To read part one of the punctuation posts—commas and end
punctuation—click here. For the other Back to Basics posts, click through the
archives. I’ll also compile a link list at the end of the series for easy
navigation. Today, we’ll be covering colons and semi-colons.
Colons
Giggle… Sorry. Can’t help myself. The colon (:) is a punctuation mark used before information
that would prove, explain, or list elements of what precedes the mark. Confusing
sentence, I know. I can’t really explain it any better than that, so here are
some examples.
The colon introduces details of a fact stated before. (I’m
not the best at colon examples, because I rarely use them in my writing, so
take these sentences with a dash of salt)
As fantastic an
actress as she was, Hannah could have tried out for the female lead in the play
without anyone asking questions, but I knew the truth: The boy of her dreams
was playing the male lead, and there was a kiss at the end of the performance.
I threw a fit about
the cake for one reason: It was my birthday.
Voldemort had one
fear: Death.
My dad has two pet
daschunds: Dipstick and Jasmine.
We bought three movies
today: The Big Lebowski, The Princess Bride, and Little Miss Sunshine.
A lot of titles use colons, especially movies and novels with
subtitles.
Star Wars Episode I:
The Phantom Menace
TRON: Legacy
Heaven is for
Real: A Little Boy’s Astounding Story of
His Trip to Heaven and Back
Unbroken: A World War
II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption
Colons can also introduce speech, usually used to denote a
statement said by someone mentioned earlier in the sentence (using an example
from Wikipedia since I can’t seem to think of anything).
Benjamin Franklin
proclaimed the virtue of frugality: A penny saved is a penny earned.
Elizabeth always said
the same thing: I’ll never marry a man that isn’t rich.
Colons seem to be rarely used in fiction, so I recommend using
them sparingly in your own writing. You will see though, in the next section,
that I use them after each subheading, an acceptable use.
Semi-Colons
The semi-colon (;)
sees more use than its kin, the colon. Unlike colons, semi-colons are followed
by a lower case letter, unless that letter is the first of a proper noun. They
are used to separate items in a series or a list of items that contain their
own punctuation, between closely related independent clauses (in place of a
comma and usually, the conjunction and),
and between independent clauses linked with a transitional phrase. When I use
semi-colons, it’s for rhythm. To me, a semi-colon has a shorter pause than a
full stop, but a longer pause than a comma. I still follow the rules (I think),
but it just goes to show that you can be creative with punctuation. In fact,
after reviewing colons, I think I may have misused a few semi-colons in my
book. Oops.
Lists:
Valerie danced with
four very different guys at prom: Daniel, the nerdy guy in our Trigonometry
class; Reid, the walking definition of hipster at our school; Allen, the star
of the basketball team; and one other boy that I think goes to the public
school in the next county.
We stopped and visited
several cities on our way to California: Tulsa, Oklahoma; Amarillo, Texas;
Albuquerque, New Mexico; and Flagstaff, Arizona.
Conjoining Independent Clauses:
The guy behind the
counter at the skating rink asked me out on a date after his shift; I said yes.
The door muffled their
voices; she couldn’t hear them properly.
I’m not a student; I
couldn’t be if I wanted to.
Combining
Sentences with Transitional Phrases:
Everyone knows that Mrs.
Winchester killed her husband; however, no one would accuse a ninety-year-old
woman, not in our neighborhood.
My dog has healing magic;
though, he’d never prove it.
I’ve never had a drink of
alcohol, even though a lot of my friends have; of course, I’m only nineteen.
So
there are your basic usages for colons and semi-colons. Next up, dashes. I love dashes. Have a good day, and
protest SOPA. Cheers.
Punctuation is something I try to work on, espectially since I seem to have a penchant for using commas. :-)
ReplyDeleteA lot of people use commas where they should have used a semicolon.
ReplyDeleteGreat post - because I always get these confused... and it's so simple now:) Awesome. new follower - am now a follower:)
ReplyDelete