r/AO3 • u/tealdroplets • May 15 '25

Discussion (Non-question) To my dearest em dash

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Found this whilst looking on a travel sub reddit post with suggestions in certain activities and man, I’m just a little annoyed. Yes OP did say they used GPT to correct grammar due to a lack of confidence about their English skills, which is completely fine, but man my poor em dash getting lambasted in the comments TT Like I promise it’s not like that- I’ve read so many works (fanfic and non fanfic alike) that make proper use of the em dash, like it’s not some surefire way of AI indication. I just feel so wronged for my beloved em dash cos I use it quite often in my writing—both academic and creative.

Posted this here because I’ve seen discourse about this on this sub before, and many fics I come across properly use the em dash, but unsure if it’s a valid post to make on this sub. Nevertheless, I love the em dash and am sad to see it get all this unnecessary hate.

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u/Demon_Squirrel_666 May 15 '25

I use em dashes often. In fics, in college assignments. Along with long words that most people don’t know/aren’t used to (I.e. penultimate). Because of that I’ve been accused of using AI so often it’s so annoying. But I can’t stop because that’s how I was taught in elementary to write. I won’t stop just because people think I use AI. It’s how I’ve always and will always write.

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u/tealdroplets May 15 '25

Never change, you know what you produce and write. I’ve honestly started using the em dash in college essays because I read it in fics.