Donna Collins' Blog

The above isn’t that far from the truth.

Colon’s and semi-colons definitely deluded me during my early days as a writer. So, I’m going to try and simplify it – and you all know how much I love SIMPLE.

Lets start with the colon first.

The colon :

Not much to look at, is it. Two little dots. Or, two eyes if you’re on twitter and want to add a smiley face at the end of your 140 characters.

One interesting fact: UK users nearly always follow a colon with a lower-case letter, whereas US users nearly always follow with a capital letter.

Right. So what does the colon do? What is it’s meaning?

First up is “The List”:

The colon is used when the writer wishes to introduce a list of items. Here’s an example:

Before I begin writing, I will need: a writing pad, a pen, a dictionary, some chocolate, and a laptop.

See how the sentence has been split into two sections. The first part says that you need some items. Then, after the colon, it lists what those items are.

Now for the “Definition”:

Donna Newton: a writer, author, screenwriter, runner & one crazy, talkative, adrenaline seeking lass.

Here, the sentence starts with Me and goes on to define who I am….. yes, a complete nutter 🙂

And finally, the “Explanation”:

Mae West had one golden rule for handling men: “Tell the pretty ones they’re smart and tell the smart ones they’re pretty.”

The first part tells us Mae has a golden rule for handling men and the second part explains what that rule is. The above example also shows a colon is useful before a “quote”.

So, to summarise: a colon is used before a list, a definition, and an explanation (or quote).

Is your head spinning yet? No? Well….. let’s press on.

The Semi-Colon ; (or the winking eye).

How is this different to the colon?

A semi-colon must always follow and precede a sentence. Always! (Well apart from one special rule that we will get to later).

So, why not just type two sentences then?

Whey. Slow down and I’ll explain.

The “Relationship Sentences”:

A semi-colon can be used to split two sentences which have a relationship.

Huh?

Okay. Look at the following sentence.

John lives in a blue house. Kerry lives in a yellow house.

Now, these are two perfectly normal sentences and sound fine on their own. But, what if we did this:

John lives in a blue house; Kerry lives in a yellow house.

Now it shows that we, the writer, are suggesting there is some kind of a relationship between the sentences.

But, remember that two sentence rule? You can only use the semi-colon where there are two sentences. Just look at the wrong way:

After working endlessly for little money; Dean chucked in his job.

This example calls for a comma instead of a colon.

The “Transition”:

Semi-colons can also be used to join two sentences using a transition such as however, therefore, on the other hand, hence, consequently, nevertheless and meanwhile, and thus. But note: it cannot be used for sentences joined by and, or, but, yet or while.

Jane cannot swim; however, she loves the ocean.

You should always be polite; otherwise, you may get into trouble.

The lifts have been broken for weeks; therefore, people are having to use the stairs.

The above examples show how the semi-colon works when two sentences  are ‘joined’ together.

The “comma over-use”

Arghhh! Some sentences just carry too many commas. So, here is one special rule where a semi-colon does NOT have to follow or precede a complete sentence.

In my house, where the heating is always on full blast, a broken window pane, which my son broke while playing football, lets in an enormous amount of cold air, so the living room, where I have a dodgy television set, is always cold.

How confusing and mind-boggling is that? It’s hard for a reader to catch breath, let alone follow – and we want our readers alive so they can follow. Don’t we?

So, a semi-colon could be inserted to make it easier on our lovely reader.

In my house, where the heating is always on full blast, a broken window pane, which my son broke while playing football, lets in an enormous amount of cold air; so the living room, where I have a dodgy television set, is always cold.

This breaks up the use of commas, gives your reader time to catch a breath, and makes the sentence much more readable. Or, you could think about rewording your sentence.

The heating is always on full blast in my house. But a broken window pane, which my son broke while playing football, lets in an enormous amount of cold air. Hence the livingroom, where I have a dodgy television, is always cold.

See, no semi colon and a severely reduced amount of commas.

Right, think you understand? I found a great test. Take it and let me know how you scored.

So, how do you find your colons and semi-colons? Do you use them, or avoid them like the plague? Like always, let me know.

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