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How do I use a dash at the end of speech to signify an abrupt change of subject? I understand that when using an em dash, there is no space before or after the dash:

George sighed. “There is nothing to look forward to in life these days. I—”

“Aren’t the flowers beautiful?” said Wendy.

But what happens when the style guide uses en dashes with spaces around them rather than em dashes? For example, the Guardian Style Guide: https://www.theguardian.com/guardian-observer-style-guide-d

I feel the en dash should be preceded but not followed by a space, as in the following example, but I haven't been able to find anything to confirm that feeling.

George sighed. “There is nothing to look forward to in life these days. I -”

“Aren’t the flowers beautiful?” said Wendy.

Should the dash be preceded and followed by a space, as in the next example?

George sighed. “There is nothing to look forward to in life these days. I - ”

“Aren’t the flowers beautiful?” said Wendy.

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ltuba
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    This is probably going to depend on the style guide of whatever organization is printing this. – Peter Shor Dec 29 '16 at 15:21
  • I think the question is not whether a style guide uses an em dash with spaces, but whether your style guide uses them. Another question is whether you are writing for a British English or an American English publication. – rajah9 Dec 29 '16 at 15:25
  • Unless you are self-publishing, use two (or three) hyphens and let your publisher deal with them. Inserting en- or em-dashes in your text may just make more work for them. You should be able to get guidance about this from publishers, even if you haven't submitted a manuscript. – Mick Dec 29 '16 at 15:31
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    Interesting question (from a copyediting perspective). It is very uncommon to precede a close quotation mark with a letter space, and yet dropping the letter space here would wreck the symmetry of the normal use of a [letter space]-en dash-[letter space] punctuation scheme. It would also add a visually discordant note to the desired indication of an abrupt break from the speaker's unfinished thought, by signaling that the interruption happens after the pause for the next word. If it were my book, I would use a closed-up em dash here—even if I didn't use em dashes anywhere else in the text. – Sven Yargs Dec 29 '16 at 19:29

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