Colons (which look like this : ) can be pretty tricky to use correctly since they have several purposes and we don’t use them as often as periods, question marks and exclamations. However, they’re very important for the clarity of your writing. They’re used to introduce lists, provide details and some other specific uses. Let’s take a look at how to use colons and some rules for doing so.
How to Use Colons to Introduce Lists
One of the most common ways to use a colon is to introduce a list. For this usage, start with a complete sentence or independent clause followed by a colon. Then list items that are examples of what that sentence is discussing.
Examples
There are four different countries that make up the United Kingdom: England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
Sylvia has three hobbies that take up most of her time: sketching pictures, growing flowers and collecting dolls.
Tom Hanks was nominated for three Best Actor Oscars that he didn’t win: Cast Away, Saving Private Ryan and Big.
In these examples, the colon takes the place of words like ‘such as’, ‘and they are’, and ‘which included’. Using the colon can help you use less words and clarify your meaning.
Tip: In a list, make sure to use parallel structure, so that every item in the list is written the same way. In this example, the action phrases in the list should either all be gerunds (verb+ing used as a noun), or all infinitives (to+verb used as a noun), but not a mixture.
Correct – She taught the students three cooking techniques: grilling fish, baking cookies and blending sauces.
Incorrect – She taught the students three cooking techniques: grilling fish, how to bake cookies and learning to blend sauces.
How to use Colons to Provide Explanations
Colons are also used to introduce an explanation about the topic of the sentence. In this case, the segment after the colon can be a clause or a full sentence.
Examples
Making pancakes is easy: just stir the batter, drop it onto the griddle and flip the pancakes when they’re ready.
Joey described a very frightening scene on the beach: a giant shark was attacking one of the swimmers.
How to Use Colons to Provide Details
The last major way to use a colon is to introduce descriptive details about the topic of the sentence.
Examples
Jennifer said that the Natural History Museum exhibits were the best in the country: detailed, extensive and very colorful.
The Mexican salad was my favorite dish: colorful, spicy and full of fresh vegetables.
Other Specific Uses for Colons
There are also some very specific uses of the colon in certain situations.
Use a colon between the title and subtitle of a movie or book.
Avengers: Infinity War
Guns, Germs and Steel: The Fate of Human Societies
Use a colon to separate hours and minutes.
8:30 p.m.
10:00 a.m.
Guidelines for using Colons
Independent/dependent clauses and colons
It is generally incorrect to place a colon after a sentence fragment or dependent clause. Let’s take a look at two examples.
Correct: The campers were absolutely terrified: a bear attacked their group.
Incorrect: Something scary: a bear attacked the campers.
“Something scary” is not a fully independent clause so following it with a colon would be incorrect.
Exceptions
Like so many other times in English, there are a couple of special exceptions to the rule the a colon must be preceded only by a fully independent clause.
1. If you’re quoting someone else, it is then correct to have a colon follow a sentence fragment and you must follow the colon with capitalization.
Example: The man said: “I would like to buy one please.”
2. Introducing a bulleted list
3. The special uses we referred to such as expressing time and separating the title and subtitle of a film.
Capitalizing after a colon
If a colon is followed by a dependent clause, then you would absolutely not begin with a capital letter. If the colon separates two fully independent clauses that are related ideas such as when providing explanation, then it is actually considered a stylistic choice. The English language community is split on which is correct. We would just advise making sure to be consistent throughout your writing. If you choose one way, continue doing so. Also, when you feel unsure, talk to your teachers and professors since they’ll be grading your work.
Correct: Today, I went to the store: I had run out of sugar so I just needed to pick some up quickly.
Incorrect: At the store: I wandered around, bought some things, and left.
How to use colons to introduce bulleted lists
Writing effectively these days will often mean writing for scanability. You want to make it easy for people to easily gather key information so rather than forcing them to read a large chunky paragraph to disseminate a list of things, it will be quicker and easier for people to take in information that you put into a bulleted list. There are just a couple of rules for this.
You can precede the colon with a dependent clause
If the bullet points are single words or short fragments, you do not need periods after each bullet point.
If however, the bullet points are entire sentences, then you should finish each with a period.
Example 1
Good students are:
- Hard-working
- Well-behaved
- Organized
Example 2
Here is how to make a sandwich:
- Take two pieces of bread.
- Place the meat of your choice onto the bread.
- Add the vegetables you like such as cucumbers, tomatoes, lettuce or others.
- Spread preferred condiments onto your sandwich.
- Close the sandwich.
Wrap Up
After this thorough explanation on how to use colons and the reasons for doing so, we hope you’re much more confident with using them to give your writing increased clarity. So while using colons correctly can be a little difficult, it gets easier the more you use them. Make sure to save this page to refer to and follow our blog for more grammar explanations such as this one along with fun activities to do at home. Need more help? FLS Tutors provides customized tutoring services for all ages and subjects. Contact us for a free consultation.
