Its time for….

Learning about colons

All you need to

know about

Colons

and a whole

lot more.

Meaning

• Limb

• Appendage

• Part of something

Derived from Greek word

κῶλον

Colons are used after the greeting of

a business letter

Friendly Letter

Dear Mrs. Minor,

When is the essay due?

Business Letter

Dear Mrs. Minor:

When is the essay due?

In books and movies, colons are

used to separate the title from the

subtitle.

Bible Reference

You can use a colon between the chapter and

verse of a Bible reference (e.g. John 3:16,

Genesis 1:1)

After an Independent Clause

A colon can be used before a list after a

independent clause.

• James had so many things to do this week:

a math test, two research papers, seven

essays, and a chemistry test!

• I absolutely love the following dishes: beef

enchilada, grilled chicken, caeser salad,

and fettuccini alfredo.

Colons are used before a quotation

after an Independent Clause

1. Kory’s statement really reflected how he

felt about the test: “The ACT is awesome!”

2. After viewing Padlet, Joshua was in total

agreement: “We should definitely do padlet

over Theemefy.”

Important Notice!

You must have a independent

clause before a list or quotation

• Paige owns: a Mac Pro, two Nexus tablets,

and a Nokia Lumia

You must not separate a verb from its

complement (its direct object).

• Paige owns a Mac Pro, two Nexus tablets,

and a Nokia Lumia.

You must have a independent

clause before a list or quotation

• Hannah remarked: “Only if I had written the

outline first.”

The sentence must be able to stand on its own

• Hannah remarked, “If I had only written the

outline first.”

How to Use Colons

Review:

Colons are used

1. After the greeting

of a business

letter

2. Subtitles

3. Bible Verses

4. After Independent

clauses

Got it?

Colons can be used between 2

Independent Clauses

The first word of the second clause will not be

capitalized, unless there are more than one

sentences following the colon.

There is also no coordinating conjunction

between the clauses.

Situation #1

The first situation is when you want to explain

or emphasize the second clause

• Glenn stayed up till two o’clock this

morning: Spending hours trying to find a

stronger verb was a noble cause, though.

<Grammar Geek Side Note>

Appositive Clauses

The second clause can also be an appositive

clause.

For example: Theron could not speak: He was

concentrating extremely hard.

The second clause is an appositive, meaning

it modifies Theron instead of telling why he

could not speak.

Appositive Clauses

It does not change how the words were

ordered or how they would be said, but it

does change it internally and grammatically.

</Grammar Geek Side Note>

Situation #2: Logical Consequence

The second place to use a colon between two

independent clauses is similar, but it is when

one is trying to show a logical consequence.

• Only one thing could have happened:

Micah had gotten here first.

• We are convinced that grammar and

spelling is drastically important: we looked

at Youtube comments

Dialogue

Colons are used after a character’s name to

indicate speech in scripts.

George Lucas: You didn’t shoot first!!

Hans Solo: NOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!

Numbers!!

Colons are also very prevalent with numbers.

Use a colon between hours and minutes.

Example 9:30 AM

It can also be used between

minutes and seconds.

Example 10:34:45, 20:13:30

More numbers

In ratios and in scale, colons appear between

the two numbers.

Example: 2:3 (this is read as “2 to 3),

A double colon shows that the ratio is

reduced.

Example: 4:16::1:4 (“4 is to 16 as 1 is to 4)

More…

MATH!!

Even More

Okay

Most popular use of colons, thanks

to this guy….

Emoticons!!!! Icon Meaning

:-) :) :o) :] :3 :c) :> =] 8) =) :} :^) :っ) Smiley or happy face.[1][2][3]

:-D :D 8-D 8D x-D xD X-D XD =-D =D =-3 =3 B^D Laughing,[1] big grin,[2][3] laugh with glasses[4]

:-)) Very happy or double chin[4]

>:[ :-( :( :-c :c :-< :っC :< :-[ :[ :{ Frown,[1][2][3] sad[5]

:-|| :@ >:( Angry[4]

:'-( :'( Crying[5]

:'-) :') Tears of happiness[5]

QQ Crying[6]

D:< D: D8 D; D= DX v.v D-': Horror, disgust, sadness, great dismay[2][3]

>:O :-O :O °o° °O° :O o_O o_0 o.O 8-0 Surprise, shock,[1][6] yawn[7]

:* :^* ( '}{' ) Kiss, couple kissing[4]

;-) ;) *-) *) ;-] ;] ;D ;^) :-, Wink,[1][2][3] smirk[6][7]

>:P :-P :P X-P x-p xp XP :-p :p =p :-Þ :Þ :þ :-þ :-b :b Tongue sticking out, cheeky/playful,[1] blowing a raspberry

>:\ >:/ :-/ :-. :/ :\ =/ =\ :L =L :S >.< Skeptical, annoyed, undecided, uneasy, hesitant[1]

:| :-| Straight face[2] no expression, indecision[5]

:$ Embarrassed,[3] blushing[4]

:-X :X :-# :# Sealed lips or wearing braces[1]

O:-) 0:-3 0:3 0:-) 0:) 0;^) Angel,[1][2][6] saint,[5] innocent

>:) >;) >:-) Evil[2]

}:-) }:) 3:-) 3:) Devilish[5]

o/\o ^5 >_>^ ^<_< High five[7]

|;-) |-O Cool,[5] bored/yawning[6]

:-& :& Tongue-tied[5]

#-) Partied all night[5]

%-) %) Drunk,[5] confused

:-###.. :###.. Being sick[5]

<:-| Dumb, dunce-like[6]

ಠ_ಠLook of disapproval[8] The Unicode character ಠ is from the Kannada

alphabet and can be called differently in HTML

COLONS!

To really review

1. Business letters

2. Subtitles

3. Bible verses

4. After independent clausesa) Before lists

b) Before quotes

c) Before another independent clause

5. Dialogue

6. Time

7. Math

8. And Texting…not while driving

1. Business letters

2. Subtitles

3. Bible verses

4. After independent clausesa) Before lists

b) Before quotes

c) Before another independent clause

5. Dialogue

6. Time

7. Math

8. And Texting…

Colons appear in

Yes, that was much more….

And that is all you need

to know about colons and

a whole lot more.

The End! :)

Any resemblance

between the names in

the presentation and

people in this room is

probably on purpose.