AI and the Dashes: The Hyphen, En Dash, and Em Dash

I didn’t know that language was this complicated, until I found that English had longer versions of hyphens and that they had separate names and purposes. Any dash found between words was just a ‘hyphen’ for me. I use it between words, I use it between time periods, and I also use it to indicate something related but not directly part of the structured sentence.

But the “longer hyphen” I see during my conversations with AI chatbots appeared strange, repetitive, and overused in text. But still, for the past few years, I ignored it because I was not curious enough to look into it or be bothered by it.

And the thought sparked when I noticed that any content I saw with that long dash was generalised as AI-generated. Even if it actually wasn’t.

The -, –, — aka Hyphen, En Dash and Em Dash

The hyphen is the shortest of the three. Its main purpose is to join words or word parts together. Hyphens can also be used when a word is split at the end of a line, although this is less important in ordinary digital writing. These are used without spaces.

a well-known author, a five-year-old child, a high-speed train, a full-time job.

The en dash is slightly longer than a hyphen. Its most common use is to indicate a range of numbers, dates, scores, or distances, roughly meaning “to” or “between”. It can also express a relationship or connection between two things. These are used without spaces.

9:00 am–11:00 am, 2018–2022, India–Pakistan, London–Paris.

The em dash is the longest and is probably the most interesting one. It indicates a strong break in a sentence. It is kind of a more dramatic version of a comma, parentheses, or sometimes a colon. Its uses include adding an interruption or extra information, showing a sudden change or interruption, introducing an explanation, and replacing parentheses. It can create a sense of drama or surprise. An em dash gives the inserted information more emphasis. These are used with and without spaces, varying by style.

I had one thought—I should leave.

The Easiest Way to Remember Them

If you’re unsure which one to use, ask:

Am I joining two parts of a word?
→ – hyphen

Am I saying “to” or showing a connection between two things?
→ – en dash

Am I making a strong pause, interruption, or aside?
→ — em dash

Or think of them as three different levels of connection:

Hyphen – → joins
En dash – → connects
Em dash — → breaks

But Why is AI Addicted to Em Dashes?

This was a question I asked one of the most-used AI chatbots, and this was its response:

“AI-generated writing often uses the em dash (—) much more frequently than ordinary human writing. There are a few reasons:

It neatly connects ideas.
It makes prose sound polished.
They’re grammatically flexible.
AI tends to produce certain recognizable patterns.
Humans often use alternatives more naturally.

So AI isn’t literally addicted to em dashes 😂. It’s more that the em dash is a particularly useful punctuation mark for the kind of smooth, structured prose language models tend to generate.”

On asking more, it said:

“The more precise reason is: em dashes are disproportionately common in the text AI models were trained on, so models learned them as a strong stylistic pattern and tend to reproduce them as a default punctuation choice.

So it’s less “AI likes em dashes because they’re flexible” and more “AI has learned that em dashes are a characteristic feature of polished written prose.”

And importantly, an em dash isn’t actually a reliable AI detector. Humans have used them for centuries; AI merely overuses a punctuation mark that was already present in its training data.”

So, that’s it! Maybe I will add one more instruction to my prompt next time—avoid using em dashes unnecessarily or don’t use em dashes at all.

Helpful?

Don’t let the journey stop here. Keep exploring with Ivide Live. Dive into our latest pieces on all things life—from relationships and health to psychology and daily living.