Colon Usage:
A colon tells a reader to get ready for what comes next: a list, a long quotation, or an explanation. A colon can also cue a reader that what is to come is closely related to what came before. It's more formal than a dash and stronger than a comma.
Use a colon to:
1. Signal that a list or a series is coming:
Example: I packed everything I needed for a night away from home: nightgown, toothbrush, a good novel, and my autographed photo of Mr. Carey.
2. Signal that a long quotation is coming:
Example: Writer Robert Cormier views perseverance and desire as more crucial than talent: "if you have a minimum of talent, but you sit at that typewriter long enough, something will emerge. All I had was this burning desire to be a writer and all these emotions."
3. Signal that an explanation is coming:
Example Writing isn't a social activity but a solo act: writers need to be able to be by themselves, with pen and paper, for long periods of time.
Note: If the group of words that comes after the colon, as in example #3 above, is a complete sentence, you may start it with a capital letter, e.g., Writing isn't a social activity but a solo act: Writers need to be able to be by themselves, with pen and paper, for long periods of time.
Semi-Colon Usage
A semi-colon shows a close relationship between two statements or sentences. It’s stronger than a comma but not as final as a period.
Use a semi-colon to:
1. Join two or more sentences that aren’t connected by a conjunction (e.g. and, or, because), when you want to show a relationship between them— a closeness in meaning, a cause or a consequence:
EXAMPLE: Stanley wouldn’t tell on us; he was a wimp.
I wasn’t worried; after all, Chris was a good driver.
I knew the conversation had to happen sometime; maybe this was the moment.
2. Avoid confusion in lists that already contain commas:
We read the poems “Workshop,” “Marginalia,” and “Introduction to Poetry” by Billy Collins; “The Osprey,” “The Summer Day,” and “Hawk” by Mary Oliver; and “Freedom’s Plow” and “The Negro Speaks of Rivers” by Langston Hughes.
3. To join two sentences that are connected by a conjunctive adverb:
My karate instructor was tough; however, he never got upset.
(Conjunctive adverbs include: also, as a result, besides, for example, furthermore, however, in addition, instead, meanwhile, moreover, nevertheless, similarly, then, therefore, thus)
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