| ▲ | sixhobbits 11 hours ago | |||||||
Grammatically an emdash is fine in most places a comma is fine. It adds a bit more emphasis to the bit after the dash. I went to the grocery store, and bought tomatoes. I went to the grocery store---and bought a Ferrari. The second one has a bit more of a dramatic pause. "Eats, Shoots, and Leaves" is a fun book with a great chapter about the dash with many good examples. | ||||||||
| ▲ | caconym_ 10 hours ago | parent | next [-] | |||||||
Emdashes and commas aren't interchangeable, and your example there demonstrates one great reason why. The emdash establishes a discontinuity rather than one thing flowing into another, which is why the tomatoes don't merit one but the Ferrari does: you are using the emdash to emphasize the situational irony. Going back to Anthropic's post: > They’re the world’s most advanced models for coding and knowledge work---and their research capabilities offer an early glimpse of how AI models will contribute to scientific progress. The first thing directly implies and flows smoothly into the next---or would, if not for the awkward emdash. There is no discontinuity, no twist or shift in context, no implied question and provided answer, no punchline. It's just distracting. | ||||||||
| ▲ | qlm 9 hours ago | parent | prev [-] | |||||||
Your first example shouldn't have a comma at all. | ||||||||
| ||||||||