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From: MinervaReef on 26 Sep 2009 20:19
In dialogue the speaker is interrupted and so I end the sentence with an em
dash followed by smart quotes (correct according to Chicago Manual of Style).
I have this situation throughout my novel, but in one or two cases when the
em dash just happens to be at the very end of the line, it breaks the line
and orphans the quotes by themselves on the next line. This would appear to
be a bug in Word 2003.

Anyone have a solution, other than re-writing the dialogue?
From: Greg Maxey on 26 Sep 2009 20:43
You can create a reasonable non-breaking em dash using standard non-breaking
dashes (CTRL+SHIFT+-). Type four or five non-breaking dashes. Select them
and then use the Font Dialog>Characters Spacing to condense and raise the
charaters until it looks the same size as an em dash. You might need to
adjust the font size to lighten the line weight. Select this contraption
and create an autotext entry. When you need it, type the autotext entry
name and press F3.

You can replace all of your traditional em dashes with the non-breaking
imposters by entering one of the imposters into your document, selecting it,
and then copy it to the clipboard. Using repalce CTRL+h, type in ^+ in the
find field (finds em dashes) and ^c in the replace with field. Then click
replace all.


MinervaReef wrote:
> In dialogue the speaker is interrupted and so I end the sentence with
> an em dash followed by smart quotes (correct according to Chicago
> Manual of Style). I have this situation throughout my novel, but in
> one or two cases when the em dash just happens to be at the very end
> of the line, it breaks the line and orphans the quotes by themselves
> on the next line. This would appear to be a bug in Word 2003.
>
> Anyone have a solution, other than re-writing the dialogue?

--
Greg Maxey

See my web site http://gregmaxey.mvps.org
for an eclectic collection of Word Tips.

"It is not the critic who counts, not the man who points out how the
strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them
better. The credit belongs to the man in the arena, whose face is
marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly...who knows
the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, who spends himself in a
worthy cause, who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high
achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while
daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and
timid souls who have never known neither victory nor defeat." - TR



From: Suzanne S. Barnhill on 26 Sep 2009 22:29
Another approach is to use two minus signs (U2212) with condensed spacing.
The minus sign is nonbreaking (it also makes a perfect nonbreaking en dash),
the same weight as the en dash, and very nearly the same height. If you do
use hyphens, four will be plenty, but they will definitely make a heavier
dash.

Looking at all the possibilities at 500% Zoom may influence your choice. To
my eye, in TNR 12, two minus signs condensed by 0.6 pt. are
indistinguishable in width and weight from an em dash. Lowered 1 pt.,
they're also the same height.

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA
http://word.mvps.org

"Greg Maxey" <gmaxey(a)mIKEvICTORpAPAsIERRA.oSCARrOMEOgOLF> wrote in message
news:OiYJYuwPKHA.3540(a)TK2MSFTNGP04.phx.gbl...
> You can create a reasonable non-breaking em dash using standard
> non-breaking dashes (CTRL+SHIFT+-). Type four or five non-breaking
> dashes. Select them and then use the Font Dialog>Characters Spacing to
> condense and raise the charaters until it looks the same size as an em
> dash. You might need to adjust the font size to lighten the line weight.
> Select this contraption and create an autotext entry. When you need it,
> type the autotext entry name and press F3.
>
> You can replace all of your traditional em dashes with the non-breaking
> imposters by entering one of the imposters into your document, selecting
> it, and then copy it to the clipboard. Using repalce CTRL+h, type in ^+
> in the find field (finds em dashes) and ^c in the replace with field.
> Then click replace all.
>
>
> MinervaReef wrote:
>> In dialogue the speaker is interrupted and so I end the sentence with
>> an em dash followed by smart quotes (correct according to Chicago
>> Manual of Style). I have this situation throughout my novel, but in
>> one or two cases when the em dash just happens to be at the very end
>> of the line, it breaks the line and orphans the quotes by themselves
>> on the next line. This would appear to be a bug in Word 2003.
>>
>> Anyone have a solution, other than re-writing the dialogue?
>
> --
> Greg Maxey
>
> See my web site http://gregmaxey.mvps.org
> for an eclectic collection of Word Tips.
>
> "It is not the critic who counts, not the man who points out how the
> strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them
> better. The credit belongs to the man in the arena, whose face is
> marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly...who knows
> the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, who spends himself in a
> worthy cause, who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high
> achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while
> daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and
> timid souls who have never known neither victory nor defeat." - TR
>
>
>
>

From: Greg Maxey on 26 Sep 2009 22:55
Ms. Barnhill,

You would know better than I. I was just tinkering with what I was familiar
with (non-breaking hyphen). I don't think I have ever used an em dash in my
life (traditiona or a non-breaking imposter). Yes, the hyphen is heavier
and a font size adjustment was needed in my trial to make it look like the
em dash. Thanks.

Suzanne S. Barnhill wrote:
> Another approach is to use two minus signs (U2212) with condensed
> spacing. The minus sign is nonbreaking (it also makes a perfect
> nonbreaking en dash), the same weight as the en dash, and very nearly
> the same height. If you do use hyphens, four will be plenty, but they
> will definitely make a heavier dash.
>
> Looking at all the possibilities at 500% Zoom may influence your
> choice. To my eye, in TNR 12, two minus signs condensed by 0.6 pt. are
> indistinguishable in width and weight from an em dash. Lowered 1 pt.,
> they're also the same height.
>
>
> "Greg Maxey" <gmaxey(a)mIKEvICTORpAPAsIERRA.oSCARrOMEOgOLF> wrote in
> message news:OiYJYuwPKHA.3540(a)TK2MSFTNGP04.phx.gbl...
>> You can create a reasonable non-breaking em dash using standard
>> non-breaking dashes (CTRL+SHIFT+-). Type four or five non-breaking
>> dashes. Select them and then use the Font Dialog>Characters Spacing
>> to condense and raise the charaters until it looks the same size as
>> an em dash. You might need to adjust the font size to lighten the
>> line weight. Select this contraption and create an autotext entry. When
>> you need it, type the autotext entry name and press F3.
>>
>> You can replace all of your traditional em dashes with the
>> non-breaking imposters by entering one of the imposters into your
>> document, selecting it, and then copy it to the clipboard. Using
>> repalce CTRL+h, type in ^+ in the find field (finds em dashes) and
>> ^c in the replace with field. Then click replace all.
>>
>>
>> MinervaReef wrote:
>>> In dialogue the speaker is interrupted and so I end the sentence
>>> with an em dash followed by smart quotes (correct according to
>>> Chicago Manual of Style). I have this situation throughout my
>>> novel, but in one or two cases when the em dash just happens to be
>>> at the very end of the line, it breaks the line and orphans the
>>> quotes by themselves on the next line. This would appear to be a
>>> bug in Word 2003. Anyone have a solution, other than re-writing the
>>> dialogue?
>>
>> --
>> Greg Maxey
>>
>> See my web site http://gregmaxey.mvps.org
>> for an eclectic collection of Word Tips.
>>
>> "It is not the critic who counts, not the man who points out how the
>> strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them
>> better. The credit belongs to the man in the arena, whose face is
>> marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly...who knows
>> the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, who spends himself in a
>> worthy cause, who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high
>> achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while
>> daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and
>> timid souls who have never known neither victory nor defeat." - TR

--
Greg Maxey

See my web site http://gregmaxey.mvps.org
for an eclectic collection of Word Tips.

"It is not the critic who counts, not the man who points out how the
strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them
better. The credit belongs to the man in the arena, whose face is
marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly...who knows
the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, who spends himself in a
worthy cause, who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high
achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while
daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and
timid souls who have never known neither victory nor defeat." - TR



From: Pamelia Caswell via OfficeKB.com on 26 Sep 2009 23:33
You could also insert a no-width nonbreak (from the Symbol dialog > Special
characters tab) before the em dash. You can also make a shortcut for it.

Pam

MinervaReef wrote:
>In dialogue the speaker is interrupted and so I end the sentence with an em
>dash followed by smart quotes (correct according to Chicago Manual of Style).
> I have this situation throughout my novel, but in one or two cases when the
>em dash just happens to be at the very end of the line, it breaks the line
>and orphans the quotes by themselves on the next line. This would appear to
>be a bug in Word 2003.
>
>Anyone have a solution, other than re-writing the dialogue?

--
Message posted via OfficeKB.com
http://www.officekb.com/Uwe/Forums.aspx/word-docmanagement/200909/1

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