The Colon: a sentence

gateway
Thecoloncomesatapointinthesentence
wherethesentencecouldcometoacomplete
stop.
Imgoingtotellyouthenamesofmy
favoritebreakfastfoods.
Wecouldevenputaperiodafter
thewordfoods,couldntwe?In
fact,wedid.

The Colon: a sentence

gateway
Weknow,however,whatsgoingtocome
afterthisperiod.

Imgoingtotellyouthenamesofmy
favoritebreakfastfoods.
Thatsright,aLISTof
breakfastfoods.

The Colon: a sentence

gateway
Imgoingtotellyouthenamesofmy

favoritebreakfastfoods meuslix,
cornflakes,oatmeal,gritsandgravy,
andyogurtontoast.
Andtheproperpunctuationmarkto
setoffthislistfromwhatprecedesit
isacolon.Thecolonannounces
thatalistisabouttofollow;itisthe
gatewaytothatlist.

The Colon: a sentence

gateway
Myfavoritebreakfastfoodsare
meuslix,cornflakes,oatmeal,gritsand
gravy,andyogurtontoast.
WouldIuseacoloninthesentence
above?

No,becausethesentencedoesnotcome
toahalthere.
Instead,thesentenceflowsrightintothelist.
Acolonwouldnotbeappropriatehere.

The Colon: a sentence

gateway
Examinethisnextsentencecarefully.
Our math tutor wants just one thing
from us that we try our best.
Here,wehaveanindependent
thought(endingwithus).
followedbyanotherkindof
completer(anounclause).

The Colon: a sentence

gateway
Tosetoffthiscompleter,this
explanation,wecanuseacolon.
Our math tutor wants just one thing

from us that we try our best.

Thesearethetwomainusesofthecolon:
tosetoffalistoranexplanationthatwe
knowisabouttofollowthemainpartof
thesentence.

The Colon: a sentence

gateway
Wealsousethecolontoset
offaformalquotation.
My father was always using his
favorite quotation from Yogi
Berra: It aint over till its over.

The Colon: a sentence

gateway
Justrememberthatyouusuallyknowwhat
isgoingtofollowacolon:alist,an
explanation,oraformalquotation.

Youhavenowmasteredtheusesofthecolon,a
veryhandydeviceinthepunctuationofyour
sentences.Dontforgettotakethequizzeson
punctuationlistedontheQuizListpageofthe
GuidetoGrammarandWriting.

This PowerPoint presentation was created by

Charles Darling, PhD
Professor of English and Webmaster
Capital Community College
Hartford, Connecticut
copyright November 1999