Question

Which sentence below shows correct use of em dashes?

Before his European travel highlight of his summer, Mickey forced-himself to pay-off his credit cards.

Before his highlight of his summer European travel – Mickey forced himself to pay off his credit cards.

Before his European travel, the highlight of his summer Mickey – forced himself to – pay off his credit-cards.

Before his European travel – the highlight of his summer – Mickey forced himself to pay off his credit cards.

Answer 1

The fourth one. The dashes helping describe Mickey’s travel.

Answer 2

D: Before his European travel -- the highlight of his summer -- Mickey forced himself to pay off his credit cards.

Step-by-step explanation:

The correct use of em dashes is shown in the sentence of the option D, which uses one of the functions of em dashes: the one of replacing commas for an appositive phrase. In this case, "the highlight of his summer" is an appositive, and presents additional information about the noun "travel"; it could have been written with commas. But the em dashes are more emphatic.