In these circumstances, a colon serves as a substitute for a word like 'namely' or 'that is'. (Incomplete sentence with no signalling word)Īnother way that colons are used is to connect two clauses, but only when the following clause gives an example or expands on the previous one. The things I want are: chicken, oregano, and lemons. (Incomplete sentence with signalling word) I want the following: chicken, oregano, and lemons. Here's what I want: chicken, oregano, and lemons. Just one rule to remember here: when listing things do not put the colon after an incomplete sentence unless the end of the sentence signals that a list is coming. Keeps Death at his court, and there the antic sits' In expressing the weakness of divine right, Richard II connects wall imagery to the image of a crown: These are my favourite childhood memories: walking with my grandfather, picking apples in the fall, and opening gifts on a cold, Christmas morning.
You might be most familiar with colons being used to introduce a list of items or a quotation. Quick Use: Introduce a list or quotation, or connect two clauses in which the clause after the colon details or expands on the first. I know you are still there – somewhere in the sky. There's always a second chance – even for someone like you – so don't think your career is at an end. But if the first function can be substituted with parentheses and the second with a semi-colon or conjunction, then why use dashes instead? The effect of dashes is that they highlight the clause that they are inserting, thus bringing attention to it. Quick Use: Use a dash to connect independent clauses or to interrupt a main clause in a way that creates dramatic effect.ĭashes function in two ways: to signal interruptions in a sentence (basically like parentheses), and to connect independent clauses. But remember that when deciding whether to use a period or a semi-colon, a colon or a dash, it is more a stylistic/rhetorical choice than a choice of right or wrong. Connecting your clauses with a semi-colon might provide a pause that is just right, while a dash could make that pause more dramatic by highlighting the following clause, or a colon could signal that the second clause expands on the first. A comma between two independent clauses creates a run-on sentence that doesn't give enough definition between your ideas, while a period between them sometimes distances them too much. What can they do for my writing?Įssentially, semicolons, colons, and dashes offer you different ways to join your ideas together, and you can use them to adjust how you want your sentences to sound. E.P.Dashes, colons, and semicolons connect two independent clauses that are related in thought. Water so hard it bends light, drills holes in rock and chokes up your radiator." (Edward Abbey, "Journey Home". Salt, selenium, arsenic, radon and radium in the water in the gravel in your bones. "The hawk sailing by at 200 feet, a squirming snake in its talons.Over the main entrance the words CENTRAL LONDON HATCHERY AND CONDITIONING CENTRE, and, in a shield, the World State's motto, COMMUNITY, IDENTITY, STABILITY." (Aldous Huxley, "Brave New World", 1932) "A squat grey building of only thirty-four stories.Making the world seem ever smaller." (ad for Lufthansa) Connections to over 170 European destinations. "Departures from 22 North American gateways.Extraordinary the effect it has on a child.'" (Ian Fleming, "Moonraker", 1955) "Ogre's teeth." Being bullied at school and so on. Yes, I expect that's what the psychologists will say when they get you into the lunatic asylum. Comes from sucking your thumb when you're a child. Curiously enough,' he went on conversationally, 'it may have something to do with your teeth. Megalomaniac hatred and desire for revenge. He looked levelly at the great red face across the desk. White, "Hot Weather." "One Man's Meat", 1942) The cicada of the typewriter, telling the long steaming noons.
* * * Asterisks? So soon? * * * It is a hot weather sign, the asterisk.University of South Carolina Press, 1994) (Judith Kitchen, "Culloden," "Only the Dance". Time to drive on, toward Strathpeffer, friends, a phone call from my father. The sky hunkers down, presses, like a lover, against the land. (Tim O'Brien, "LZ Gator, Vietnam." The New York Times Magazine, October 2, 1994)
Not a sandbag, not a nail or a scrap of wire.
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