Semi Colon and Colon

Semicolons and Colons

 

Semicolons can be used to join two smaller sentences (main clauses, independent clauses) together when they share a central topic or idea.

Don’t just join any old sentences together!  They must be related to one another.

One uses a semicolon just like a period; one should not worry about the capital letter, of course.

Unlike a colon, a semicolon must be followed by a complete thought!

Examples:

Victor Viking was up late after the Homecoming Game victory; he slept till noon the next day.

When he awoke, Victor was excited to go over game film; he immediately went to his VCR.

Although many of the plays were incredible, he found a mistake in the fourth quarter; a missed block led to a sack.

Colon

There are many reasons to use a colon:

-Introduce a list of examples

-Introduce a definition or clarification

-Set up a quotation

A colon may only be used at the end of an independent clause (a.k.a. main clause, simple sentence).

After the colon, almost anything related to the preceding clause is fine: a fragment, a word, or another clause.

Examples:

Victor Viking needed lots of supplies for his kick-off party: pizza, root beer, glitter, glow-sticks, and temporary tattoos!

After the people arrived, they started playing Cricket: a version of darts.

By the end of the night, everyone was saying the same thing: this was the best party EVER.