Colon Usage (K)


1) When you have a complete IC, you can end it with a colon to start a list.

        Example: Seventeen of the dancing girls in the line knew both of the necessary forms that day: tap and kick boxing.


2) When you have a complete IC, you can magnify the first IC with a second IC.

        Example: I loved that dude's tamales: he breathed fire into his mix!


3) You can't use a colon and "such as": it's one or the other.

        Wrong: We like to eat many types of pizza, such as: pepperoni, anchovies, and dinosaur.

        Right: We like to eat many types of pizza: pepperoni, anchovies, and dinosaur.


4) You can't separate a subject complement from the rest of the sentence with a colon.

        Wrong: The class that had survived the semester gave: a gift to their teacher.

        Right: The class that had survived the semester gave a gift to their teacher.


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