Colons

A colon (:) shows that the words which follow it are an

explanation or an example of what is written before it, e.g.

A hamburger is made up of three layers: the bottom

half of the bun, the burger and the top half of the bun.

A colon is usually placed after a complete sentence but it

can be followed by many or few words, e.g.

Colons are placed directly after the last word of the main
idea and they are followed by one space only. They are
never followed by either a hyphen (-) or a dash (–).
Colons

1. Tom watched a football match on Saturday:

Chelsea versus Arsenal.
2. The fire destroyed many things in the house:
the furniture, the carpets and the curtains.
3. I just bought a new car: a Land Rover.
4. There are seven colours in the rainbow: red,
orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet.
5. Megan went shopping and bought some fruit:
two apples, some cherries and a melon.
Semicolons
A semicolon (;) joins two complete sentences into one.
This is because some sentences are too closely related to be
separated by a full stop but they are missing a connecting
word, such as and or but, e.g.

Eating chocolate in moderation is fine;

eating chocolate to excess is bad.

The semicolon joins the separate statements about chocolate

into one sentence which acts like a warning: eating a little
chocolate is fine but beware of eating a lot because it is bad.
It suggests that the first event is related to the second event.
Semicolons

1. Megan was angry; Tom was not listening.

2. It was the best year; it was the worst year.
3. Max felt hot; the sun was blazing.
4. I don’t like cabbage; I don’t like carrots.
5. I found the film long; Tim found the film short.
Pairs of dashes

Pairs of dashes allow writers to strongly interrupt the flow of

a sentence to provide their readers with useful information,
e.g.

‘The countess glared at the maid – who had stolen the

heart of her husband – and threw a silver hairbrush at her.’

The extra information is placed between the dashes for

emphasis, but the sentence should also make sense alone.
Commas

Sometimes, we want to add information to make our writing

clearer, without distracting the reader from the sentence, e.g.

John, who hated cola, bought a lemonade in the café.

Commas

1. Mexico, assumed by many to be a South American

country, is in North America.
2. Saint Patrick , also patron saint of excluded people , is
the patron saint of Ireland.
3. The Moon, although it floats in space like the Earth, is
not a planet.
4. Bulls, despite the fact that they will attack a red cloak ,
are colour-blind.
5. A tomato , although a fruit, is usually eaten on a salad.
Commas

Commas are used to separate three or more words,

phrases, or clauses (sentence parts) in a series:

The entree included chips, salsa, and a beverage.

Commas

Commas are used after an introductory dependent clause

(a group of words before the subject of a sentence that do
not form a complete sentence):

Since we would be returning late anyway, we stayed to

watch the sunset.
Commas

Commas indicate that introductory words and phrases

moved from the end of the sentence:

In the light of day, everything looked different.

Commas

Commas are used between independent clauses (complete

sentences) joined by a coordinating conjunction: for, and,
nor, or, yet, so:

My family went to see the live taping of Ru Paul's Drag

Race, and I stayed home with a flue.
Commas

Commas set off nonessential phrases or clauses (phrases

that can be removed without changing the sentence’s
overall meaning) or appositives (words or phrases that
rename a noun):

My cousin, who recently joined the mafia, said it would be

best if I skipped town for a while.
Commas

Commas separate paired adjectives that describe a noun.

You need a comma between adjectives that could go in any
order—they’re not cumulative and could be separated by
the word “and.” Do not use a comma between adjectives
that need to be in a particular order.
Hyphens

Use hyphens with compound numbers from twenty-one to ninety-nine

and with fractions used as modifiers (adjectives).
Use hyphens in a compound adjective only when it comes before the
word it modifies. There are exceptions; look up compound adjectives in
the dictionary if you are unsure whether or not to hyphenate them.
Use a hyphen with the prefixes ex-, self-, and all-; with the suffix elect-;
and with all prefixes before a proper noun or proper adjective.
Use a hyphen with compound phrases. Note: When describing ages,
phrases that function as adjectives will use hyphens, while numbers as
adjectives will not use hyphens.
Also, note how hyphens can change meaning, and use them
accordingly.