Punctuation   >>   Colon    Examples

Colon Rules

• A punctuation mark represented by: :
• Used to start a list
• Used to show what's about to follow is an elaboration of the statement before the colon

• At the end of a sentence, before starting a list
• example 1:  I bought 3 things at the store: an apple, an orange and a banana.
• example 2:  I bought three items:
• an apple
• an orange
• a banana
• Between two sentences, where the second sentence provides additional details about the first
• example:  He was looked everywhere for his car: a blue Lexus with white pin-strips down the middle.
• When addressing someone in a formal letter
• example:  To Whom It May Concern:
• To separate a sentence from a quote
• example:  My favorite quote from Shakespeare is: "To be or not to be."

• The sentence before the colon should be a complete sentence.
• example:  This is an outrage: These working conditions are not acceptable.

• Unless you are using bullets, make sure to include an "and" before the last item in a list
• example 1:  We saw many animals: cows, goats, and sheep.
• example 2:  We saw the following animals:
• cows
• goats
• sheep

• A colon followed by a complete sentence should have the first letter after the colon be capitalized
• example:  It's as if the field had always been empty: All traces of the big oak tree were gone.

• A colon used after a quote should be placed outside the quotation marks
• example:  Home many times have you seen "The Little Mermaid": one, twice, three times?

• Always place colon between the hour and minutes when talking about time.
• example:  It is 10:05 A.M.

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