Buy these things: a packet of peanut, two loaves of bread, and a kilogram of steak. â¢. These include the instructional
Perfect your punctuation Colons
[:]
and
Semi‐colons[;]
Colons and semi-colons can add interest to your sentences and they can help to express your ideas more clearly. Here are some guidelines for their correct use.
The
following
are
examples
of
colon
use:
To introduce a list or summary: •
Buy these things: a packet of peanut, two loaves of bread, and a kilogram of steak.
•
These include the instructional design principles: physical integration, elimination of redundancy, and the use of multimedia instruction
To introduce a long direct quotation: •
Peter Coveney had this to say about the nineteenth-century’s use of children in fiction: The purpose and strength of…
To separate an initial sentence or clause from a second clause, list or phrase that supports the first in a particular way: •
The television set, as the icon of the information age, represents the realisation of a dream for humankind: that knowledge and experience can be transmitted and shared across the boundaries of time and space.
The
following
are
examples
of
semi‐colon
use:
To separate items in a list if the list already includes commas: •
Members of the band include Harold Rostein, clarinetist; Tony Aluppo, tuba player; and Lee Jefferson, trumpeter.
•
He has lived in Sydney, Australia; Auckland, New Zealand; and New York, USA.
As a second level punctuation in a series of words or phrases, which already have commas, making some internal divisions: •
One paper, the Canberra Times, managed a regular daily edition on a Sunday; even there, Saturday’s offered a better read.
To separate two complete sentences that are closely linked. The semi-colon can replace a full-stop: •
Grammar is easy; I learned it quickly.
•
Don’t go near the lions; they could bite you.
The Student Learning Centre, HEDC, Ground Floor, Central Library Building. Tel: 479-5786 Website: www.otago.ac.nz/slc Email:
[email protected]
Quiz
Insert
colons
or
semi‐colons
in
the
following,
if
appropriate:
1.
The zoo had many strange animals, some were struggling to survive.
2.
Our acting director often quotes from Shakespeare’s Tempest, “We are such stuff as dreams are made on…”
3.
We had three professors on our committee, Peter Wursthorn, Professor of Mathematics, Ronald Pepin, Professor of English, and Cynthia Greenblatt, Professor of Education.
4.
Only one paper, the Balclutha Times, managed a regular daily edition on a Sunday, even there, Saturday’s offered a better read.
5.
The Jacobsen lawn mower beats its competitiors especially in one key area, reliability.
Quiz
Answers:
1.
The zoo had many strange animals; some were struggling to survive.
2.
Our acting director often quotes from Shakespeare’s Tempest: “We are such stuff as dreams are made on…”
3.
We had three professors on our committee: Peter Wursthorn, Professor of Mathematics; Ronald Pepin, Professor of English; and Cynthia Greenblatt, Professor of Education.
4.
Only one paper, the Balclutha Times, managed a regular daily edition on a Sunday; even there, Saturday’s offered a better read.
5.
The Jacobsen lawn mower beats its competitiors especially in one key area: reliability.
The
Student
Learning
Centre
runs
workshops
on
WriEng
beGer
sentences
and
paragraphs
How 2 Register?
On‐line:
at
www.otago.ac.nz/slc
Or
contact
us
:
Ground
Floor,
Central
Library
Building
Tel:
03‐4795786
student‐learning‐
[email protected]
The Student Learning Centre, HEDC, Ground Floor, Central Library Building. Tel: 479-5786 Website: www.otago.ac.nz/slc Email:
[email protected] 