The Colon

• Before lists (often to empasize the item or items in the list) which follow an independent clause.

  Each camper should bring the following items: a canteen, a sleeping bag, a pocket knife, and one complete change of clothes.

• To connect independent clauses or to display a specific word or phrase for climactic effect when the second amplifies, defines, explains, or restates the first. (The colon substitutes for phrases like that and Namely and for the abbreviation i.e. Usually the first clause is general, the second more specific.)

  She had good reason to rave: her little brother had broken her favorite figurine.

  After three days, the jury reached its verdict: guilty.

The Semicolon

• Between two independent clauses that are already related. (Usually the relationship is one of opposition with the semicolon acting like a fulcrum on a seesaw.)

  A beauty is a woman you notice; a charmer is one who notices you. - Adlai Stevenson

• With conjunctive adverbs (when the conjunctive adverb joins two independent clauses).

  Jasper was inordinately proud of his house plants; however, it was his wife who actually cared for them.

• To seperate groups of items in a series of 3 or more.

  There were red and green crepepaper decorations on the florescent ceiling fixtures; a bar; a buffett with veal and peppers; steak and mushrooms and a giant clamshell full of shrimp salad; and, in one corner, a five-piece Sanman band. - The New Yorker 05/22/78

• For a mental rest stop before coordinate conjunctions. (This usage is generally avoided.)

  Finally, at the very end of the concert, the trio performed a Charles Ives piece with unforgettable delicacy; but by that time, most of the audience had left.

The Comma

• With a coordinating conjunction (and, or, but, nor, so, yet) to join independent clauses (unless the clauses are very short.)

  The judge entered the courtroom more than an hour late, and the members of the press expressed annoyance at the delay.

  The subway had been operating for months, but Elsie had not yet learned how to use it.

• To set off items in a series of 3 or more.

  The big, red, hairy setter jumped through the glass pane.

  The weeds grew in the garden, on the lawn, and even in the woods.

• Used in pairs, like parentheses, to set off nonessential material embedded within a sentence.

  Non-restrictive Clauses or Phrases: (non-essential information) = use commas

  Jody usually parked her car, with its fancy wheels and custom grill, near the library.

  The dog, an energetic Australian shepard, jumped the fence with ease.

  
  

  Restrictive Clauses or Phrases: (essential information that restricts or limits or identifies the meaning of a word nearby) = no commas

  Colleges with more than 45,00 students are rare.

  The student with hepatitis has been bared from the dining facilities.

• Used to set off material at the beginning or at the end of a sentence. This "rule" is subject to editorial preference. In general, however, if the introductory words contain more than one preposition, use a comma.

  The riverbed was a patchwork of mudcakes, parched by the long summer drought.

  Defeated, the team shuffled slowly into the dressing room.

  In the middle of a dark and stormy night, Jack heard a scream.
  

  PLEASE NOTE: you do not need a comma before every coordinating conjunction (and, or, but, nor, so, yet). Use the comma/coordinating conjunction combination only to:
  

  1. Seperate items in a series of 3 or more or -

  2. To seperate independent clauses -
  

  Do not use the combination to seperate pairs of words or phrases! For example, do not do: blue, and gold.
  

  Dreaded Comma Splices (and how to fix them): A comma splice occurs when two independent clauses are joined by a comma:
  

  Pat lived in terror of comma splices, she didn't know how to fix them.

  
  

  Solution 1: use a comma and a coordinating conjunction:
  

  Pat lived in terror of comma splices, but she didn't know how to fix them.

  
  

  Solution 2: use a colon or semicolon, depending upon the relationship:
  

  Pat lived in terror of comma splices; she didn't know how to fix them.

  
  

  Solution 3: use a semicolon, a conjunctive adverb, and a comma:
  

  Pat lived in terror of comma splices; however, she didn't know how to fix them.

  
  

  Solution 4: use a period:
  

  Pat lived in terror of comma splices. She didn't know how to fix them.

  
  

  Solution 5: subordinate one of the clauses:
  

  Pat lived in terror of comma splices because she didn't know how to fix them.

  Even though Pat lived in terror of comma splices, she didn't know how to fix them.

  Pat, who lived in terror of comma splices, didn't know how to fix them.

The Dash

• To set off independent clauses inserted in sentences.
  

  Samuel Robert Williams--his friends call him Wizard--runs the most progressive newspaper in Wisconsin.



• To set off lists inserted in the middle of clauses:
  

  Women tolerate qualities in a lover--moodiness, selfishness, unreliability, brutality--that they would never countenance in a husband. -- Susan Sontag

  HINT: if you can write the sentence first and it still makes sense, you can then drop your list in the middle.

  
  

• When, after a list, a sentence starts again with a summarizing all, these, or those.
  

  The visual essay, the rhythmic album, the invitation to drop in on a casual conversation--these are the idiosyncratic traits by which television, as television, has come to be recognized. -- Walter Kerr



• To isolate a word or phrase for emphasis or for climactic or humorous effect.
  

  I could never learn to like her--except on a raft at sea with no other provisions in sight. -- Mark Twain.



• When writing dialogue, to indicate a break in speech or thought.
  

  "How are you?"
  "I'm--uh--well--I guess I'll live."



• Typographical notes on the dash: do not space before or after a dash (please note examples above). To make a dash on your word processor or typewriter, use two hyphens.
• Other punctuation and the dash: do not use other punctuation (comma, semicolon, colon, period) in conjucntion with the dash. The only exceptions to this rule are the exclamation point, the question mark, and the quotation mark.

• Conjunctive Adverbs: consequently, furthermore, however, moreover, nevertheless, otherwise, then, therefore, thus, furthermore, similarily, etc.


• Coordinating Conjunctions: for, and, nor, but, or, yet, so (remember "fanboys")


• Clause: a group of closely related words containing a subject and a finite verb.
  

  Independent Clause: a clause that makes sense as a sentence in itself.

  Dependent Clause: a clause that would be considered a sentence fragment in itself.

  
  

  Susan loves her English class although she is nervous about her first paper.

  INDEPENDENT CLAUSE

  DEPENDENT CLAUSE

--Portions of the colon, semicolon, and dash sections were stolen outright from Dr. John C. Schafer, Humboldt State University English Department.

--Comma section garnered from Writing (Is an Unnatural Act)