The colon, weaker than the full stop, but stronger than the semicolon. Okay, here goes: Colons connect related thoughts and put emphasis on what follows the colon.
Major uses for the colon:
1. To introduce lists or examples.
Bring these things to the meeting:
- Your calendar
- A copy of last year's budget
- Your draft of this year's budget
There are three reasons for his dismissal: tardiness, incompetence, and inappropriate language.
2. To link related thoughts, placing emphasis on the second thought
WAMU bank billboard in Chicago area displaying a JD Power and Associates award:
It's official, Chicago: We're nice.
The Miller Truck Repair shop need one thing to remain solvent: It had to win the FedEx contract.
3. After the salutation in a formal business letter.
Dear Ms. Jones:
Dear Dr. Chang:
4. To separate hours from minutes, titles from subtitles, and volumes from pages
The deadline for submission is 5:30 p.m. on Friday.
Government Architecture: Managing Interface Specifications.
Government Architecture 15:233.
It might be worth mentioning that a colon after a salutation is NOT used in the UK. In fact I had never seen or head of it being used that way until reading this informative blog.
ReplyDeleteAlthough I'm aware of many of the differences between UK and US English, this is one I didn't know. Thanks for sharing.
ReplyDelete