Colons and Semi-Colons

Colon and Semi-Colon

The most common punctuation marks in English are probably the period and the comma. However, good writing in English will usually make use of the colon and the semi-colon. Although these look similar and have similar names, their functions are completely different. This page will explain the functions of the colon and the semi-colon.

1. The colon

A colon consists of two dots, one above the other:

The colon is often used to introduce a list of items. For example:

You will need to bring three things to the party: some food, something to drink, and a small gift for the hostess.

This sentence contains a list of three items. The first part of the sentence tells you that there will be three things; then the colon tells you "here are the three things". You can also use a colon to introduce an explanation or a definition of something. For instance:

I'll tell you what I'm going to do: I'm going to quit!

"Elephant (noun): a large grey mammal found in Africa and India."

2. The semi-colon

A semi-colon consists of a comma with a dot above it:

The semi-colon is often used to join together two independent clauses — in other words, it joins two clauses that could be sentences. For example:

Mary drives a Mercedes; Joanne drives a Chevrolet.

One more very common use of the semi-colon is to join two clauses using a transition such as however, therefore, or on the other hand. Here are some examples:

Transition	Example
in addition	She works all day in a store; in addition, she takes classes in the evenings.
however	John is Canadian; however, he lives in the United States.
otherwise	You should get your brakes fixed; otherwise, you might have an accident.
therefore	Hundreds of people cross the border from the US to Canada every day; therefore, it is not possible to search all of them carefully.