Punctuation Cheat Sheet: Investigating the Colon
A colon's single (important!) use precedes an explanation/elaboration/list of what has come before:
Writers are insecure: use kid gloves, talk quietly, never point.
Note that whatever comes after the colon is lowercase (it isn't a new sentence). The whole sentence may be turned about (inverted), though this shouldn't be used too often:
Use kid gloves, talk quietly, never point: all are good examples of how to talk to writers.
Don't use one at the end of a chapter title or heading, though if you have introduced extra sentences or paragraphs it is allowed:
Peter and R1X were always arguing over whose work would be published last. It was apparent that although their reasoning was different, their justifications were the same:
'You've come along in leaps and bounds. You can't be far off in securing an agent.'
And finally, it can be employed when you are discussing a movie or book that has a title and subtitle - you must use the colon when you are writing; whether or not it is written as such originally:
Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back.
I Know What You Did Last Summer: And I couldn't say I cared.
J. R. Hartley wrote a book called Fly-fishing: The art of fake books
The Semicolon
First and foremost, if in doubt over using a semicolon, use a full stop instead. Secondly, in the section on commas, you were advised never to join only two complete sentences together. Now, with the semicolon, you can!
A semicolon joins two sentences together when:
* The rules for a colon don't work;
* The two sentences are too closely related to allow a full stop to separate them (though, a full stop can always be used instead);
* There are no connecting words that could facilitate a comma.
Peter's books are factual; Jamie's are fantasy; Dave's are comedic; Jane's are mental; R1X's are best left unmentioned.
Semicolons, like commas, work with connecting words though these are different and require a semicolon at all times (not a comma): however, therefore, hence, thus, consequently, nevertheless and meanwhile.
This doesn't give you license to create super sentences all over the place, using semicolons to let the reader know when to breathe. Remember that Dickens wrote vast sentences and never used a semi.
Different Inferences
As with commas, use of semicolons and colons in different circumstances can mean different things:
We can't raise the flag. The punkatronic shed is dangerous.
We can't raise the flag; the punkatronic shed is dangerous.
We can't raise the flag: the punkatronic shed is dangerous
In the first instance we have two separate sentences. In the second instance, the relation is obvious and implies that the flag and the shed are linked in some way. In the last we know for sure that the flag cannot be raised because the shed is dangerous. Oh my God!
Thanks to Litopian R1X for these shared insights - join Litopia now for immediate access to the Colony, the net's oldest and preeminent community for writers.
- Array
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