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Precision for Writers and Editors

Dec 10, 2001 - © Steve Dunham

clothing them in language ever more grandiose, does not seek out increasingly complicated constructions, does not weigh us down with the gelatinous verbiage of Washington and the social sciences. It treats errors in spelling and usage with a decent tolerance but does not take them lightly.[big_close_quote.gif]

—Edwin Newman, A Civil Tongue (Warner Books, 1976)

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© 2001 Analytic Services

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Colon and semicolon Both the colon (:) and the semicolon (;) are used to separate independent clauses—groups of words that could stand on their own. Maybe that’s why these two punctuation marks get confused so often. People even get the names mixed up. Remember that semi means “half”; the colon is all one thing (dots), and the semicolon is half comma and half dot.

Colons are often used to introduce lists, but only if the colon follows a complete sentence. “I like dessert: cakes, pies, cookies, ice cream—anything sweet.” But “I like dessert, such as” is not a complete sentence, so there should be no colon in “I like dessert, such as: cakes, pies, cookies, ice cream—anything sweet.”

Nor should a colon separate a verb from its object. “I like: dessert” is wrong. Adding a long list after dessert wouldn’t make it right.

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Front Page: Big thinks

[Assistance.gif]
Help with Word

[Punc.gif]
Colon and semicolon

[screen_TOC.gif]
Word into HTML

[Incorrect.gif]
Word abuse

[Mock.gif]
House giveaway

[said.gif]
False dignity

© 2001 Analytic Services

Colons are also used after formal salutations in a letter. “Dear friend of the cows:” Another use for colons is to separate hours from minutes (“Let’s stop work at 3:30 today”), chapter from verse in scripture citations (“Luke 12:18”), numerals in a ratio (“2:1”), or city from publisher in a bibliographical citation (“Boston: Little, Brown”).

Colons may be used to join two clauses or sentences when one follows from the other. “She wouldn’t eat the cake: she’s allergic to chocolate.” That’s where the duties of colons overlap with those of semicolons. That sentence could have a semicolon instead; the colon is a slightly better choice because it indicates that the thoughts are not just parallel but closely related. Separating independent clauses is the main job of semicolons.

The copyright of the article Precision for Writers and Editors in Technical Writing is owned by Steve Dunham. Permission to republish Precision for Writers and Editors in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.

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