Colons (:)

 

Why Do You Need Colons?

Colons help you vary your sentence structure in order to make your paper flow better and be more interesting to read. They can help express complex thoughts in an organized fashion.

 

What Do Colons Do?

Colons are placed in between the main clause of a sentence and any additions or modifications.

Example James has three favorite types of restaurants: Chinese, Thai, and Indian.

In this example, the colon comes between the main clause (James… restaurants) and the addition of the list of his three favorite types of restaurants.

Example Once we had climbed over the fence, we encountered our first problem: zombies.

Here, the colon separates the main clause and the addition of what the first problem was. The colon allows the addition to be dropped in the middle of the flow of the paragraph without being fitted into its own independent clause.

This We require three tasks from all our employees. We expect them to be on time, to do their jobs, and to follow company protocol.

Becomes this We require three tasks from all our employees: be on time, do your job, and follow company protocol.

Using a colon is more concise and improves the flow of the paragraph. It also emphasizes the “three tasks.”

Incorrect At the store, I bought: eggs, flour, and milk.
Correct At the store, I bought eggs, flour, and milk.
Correct At the store, I bought three things: eggs, flour, and milk.

Colons do not separate verbs and their objects or subjects and their verbs. In other words, you will never find a colon in the middle of an independent clause. However, you can place colons after or between independent clauses when the second part modifies the first.

Example Mary thinks that the forest is pretty after it rains: the trees are black and glistening, and the forest smells of plants and good dirt.

In this case, the independent clause after the colon is an explanation of the independent clause before the colon. Without the second independent clause, the reader would not know why Mary thinks that the forest looks pretty after rain. Therefore, you can put a colon between the two independent clauses.

This After the first few of us were bitten, we learned a very important lesson. That lesson was that you don’t bother attacking anything other than the zombie’s head.
           
Becomes this After the first few of us were bitten, we learned a very important lesson: don’t bother attacking anything other than the zombie’s head.

In this example, you combine the two sentences into one much more effective sentence when you use a colon to eliminate the unnecessary and repetitive fluff surrounding the lesson learned.

 

Exercises

Combine these sets of two sentences into one sentence each using a colon.

1. There are three things that I can never find when I need them. I can never find my car keys, the TV remote, or my cell phone.

2. There was something that Luke desperately wanted to know. He was wondering why Obi Wan had never told him that Darth Vader was his father.

Select Correct or Incorrect:
C   I   Geoffrey, despite his high IQ: could never beat Sarah at chess.
C   I   You need to buy some items at the store: baking soda, vanilla, and chocolate chips.
C   I   The zombies were coming, but: we still had time to destroy the stairs.
C   I   I can’t imagine a better day than this one: it’s sunny and warm and I’m on the beach!

 

Answers

1. There are three things that I can never find when I need them: my car keys, the TV remote, or my cell phone.

2. There was something that Luke desperately wanted to know: he was wondering why Obi Wan had never told him that Darth Vader was his father.

C   I   Geoffrey, despite his high IQ: could never beat Sarah at chess.
C   I   You need to buy some items at the store: baking soda, vanilla, and chocolate chips.
C   I   The zombies were coming, but: we still had time to destroy the stairs.
C   I   I can’t imagine a better day than this one: it’s sunny and warm and I’m on the beach!

 

Click here to download a PDF version of this page.