| colon (:) |
| Definition: A punctuation mark (:) that is normally used to indicate a pause greater than a semicolon, but less than a period. |
| Usage:
1. Use colons to join two independent clauses when you want to emphasize the second clause. I am a housewife: I am alone. 2. Use a colon after an independent clause that is followed by a list. I went to the market to buy a few necessities: cigarettes, coffee, sugar, and milk. 3. Use a colon to introduce explanatory information. I'm bad: I smoke, drink, and cuss. 4. Use a colon after an independent clause that is followed by quote. The quote should begin with a capital letter. Whitehead said this about writing style: "Style is the ultimate morality of the mind." 5. Use a colon after an independent clause that is followed by a directly related idea. I know the perfect woman for the job: Carol. 6. Use colons to separate hours and minutes. 2:30 AM 7. Use colons to separate chapters and verses in Biblical references. Mark 1:6 8. Use colons to terminate business letter greetings. To Whom It May Concern: 9. Use colons to designate speakers either in a play or in court testimony. Mom: Why didn't you close the door? Teenaged son: Am I supposed to close doors? 10. If a brief introductory term precedes the colon and the clause following the colon presents the main information, start the latter with a capital letter. Remember: Don't eat yellow snow. 11. Do not place a colon between a verb and its objects. His buddy gave him: a hammer, a nail, and a bandage. (bad) His buddy gave him a hammer, a nail, and a bandage. (good) 12. Do not place a colon between a verb and its subject complement. His two goals are: to improve his income and to increase his height. (bad) His two goals are to improve his income and to increase his height. (good) 13. Do not place a colon between a preposition and its object. We drove to: Burnaby, Coquitlam, and Surrey. (bad) We drove to Burnaby, Coquitlam, and Surrey. (good) |
| Etymology:
The word colon derives from the Greek kolon, part of a sentence (it literally means "limb"). Note: the word initially denoted an independent clause, then it evolved to denote the punctuation mark that was used to set off independent clauses. |
| Oxford English Dictionary: The term's first citation in its punctuation-mark sense is from 1589: "The auncient reformers of language, invented, three manner of pauses … The second they called colon, not a peece but as it were a member for his larger length, because it occupied twise as much time as the comma." (Puttenham Eng. Poesie ii. iv. [v.] (Arb.) 88) |