View source for Colons and semi-colons


== Colon (:) ==

A colon joins two independent clauses and draws the reader’s attention to the second clauses. It indicates something to follow, and by building a momentary sense of anticipation, it can thus add a certain kind of emphasis to the clause. It can also introduce a definition, a list, or indicate a logical conclusion, result or effect. It is also used in more formal letter greetings. 

{| class="wikitable"
! Example !! Type
|-
| There is something that graduate students simply cannot live without: coffee. ||  continuation, anticipatory, emphatic 
|-
| President H. W. Bush spoke on the economy during his term: “In terms of the economy, look, I inherited a recession, I am ending on a recession."  || continuation, anticipatory, emphatic 
|-
| Floodwaters from the storm have closed the following sections of the city: the historical downtown district, the Garden Street district, the Happy Valley area, and sections along the highway. || list
|-
| Traffic light: a device that turns red as you approach it. || definition
|-
| There was only one possible conclusion: the ship had sunk. || conclusion
|-
| To Whom It May Concern: ||letter salutation
|}




== Semicolon (;) ==

===As connectors===

A semicolon can link two independent clauses with no conjunctions or connecting words, to imply a logical relationship between the two clauses. This creates a different flow than with two separate sentences. It often implies a logical connection such as sequence, comparison, cause, or result, in a more formal sounding manner, but using a semicolon instead of a conjunction or connector makes for a more formal, nuanced, implied, or understated relationship. 

* The negotiators could not break their deadlock; they decided to reconvene and discuss the difficult issues after a one-week break. 

* The mice brains were frozen and sliced into strips of 0.1 mm thickness; the slices were then examined for the effects of the drugs on neural tissues. 


Semicolons can join two clauses with conjunctive adverbs (adverbial conjunctions) such as: ''however, moreover, therefore, consequently, otherwise, nevertheless, thus, furthermore. '' In all these examples, the first sentence could end with a full stop, that is, a period, but the semicolon makes the text flow more smoothly, creating a seemingly closer logical connection between both sentences. 

* The negotiators could not break their deadlock; thus, they decided to reconvene and discuss the difficult issues after a one-week break. 

* Drug X was not found to have any effects on neural tissue samples; however, Drug Y was found to increase dopamine levels, as expected.

* Gender was found to have a significant effect; therefore, it was entered as the first variable in the equation. 

* We have increased server capacity to prevent overloads; furthermore, we have also upgraded our network switches.  


===For lists===

Semicolons can also be used as “super commas” for sequences of longer phrases or clauses. This is especially common when the list is preceded by a colon, or a connector like ''i.e.'', ''e.g.'', ''for example'', ''the following'', or other similar markers of a coming list.

* We attempted to examine the following factors in our study: (1) how lexical subclasses of nouns affected usage of articles; (2) how semantic subclasses affected article usage; (3) recency effects and other contextual effects; and (4) individual style variations. 

* For building our rocket, we need to parts and materials such as these: heavy metals to power the batteries such as uranium, plutonium or thorium; liquid fuels such as O<sub>2</sub>, kerosene or methane; and various metal casings. 



[[Category:Punctuation]]