EM Dash Question

[Jules Vide]

I'm final-editing a very long document and before submitting it to a
desktop publisher need to know why WORD's Spell/Grammar checker "marks
wrong" any dialogue that ends with an em dash, a quotation mark, and
then two spacebar spaces before the next sentence begins.

For example: "Gee, Mr. Gates, I didn't know you're thinking of buying
a App--" He swallowed so hard both apples almost went down.


If you were to write the above in Microsoft WORD and Spell/Grammar
check the file, the checker will stop at each instance where an em dash

(represented above by necessity with two en dashes) is succeeded by
anything other than another letter. The checker recognizes and
identifies sentence fragments but makes no distinction between
those situations where an em dash is used as a legitimate end-mark and
those where stuttered or incompletely articulated dialogue (*intended*
as
fragments) *may* logically be helped by an ensuing clause.

I really need some help with knowing if Spell/Grammar Check is flawed
in this regard.

 

[Guest]

I don't claim to be the English teacher I was at one time, but the most
obvious rationale is that the line quoted in your post *is* grammatically
incorrect and includes mispelled content - at least according to the
Dictionary & standard rules of grammar employed by the software.

You might take a look at Tools>Options>Spelling & Grammar, then click the
Settings button in the Grammar section of the dialog box. Adjust the settings
to better accomodate the preferred & accepted *style* adopted within your
industry.

HTH |:>)

 

[Jules Vide]

I don't claim to be the English teacher I was at one time, but the most
obvious rationale is that the line quoted in your post *is* grammatically
incorrect and includes mispelled content - at least according to the
Dictionary & standard rules of grammar employed by the software.

You might take a look at Tools>Options>Spelling & Grammar, then click the
Settings button in the Grammar section of the dialog box. Adjust the settings
to better accomodate the preferred & accepted *style* adopted within your
industry.

Thank you for responding. The reason I purposely mispelled a sample
line of dialogue is to give an example of when my Spell/Grammar checker
"calls me on the carpet" (although I see now it's inconsequential
whether the dialogue was standard or casual English).

Another poster suggested I adjust the settings to allow 2 spaces
before the beginning of sentences/after a period. The only problem
with this is that on my WORD 2000 software, the Spell/Grammar checker
does not "slap my knuckles" about sentences that end in any other
combination of punctuation beside the EM DASH + QUOTATION MARKS.

I.e., it doesn't mark ELLIPSES + QUOTATION MARKS, EXCLAMATION MARK +
QUOTATION MARKS"--anything other than EM DASH + QUOTATION
MARKS--incorrect.

 

[John McGhie [MVP - Word and Word Macintosh]]

Because most people would follow the em dash with a space before the
punctuation

You can ignore that rule in the Options if you wish

I'm final-editing a very long document and before submitting it to a
desktop publisher need to know why WORD's Spell/Grammar checker "marks
wrong" any dialogue that ends with an em dash, a quotation mark, and
then two spacebar spaces before the next sentence begins.

For example: "Gee, Mr. Gates, I didn't know you're thinking of buying
a App--" He swallowed so hard both apples almost went down.


If you were to write the above in Microsoft WORD and Spell/Grammar
check the file, the checker will stop at each instance where an em dash

(represented above by necessity with two en dashes) is succeeded by
anything other than another letter. The checker recognizes and
identifies sentence fragments but makes no distinction between
those situations where an em dash is used as a legitimate end-mark and
those where stuttered or incompletely articulated dialogue (*intended*
as
fragments) *may* logically be helped by an ensuing clause.

I really need some help with knowing if Spell/Grammar Check is flawed
in this regard.

--

Please reply to the newsgroup to maintain the thread. Please do not email
me unless I ask you to.

John McGhie <[email protected]>
Microsoft MVP, Word and Word for Macintosh. Consultant Technical Writer
Sydney, Australia +61 (0) 4 1209 1410