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
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' :)
ReplyDeleteEats, Shoots and Leaves is one of my favorite books. I laughed through so much of it--and learned a ton in the process.
DeleteI'm just gonna have my kids read your blog this month. There are a lot of wonderful tips so far. Loving it!
ReplyDeleteDani @ Entertaining Interests
#warriorminion
Thanks Dani!
DeleteI 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.
ReplyDeleteI 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
DeleteDid not know that complete sentence rule about colons. Thanks, Robin.
ReplyDeleteWoot! I taught Ilima something. *happy dance*
DeleteI 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!
ReplyDeleteI 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:)
DeleteComma'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 :)
ReplyDeleteI love commas, cuz I love to keep my sentences going sometimes.lol And I find myself using more and more colons. :D
ReplyDeleteHa ha! For a moment I thought it was going to be messy! Then it was messy when they started eating Grandpa!
ReplyDeleteI quite like colons, but definitely need more grammarly advice, so will be stopping back on your blog over the month.
ReplyDeleteI have a post on commas from a while back, and I love semi-colons; it's so under appreciated.
ReplyDeleteWhat I hate about colons is when people use them on things like invitations.
To: so-and-so
From: whoever
Yes, I hate that.
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.
ReplyDeleteSo, 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. :)
Thanks for the shout out to my post about commas! :-)
ReplyDelete