The colon (:) introduces a word or clause that explains, interprets, or adds to what precedes it:The battle could have gone either way: The outcome depended on the weather. It can also be used to introduce lists:You will need four ingredients for this recipe: cream, fruit, raisins, and sugar.
They have three reservations about the house: It is too expensive, it lacks character, and it is in the wrong location. In contrast to semicolons, it is not essential that the subsequent phrase be a complete sentence. It is important, though, that the clause before the colon is capable of standing independently of whatever is tacked on after the colon.An initial capital should be used after a colon when the first word that follows is a proper noun or is part of a quotation in which it is capitalized and when the colon follows a formal greeting or instruction:In this now-famous speech Franklin Delano Roosevelt stated: "The only thing we have to fear is fear itself."
To whom it may concern: This building will be closed from dusk.
Warning: Safety helmets must be worn. An initial capital letter may also be used where the material following the colon constitutes a complete sentence or sentences:This is the crucial question: Are we ready to strike out independently? The colon can also be used to introduce direct speech or quotations (a device commonly employed in newspaper articles):In the words of the chairman: "There will be a significant announcement some time next week." Sometimes the passages prefaced by an introductory phrase and a colon may be substantial in length:Abraham Lincoln's address at Gettysburg: "In a larger sense we cannot dedicate, we cannot consecrate, we cannot hallow this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it far above our power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember, what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us, the living, rather to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us … that we here highly resolve that the dead shall not have died in vain, that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom; and that government of the people, by the people, and for the people, shall not perish from the earth." A colon is also convenient where it is necessary to identify the speaker of each line of dialogue, as in play scripts:Polonius: I hear him coming; let's withdraw, my lord.
Hamlet: To be, or not to be: that is the question…. Colons are commonly used before subtitles of written works of various kinds (Night and Day: A Study of New York). They are also widely used in letters (Dear Mrs. Bloomingdale:) and in business correspondence (Ref.: 287361), as well as in biblical references (Genesis 1:1), in references to the time of day (2:10), and to indicate a relationship between numbers, such as in ratios (2:1).When a colon immediately follows material placed in quotation marks, it should be noted that the colon is placed outside the closing quotation mark:She called him her "reason to live": Without him, she would have died years ago.
|
Email
Print
Save
Citation
Record URL
