How to Use Colons

Banish your doubts about when to use a colon. The colon (:) is a useful, but sometimes confusing, piece of punctuation. It only takes a little bit of logic and familiarity with the standard rules of punctuation. Soon, you'll be using colons like the best professional writers.

Things You'll Need

• :

Instructions

Lists or sets

1. Colons separate items while showing a relationships between those items.
   Colons introduce examples, lists or sets.

   Example:
   Her birthday gift was a hand-painted tea set: six cups with saucers, a teapot, a creamer and a sugar bowl.

2. Colons are used to write numerical times, such as 12:34 p.m.

3. Colons introduce dialogue to make it clear who is speaking in an interview transcript or the script for a play or movie.

4. Colons are used in short forms of correspondence, such email, memos and informal invitations. They are also used after the salutation in business correspondence.

5. Colons indicate that the two pieces of text have a cause and effect relationship.

   Example:
   The orchestra is highly regarded: They only hire the finest musicians.

6. Colons introduce lengthy quotations which illustrate a statement.

Resources

• for more examples, explanations and a chance to test your knowledge
• Cliffs Notes on the colon