1/27/2024 0 Comments Namely usageNabokov writes that life is “a brief crack of light between two eternities of darkness.” No punctuation is needed when the quotation is integrated into the syntax of your prose: Nabokov opens his autobiography with a statement on mortality: “The cradle rocks above an abyss, and common sense tells us that our existence is but a brief crack of light between two eternities of darkness.”īut use a comma after a verb of saying (e.g., says, exclaims, notes, writes):Īs Nabokov writes, “The cradle rocks above an abyss, and common sense tells us that our existence is but a brief crack of light between two eternities of darkness.” Use colons to introduce a quotation when it is not integrated into the syntax of your sentence or otherwise requires a formal introduction: Karen started to worry: Would Teresa remember to pick up the cake? Would the guests arrive on time? And what would Karen do if Dawn wanted to go home after dinner? Introducing Quotations Surprise!Ī series of related questions is likewise introduced by a colon: Then Karen would bring Dawn to the house after dinner. While Karen and Dawn had dinner, Teresa would meet the guests at Karen’s house. Karen had the plan all worked out: She would take Dawn out to dinner for her birthday. Introducing Related SentencesĪ colon may be used to introduce a series of related sentences: To make a cake you need butter, sugar, eggs, milk, flour, leavener, and salt. If the words before the colon do not constitute a sentence, do not use a colon: To make a cake you need a few basic ingredients: butter, sugar, eggs, milk, flour, leavener, and salt. Use a colon before a series or list only if the words that introduce the list make up a complete sentence: To make a cake you need the following ingredients: butter, sugar, eggs, milk, flour, leavener, and salt.Ĭombine the ingredients as follows: first, cream the butter with the sugar second, add the eggs and milk third, add the flour, leavener, and salt. Use a colon with the phrases as follows and the following. Silvia slumped in her chair and closed her eyes: she had never felt so dejected. In that instant Brandon made a decision: he would fly to Toronto and propose to Sean. It alerts the reader to read on for an explanation or expansion of the first clause: A colon, however, connects two clauses in a specific way, indicating that the second clause expands on the first. When a semicolon is used, the nature of that connection is variable: the connection may be causal, sequential, oppositional, and so on. Joining Independent ClausesĪ semicolon or colon joining two independent clauses signals a connection between them. Colons, like semicolons, should be used sparingly. Like a semicolon, a colon can connect two independent clauses, but it has several other uses as well.
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