Rules for Colons and Semicolons

Colon & Semicolon : 

Colon is a punctuation mark which means "what is to be said" & "here is what i meant". Represented as ":" placed vertically. Semicolon is also a punctuation mark, which is used to divide major sentence elements. Represented as ";" and placed vertically.

What is Colon?

Colon refers to a punctuation mark, which is represented through two equal sized dots (:) placed on the same vertical line. The meaning of colon is “that is to say” and “here’s what I mean”. Generally, a colon is used to describe or begin an enumeration. Besides this, a colon is also used with titles and subtitles of books, salutation of business letter, formal letters, hours and minutes, ratios, etc. In simple words, a colon is used to introduce readers about the series of items, to draw attention to something, to present an explanation and it also joins ideas together.

Rules for Using a Colon

1.    Use a colon to introduce or explain a list of items. Make sure that you do not capitalize the first item after the colon (unless it is a proper noun)

2.    Use a colon to introduce a long quotation.

3.    Use a colon when giving an example or explanation.

4.    Do not use colon before a list.

5.    Use a colon to join sentences.

6.    Use a colon express time or use it in titles.

7.    Instead of the comma, use a colon to follow the salutation in a business letter. Use it when addressing someone by his or her first name.

What is Semicolon?

A semicolon is a punctuation mark, which divides major sentence elements. It is represented through one dot and one comma centered on the same vertical line (;). Like comma, semicolon shows an audible pause, which is longer than a comma, but short of a period’s full stop. A semicolon is used between two related independent clauses, which are not joined by a coordinating conjunction. In addition this, semicolons are sometimes used in place of commas to separate items in a list, specifically when the elements of the list contain commas.

Rules for Using a Semicolon

1.    A semicolon is used to link two complete sentences.

2.    It is used with words like however, therefore, namely, that is, for instance, for example, etc. Comma is also used with these words and terms.

3.    It is also used to clarify a list of items and when the items already contain commas.

4.    It can also be used between independent clauses that are linked by a connector including, but, or, and, nor, etc.