As I wade through a sea of AI posts on LinkedIn lately, I can’t help but notice a rising trend. Almost weekly, I see people warning against the use of em dashes and encouraging writers to eradicate them from their text. According to these posts, the regular use of the em dash is a dead giveaway to a writer using AI text sources, like ChatGPT.
I know the written word (and language in general) is a living, breathing thing. It evolves over time. And I’ve seen my share of social upheavals around certain grammatical rules and marks. But, I’ll proudly admit that I love a good em dash, and this one hits a little too close to home.
It got me thinking about this and other grammatical marks I love and deploy as a writer. Many of which are polarizing, misused, or both.
Oxford Comma [ , ]
Let’s get the obvious one out of the way. It’s the one you probably think of first when you imagine a grammar fight breaking out. Honestly, this one isn’t a deal-breaker for me. Tailfin is proudly pro–oxford comma, and I can get behind that. No problem. But, I’m just as happy to suspend the rule for a brand that frequently plays in social channels and uses a modern, conversational voice. There are just times when style trumps formality, even if it means having to alter your sentence structure. At the end of the day, if your audience doesn’t care about an oxford comma, why should your brand? I think we can at least agree that it’s not for everyone. We’ll move on before I get roasted in the comments.
Ellipses [ … ]
Ellipses are a little trickier than meets the eye. They’re easy to fall in love with and start to overuse. As a basic mark, they’re really useful in script writing and storyboards. When you want to convey that a voiceover continues as a new visual frame begins, ellipses help a ton. Once in a while, I also use them in a headline to imply a wandering thought or an imaginary list of related words that could trail on and on. This is where you have to stay disciplined. If you rely on gut and tone here, you can start to convince yourself that many headlines can end with a dot-dot-dot. In reality, most of the time it’s stronger to end your complete thought with a simple period.
Semicolon [ ; ]
This mark is like the bow tie of the grammatical world. Many out there know what it is, but not everyone knows how to use it properly. Also, it leans a bit fancy. You don’t want to start dropping semicolons into your brand social posts unless you’re working on a rebrand for your local public library. But, I’m not knocking them, either. I love a good semicolon to really drive home a certain tone — and a certain cadence — in a block of text. Keep in mind, though, it’s going to make for a longer sentence, and there really isn’t much you can do to keep the formality out of its use.
Period [ . ]
It may be the last mark you expected to see on my list, but hear me out. When it comes to creating voice, tone, and rhythm in creative copywriting, this is actually my workhorse. It may not be the right approach for all applications, but in advertising many traditional rules of grammar are negotiable and “writer’s choice.” When I want to make something sound more conversational or off-the-cuff, I usually opt for a choppier sentence structure. And plenty of periods. People rarely speak in long-winded paragraphs. And when they do, no one wants to listen. If you’re willing to use periods in non-traditional ways, you can do quite a lot with them. They can even start to imitate many other marks on this list.
Em Dash [ — ]
One of my all-time favorite marks, and the muse for this little editorial piece. I think what I love most about the em dash is that it captures that very natural, conversational aside that so often happens in the real world. It feels like a grammatical guardrail for how I want a phrase to be heard in the reader’s mind. But, like the semicolon, it’s an easy mark to grow attached to and wear out. Maybe it isn’t the mere presence of em dashes giving ChatGPT vibes, but the quantity. In that case, I say tread lightly, but carry on. Like the old saying goes, “everything in moderation.” Right?
Ultimately, advertising is a form of communication. We often get creative with that communication to capture attention or leave an impression. So, formal rules matter, but only to a certain extent. The more important goal is to get across what you’re trying to say and how you want to say it. And that’s where you get to decide just how you’ll leave your mark.
As for me, I’ll stick with my em dashes—come hell or AI.
