The Colon

The Colon

  • Use a colon (:) to introduce a list or series of items.
    You should have the following books and supplies with you on the
    first day of class: Roget’s Thesaurus, two pencils, a dictionary, and
    two notebooks.

    These are the eight parts of speech: noun, pronoun, adjective, verb,
    adverb, preposition, conjunction, and interjection.

    Note: A colon should not follow directly after a verb or a preposition.
    The following two sentences include incorrect uses of the colon.

    The two days of the weekend are: Saturday and Sunday.
    We saw our dog run into: the woods, the house, and the
    neighbor’s backyard.

  • Use a colon after the salutation of a business letter.
    Dear Sirs:
    Dear Madam:

  • Use a colon between the hour and the minute of time.
    It is now 4:22.
    The train is due here at 5:08.

  • Use a colon between a title and a subtitle.
    Mary Shelley wrote the novel Frankenstein: or, the Modern Prometheus.
    Did William Shakespeare write Twelfth Night: Or What You Will?
    • --- >>>
  • the interjection
  • Active and passive voices
  • agreement between indefinite pronouns and their antecedents
  • agreement involving prepositional phrases
  • Commas Part Five
  • Commas Part Four
  • Commas Part One
  • Commas Part Three
  • Commas Part Two
  • complete and simple predicates
  • complete and simple subjects
  • complex sentences
  • compound complex sentences
  • compound prepositions and the preposition adverb question
  • compound subject and compound predicate
  • compound subjects part two
  • compound subjects part one
  • Confusing usage words part eight
  • Confusing usage words part five
  • Confusing usage words part four
  • Confusing usage words part one
  • Confusing usage words part seven
  • Confusing usage words part six
  • Confusing usage words part three
  • Confusing usage words part three 2
  • Confusing usage words part two
  • First Capitalization List
  • indefinite pronouns
  • Indefinite pronouns and the possessive case
  • introducing clauses
  • introducing phrases
  • Irregular Comparison of Adjectives and Adverbs
  • irregular verbs part one
  • irregular verbs part two
  • Italics Hyphens and Brackets
  • Misplaced and dangling modifiers
  • More Apostrophe Situations
  • More subject verb agreement situations
  • Parentheses Ellipsis Marks and Dashes
  • Periods Question Marks and Exclamation Marks
  • personal pronouns
  • pronouns and their antecedents
  • Quotation Marks Part Three
  • Quotation Marks Part One
  • Quotation Marks Part Two
  • reflexive demonstrative and interrogative pronouns
  • Regular Comparison of Adjectives and Adverbs
  • regular verb tenses
  • Second Capitalization List
  • sentences fragments and run on sentences
  • singular and plural nouns and pronouns
  • Sound a like words Part Four
  • Sound a like words Part Three
  • Sound a like words Part Two
  • Sound alike words part one
  • subject and verb agreement
  • subject complements predicate nominatives and predicate adjectives
  • subject verb agreement situations
  • the adjective
  • the adjective clause
  • the adjective phrase
  • the adverb
  • the adverb clause
  • the adverb phrase
  • The Apostrophe
  • the appositive
  • The Colon
  • The coordinating conjunction
  • the correlative conjunction
  • the direct object
  • the gerund and gerund phrase
  • the indirect object
  • the infinitive and infinitive phrase
  • The nominative case
  • the noun
  • the noun adjective pronoun question
  • the noun clause
  • the object of the preposition
  • the participle and participial phrase
  • The possessive case
  • The possessive case 2
  • The possessive case and pronouns
  • the preposition
  • the prepositional phrase
  • the pronoun
  • The Semicolon
  • the subordinating conjunction
  • the verb
  • The verb be
  • the verb phrase
  • Transitive and intransitive verbs
  • types of nouns
  • types of sentences by purpose
  • Using Capital Letters
  • what good writers do

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