What are colons?

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Colon

Grammar Toolkit

Colon

A colon introduces information. It tells your reader that something will follow.

A colon may introduce:• a list

Things I need: tie, red nose and striped shirt.• an explanation or summary

I have just one role: make people laugh.• a quotation

Heinrich Heine said: “When the heroes go off the stage, the clowns come on.”

• what someone will say in a playBOBO, THE CLOWN: Let’s light the fuse! KA-BOOM!

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Colon

A list can be part of a sentence or in point form.

Use these ingredients: flour, eggs and butter.

The ingredients are:• flour• eggs• butter.

There is no verb when the list is written like this.

There is a verb when the list is written like this.

Please bring these items: a thick jacket, gloves, warm socks and a torch. Abraham Lincoln said: “Whatever you are, be a good one.”There’s only one holiday spot for me: Fiji.“Which floor would you like: toys, bedding or women’s clothing?”It lay before us: a long, steep, twisting, treacherous trail.

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Colon

Where do the colons belong?:

:

::

:

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Colon

You may also see colons in

the subtitles of books and filmsStar Wars Episode 6: Return of the Jedi

text referencesProverbs 3:5

ratios in mathematics3:1

This means chapter 3, verse 5.

This means a ratio of “three to one”.

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Colon

• Punctuation helps others to understand our writing.

• Colons (:) introduce information in explanations (e.g. She had only one goal: victory!), lists (e.g. My best subjects: maths, English and Italian) and quotations (e.g. Nelson Mandela said: “Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.”).

• Colons also come before the name of a speaker in a script, and are used in subtitles, references and to show ratios.

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Colon

The End