Note: In these cases, an em dash (the longest of the dashes) can and often is used for the same purpose as the colon. Short tempers, pilfered wigs, and broken china: the weekly bridge game was becoming an increasingly tense affair. In a fit of pique and indecision, the traffic light turned a peculiar color: mauve. Use a colon to emphasize either a single word or an entire phrase at the end of a sentence. Third, the buffet table at the back of the room had caught fire. Second, your happiness should not depend on others. When the speaker had everyone’s attention, he made three concise points: First, success was only a stepping-stone on the path to happiness. When two or more closely related sentences follow a colon, capitalize the first word that follows the colon. It’s true, I’ve killed my demons: my therapist makes his living sewing together new monsters from the parts.Īll three Ellis brothers are involved in the family business: Jethro paints, Willem sews, and Eustace disposes of the bodies. As before, do not capitalize the first word after the colon unless the noun is proper, or otherwise ordinarily capitalized. Here, the colon acts a lot like a semicolon. Use a colon to separate two independent clauses when the second clause explains, illustrates, or elaborates on the meaning of the first. Yasmin yearned for two things, namely, to live, and to have fun.įor example: Ulysses was in charge of stacking the crates Hogan was busy with tracking down lobsters and Briggs found himself saddled with babysitting duty.
NAMELY PUNCTUATION SERIES
However, if the item or list comes after an expression like “for instance,” “for example,” or “namely,” only use a colon if the series includes one or more grammatically complete clauses. She asked Gordon to fetch a few things: a barrel of apples, a cask of ale, and a spine to call his own.
In this case, never capitalize the first word after the colon-unless it’s a proper noun!ĭuring the entire four-hour lecture, one name clung in her memory: Bernie. Use a colon to introduce either a single item or a list of items in a series. The pallor of his face betrayed him: white as his soul was black. No matter what kind of sentence you’re writing, a colon always must come after an independent clause: a clause that can stand on its own as a sentence.
NAMELY PUNCTUATION HOW TO
Should a colon divide these two clauses, or a semicolon? Or a dash? Or a period? How to Use a Colon CorrectlyĬorrect punctuation is important in your writing: poorly punctuated prose is a major turn-off for publishers and readers alike, and can result in your manuscript being rejected for publication-or, at the very least, your audience not taking your writing terribly seriously.īut don’t fret! This comprehensive guide will teach you 9 ways to correctly use colons: where to place them, when best to use them, and how they operate in a sentence.Īnd as an added bonus, we’ll show you how it’s done: each rule we introduce will be illustrated with an example sentence or two, so you’ll see the colon in action plenty of times before we’re through.īefore we begin, here’s one writ-in-stone rule to remember. And it’s the only mark of punctuation with the same name as a digestive organ!īut the colon is also famously squirrely and difficult to use correctly: many folks are never quite sure where and when it should be placed in a sentence. More conservative marks are concerned only with the ideas that came before them, but the colon is all about the future. Out of all the punctuation marks used in the English language, the colon is by far the most forward-thinking.
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