Em dash and list of things?

Question

I've searched everywhere before asking this question but I couldn't find an answer to my specific question: "In spite of all the problems in life—lack of education, poverty, unemployment— John always thinks that his own problems are bigger. I've just made this sentence so I know it's kinda choppy and misleading. I want to know if the use of em dash here is correct and do I have to put " and " before the last option in the list, which is "unemployment"?

Answer 1

Great question! Em dashes are tricky--partially because they act as "wildcards" in a sense. Whatever is set off by the dashes (in this case, "lack of education, poverty, unemployment") does not need to express a complete thought. Read your sentence without the dahses (and their contained words). Does it make sense? If not, you are not using the dashes correctly. In your example, dashes are used well! You can think of dashes as a self-interruption. You make your quick announcement, then return to the regularly-schedule program.

You do not have to put "and" between the second and final items of the list because em dashes are, as I said before, wildcards. The flow of the sentence is clear without that conjunction, so it is not necesary.

-- Trevor Smith.

Answer 2

I think this use of em dashes is quite acceptable. They serve as kind of a big pause (a big comma), and I see it often. And no, it's not necessary to put the "and" before the third item in your list, especially since it's so carefully set off from the rest of the sentence by those em dashes. Keep in mind that em dashes are pretty glaring, so you wouldn't want to use them a lot; use them only when you really want to emphasize the parenthetical comment (that's what the em dashes are making).

Answer 3

This source https://grammarist.com/grammar/emdash/ will verify that you have this exactly correct. Here is their relevant example: Since 2007, the consensus of the economic establishment—bankers, policymakers, CEOs, stock analysts, pundits—has been catastrophically wrong. 

Think of your use of the dash here as a stronger pause than would be indicated by a comma or parentheses.

Answer 4

Hi,

This is what you have so far: "In spite of all the problems in life—lack of education, poverty, unemployment— John always thinks that his own problems are bigger. That is not the best way to use dashes. I have a couple questions for you, so that I can make sure that I am helping you the best.

1. What are you writing this for?
2. Is this part of a paragraph or a thesis statement?