The fact is that colons are being used in making lists. If you want to know more examples about colons in a sentence, you may want to check these out. We also advise you to refresh rules for semicolons in your memory.
The Rules of Using Colon
- Do not forget: do shopping, bathe the cats, and clean the room.
- Here is the grocery list: juice, fruit, bread, milk and eggs.
- To do: math homework and English essay
OR separate one idea from another 1:
- You know what to do with the food: eat it.
- I am soaking wet: I forgot my umbrella
- Colon between Independent Clauses: A colon is used in separating two independent clauses. The second clause is related to first clause, especially if the emphasis is more on the second clause. For example:
- The library is quiet today: I will get much work done.
- My brother is the star of your show: He’s the one in blue tutu
Rules for Using Colons in Sentences
It is important to know about colons in sentences. It is worth learning on how to use it, especially if you make lot’s of mistakes and puzzled with basic colon usage rules.
Using colons in extending sentence: Details on right is expansion of whatever is being mentioned. For instance:
- She blamed her divorce on two things: beer and gambling.
(Two things=beer and gambling)
- There are two reasons why I do not believe in his alibi: He is petrified of flying and he does not have visa in his passport.
(Two reasons= flying idea and visa idea)
You cannot introduce new idea with the colon. For instance:
- You have made an essential discovery: It is your first essential discovery for the year.
Take note that you cannot use a colon after the introduction. For instance:
- The American printing set is missing some following characters: A, S, D and questions mark.
Using colons in times and references: Colons can be used in dividing parts of titles, times and references. For instance:
-
You are reading “I Love You: Who Loves Me”.
In here, the colon is being used in separating main title from subtitle.
-
Genesis 1:1 begins “In beginning God created the heavens and earths.”
The colon is used as separator in reference for Bible
- 06:30-Breakfast
- 07:30- Meeting at the office
The colon is used as times separator.
Using colons with the quotation marks: The good thing is that colons can be used in introducing quotations. For example:
-
It is hard disagreeing with Zappa, Frank who said: “Art is making something out of nothing and selling it.”
With the example, quotation is being introduced with a colon. On the other hand, it can be introduce with the use of a comma or nothing. There is a guideline stating that if the quotation is longer than six words, you can use a colon if you are not worried on the flow of your text.
With the guidelines in using colon, you will now know how to use it correctly so that next time you will know what to do to avoid the mistakes in writing.
If you have no time on memorizing these rules, try using a simple colon corrector to make your paper really flawless.
Learn more about using colon rules today!
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