Grammar Tip of the Week!

1. Grammar Tip of the Week! Week Five Colons (from Strunk and White’s Elements of Style)

2. When Should a Writer Use a Colon? • Use a colon (:) after an independent clause to introduce: • a list of particulars, • an appositive (provides info about a noun), • An amplification of an idea, or • An illustrative quotation • A colon tells the reader that what follows is closely related to the preceding clause. • The colon has moreeffect than the comma, less power to separate than the semicolon, and more formality than the dash.

3. Colons • A colon follows an independent clause and should not separate a verb from its complement or a preposition from its object. • WRONG: Your dedicated whittler requires: a knife, a piece of wood, and a back porch. • CORRECT: Your dedicated whittler requires three props: a knife, a piece of wood, and a back porch.

4. Colons • A writer may join two independent clauses with a colon ONLY IF the second clause interprets or amplifies the first clause. • CORRECT: But even so, there was a directness and dispatch about animal burial: there was no stopover in the undertaker’s foul parlor, no wreath or spray. • ALSO CORRECT: But even so, there was a directness and dispatch about animal burial; there was no stopover in the undertaker’s foul parlor, no wreath or spray.

5. Colons and Quotations • A colon may introduce a quotation that supports or contributes to the preceding clause. • CORRECT: The squalor of the streets reminded him of a line from Oscar Wilde: “We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars.”

6. Other Uses for the Colon • The colon also has certain functions of form: • The salutation of a formal letter, • To separate hour and minute in a notation of time, • To separate the title of a work from its subtitle, • To separate a Bible chapter from a verse • Examples: • Dear Mr. Montague: • An Image of Africa: Racism in Heart of Darkness • The train departs at 10:48 p.m. • John 3:16