THE COLON :

1. Introduce a List Formal or less formal Example The ceremony to honor Dr. Mills included everything: a moving introduction, a recitation of her achievements, a series of testimonials, and a stirring forecast of her future in the new position. Use a lowercase letter after the colon unless your list is made up of complete statements. - Example The questions were as follows: Where did you last work? For how long? What was your job title? What were your primary achievements?

2. Introduce a Quotation or Formal Statement An independent clause (complete sentence) must precede the colon. The statement following the colon begins with a capital letter. Examples Remember this: Don’t waste time, don’t waste money, but—most important of all—don’t waste your energies and talents. The speaker made the following observation: “In the future, communication between people all over the world will lead not to an enriched culture but a homogenous one.”

3. Introduce a Restatement or Explanation A colon may be used between two independent clauses when the second clause explains or restates the first clause. The program was an unqualified success: hundreds of people attended. These shoes are the best: they are durable, inexpensive, and stylish. Followed by lowercase letter in this usage. If you could insert “that is” after the colon, it is correct. If you could not, you should use a semicolon instead. For example: These shoes are the best: [that is] they are durable, inexpensive, and stylish. BUT, He struggled for years: [that is] success finally arrived. He struggled for years; success finally arrived.

4. Colons With Quotation Marks Always place colons outside of quotation marks. Examples: The article was called “The Last Word”: it was his definitive statement. This statement is from an article called “Good Advice”: “Before you decide to marry a man, check out his relationship with his mother.”

5. Miscellaneous Uses Separate hours and minutes in time – 4:15 Separate volume and number or volume and page number – Newsweek 87:53-56 Separate chapter and verse for biblical passages – Matthew 4:16 Introduce a subtitle – Jane Austen: A Feminist’s View To end the salutation of a business letter – Dear Dr. Aguinaldo:

Practice, Practice, Practice! IN YOUR Writers notebooks: Write a title and subtitle for the story of your life. My attempt: The boy who lived: an aggrandizement of a life like any other

Practice, Practice, Practice! Pick a partner and get a “sentence strip.” Together, come up with one of the most creative, but correct, uses of the colon that you can. Try to create the best, funniest, and/or “coolest” sentence. Use your combined brainpower to blow the rest of us away. Look at all the examples, including the one from “Sonny’s Blues.”

MY COOL SENTENCE If life is a series of choices, then we must decide: What adventures can we guide ourselves to? Though she did not consider herself picky, she did have these qualities that her eventual husband must possess: perfect skin, perfect smile, perfect body, lovely disposition, sunny personality, wonderful career, and perfect devotion to her.