the wait staff.
For more information on this topic, check out the following resources:
| Resource | Notes |
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Colons and Dashes - University of Puget Sound ★★★★★ |
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Dashes Versus Colons: What's the Difference? - Mignon Fogarty, Grammar Girl ★★★★✰ |
This is a slightly less formal presentation than that of the University of Puget Sound, above. |
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Keywords: list
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