Colons and
Semicolons
You can only really understand how to use colons and
semicolons once you know how to use full stops and commas properly, so read
that page first!
You will remember from the full stops and commas page
that when we want have two clauses next to one another the only way to
punctuate them properly is to either join them together using a conjunction or
a connective … or to separate them out completely using a full stop. For
example:
‘She ran out into the rain.
He watched
her go
heartbrokenly.’ … or …
‘She ran out into the rain and
he watched
her go
heartbrokenly.’ … or …
‘She ran out into the rain while
he watched
her go
heartbrokenly.’ are all grammatically
fine.
In fact, that was an over-simplification. Instead of
using a full stop you can, if the sentences are closely related, use a colon
which indicates to the reader that these two ideas are separate but are still
closely linked. If we imagine that a full stop is like a 100% pause then a
colon might be like a 75% pause while a semicolon might be a 50% pause. So, for
example, it would also be acceptable to write:
‘She ran out into the rain:
he watched
her go
heartbrokenly.’
‘She ran out into the rain; he
watched
her go
heartbrokenly.’
In
addition, there are some other simple rules for when you should use colons and
semicolons.
Colons:
Colons
can be used in the following situations:
1.
to start a list
2.
to introduce a definition or explanation, e.g. ‘There is
one big problem facing the entire planet right now: global warming.’ or ‘
3.
when introducing
very long quotations that are not embedded into your sentences
Semicolons:
Semicolons
can be used in the following situations:
1.
in lists where
there items are really long or already have commas or conjunctions in them, for
example: ‘For lunch today I ate a cheeseburger with lots of ketchup and fries;
an ice cream soda from Swensons; a muffin with
multi-colour chocolate chips and a Supreme pizza from Pizza Hut.