Punctuate it right

By Ranjana S.

§  The colon :

By now you must have mastered to use capital letters, periods, question marks, exclamation points, and commas with perfection, you have mastered the hardest and most common punctuation marks.

Here we will talk about the less frequently used punctuation mark, the colon(:).

The colon (:) indicates a division in writing or a pause in speech greater than that of a comma and less than that of a period. It usually separates a general, introductory item from a specific explanation, list, quotation, number, or the like. It often indicates to the reader: " I've told you my overall plan; now look at the details."

The colon has four principal uses:

1. Use a colon to follow the salutation (greeting) of a formal or business letter, speech, or report.

Dear Dr. Louis:   

To Whom It May Concern:

Gentlemen:

Mr. Chairman, Honored Guests,

Ladies and Gentlemen:

When is a letter formal enough to require a colon after the greeting? Usually, when you address the reader by his or her business, professional, or other official title or by an impersonal term of address like Sir or Madam. The trend, especially in some kinds of business letters, is toward the more informal comma rather than the colon.

2. We use colon after a word, phrase, or statement that introduces a list or an item.

Grocery list: bread, butter, milk, orange juice, burgers.

On duty: Richards, Brown,Janet.

For rent: large 8-room apartment.

Fred excels in the following sports: baseball, basketballand cricket.

Kindly note:

The colon is used after a phrase such as "including the following," "as follows," etc. Do not use a colon, however, if the verb in the statement leads directly into a list- that is, if you would not pause in saying the sentence. Hence:

Fred excels in basketball, baseball, and hockey.

One simple way to tell when to use the colon and when not to use it is to say the sentence out loud. If you normally take a breath before the list, then use a colon to indicate the pause. If you wouldn't pause when saying a sentence, then don't use a colon.

3. Use a colon after a statement that introduces a quotation, another statement, or an explanation or amplification of what has just been said.

The Director began the meeting with this warning: " Team we are in trouble."

My conclusion is:The mixture will not spill at all.

I have three objections to the plan: It would take too long, it would cost too much, and it would be too risky.

Kindly note:

You should use the colon in this way only when you want to emphasise the quotation, the second statement or the amplification by setting it off from the rest of the sentence. If you don't want such strong emphasis, you can link the introductory words and the following statement in some less emphatic fashion.

The Director began the meeting by saying, "Team we are in trouble."

My conclusion is that the mixture will not spill at all.

I have three objections to the plan because it would take too long, cost too much and be too risky.

4. A colon is often used to separate the hour from the minutes in a numerical writing of the time of day (6:15), or the volume number from the page number in a citation from a publication( The Provisional Teachings Record 75:856).