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Wednesday, April 3, 2013

Wordworking: C is for Colons

                   











No, not those kinds of colons. These ones 

On the outset they look a whole lot more boring, but these colons are like foreplay: anticipation for what's next. They tell us something (exciting) is coming: something that relates to the previous sentence. 

Colons come only after a complete sentence. 

The wall of the colon allows: distention and elongation. (WRONG, no colon necessary)

The wall of the colon forms a series of pouches: they permit distention and elongation. (RIGHT)

Even in a list, make sure the clause before it is a complete sentence: so the colon couldn't come after a verb or after a preposition.

The order of the colon is: the ascending colon, the transverse colon, the descending colon, and the sigmoid colon. (WRONG, no colon necessary)

There are four regions of the colon: the ascending colon, the transverse colon, the descending colon, and the sigmoid colon. (RIGHT)

Quick and Dirty Tip from Grammar Girl:

"If you can replace a colon with the word namely, then the colon is the right choice."

For the comma portion of today:


For more on commas, see my CP Kathryn Purdie's post: Commas and Clauses.

If I got anything wrong, feel free to correct me in the comments. Can you guess what part of grammar I'll focus on tomorrow? Are you doing the A to Z challenge? Let me know and I'll come check it out.

Write On:D

17 comments:

  1. Great post. I think a lot of people confuse the colon and semi-colon too and, as a lover of the humble comma, I also thank you for educating those people who have yet to read 'Eats, Shoots and Leaves' :)

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    1. Eats, Shoots and Leaves is one of my favorite books. I laughed through so much of it--and learned a ton in the process.

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  2. I'm just gonna have my kids read your blog this month. There are a lot of wonderful tips so far. Loving it!
    Dani @ Entertaining Interests
    #warriorminion

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  3. I don't use colons very often. Commas, yes. :) Probably cause I'm not that confident about using colons right. I used to hate semi-colons, but now I know how to use them, and like them.

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    1. I almost never use a colon or a semicolon, but I'm learning the rules and figuring it all out. I use commas ALL the time:D

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  4. Did not know that complete sentence rule about colons. Thanks, Robin.

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    1. Woot! I taught Ilima something. *happy dance*

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  5. I avoid colons and semi-colons at all costs, lol. And commas shall be the death of me. What can I say? I'm a writer, not an editor, haha!

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    1. I don't use colons in my writing either (and semicolons almost never). And well said, "I'm a writer, not an editor." That's the truth for me, for sure:)

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  6. Comma's are so hard to get right and sometimes I think they're just subjective. But others (as in the Grandma example) are necessary. You're thing about the colons made me laugh :)

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  7. I love commas, cuz I love to keep my sentences going sometimes.lol And I find myself using more and more colons. :D

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  8. Ha ha! For a moment I thought it was going to be messy! Then it was messy when they started eating Grandpa!

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  9. I quite like colons, but definitely need more grammarly advice, so will be stopping back on your blog over the month.

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  10. I have a post on commas from a while back, and I love semi-colons; it's so under appreciated.
    What I hate about colons is when people use them on things like invitations.
    To: so-and-so
    From: whoever
    Yes, I hate that.

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  11. Man, I had my comment typed in but somehow lost it. I don't know where it went. My screen zipped up and then it wasn't there when I scrolled down. Weird.

    So, this is what I said.

    I'm not a huge fan of ing participles, whether dangling or not. I do use them but I really notice with writers overuse them. Or when it's so long I get lost in the participle and forget what the rest of the sentence is about. Maybe I'm just a bad reader. :)

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  12. Thanks for the shout out to my post about commas! :-)

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