Colons and Semicolons
By Christy Bynum, Larica Kintchen
and James Burdge
What is a Colon?
It follows an independent clause and
introduces one of 3 things:
 A defining example
 A list
 A quotation

Examples of Using a Colon
She had only one person to blame: herself.
 The baseball coach claimed the team’s success
stemmed from four things: solid pitching, good
fielding, consistent hitting, and excellent
teamwork.
 The chairman was forceful in his pleas for help:
“Everyone must do his or her part to make this
company profitable in the third quarter.”

What is a Semicolon?
A punctuation symbol used to separate
major sentence elements
 Use them to join two independent clauses
 Use them to separate a list which already
has internal commas
 Link clauses connected by conjunctive
adverbs or transitional phrases

Examples of Semicolons



My grandmother goes to bed
early; she’s afraid of missing
out on something.
My favorite pizza combinations
are sausage, pepperoni, and
onions; extra cheese,
mushrooms, and hamburger;
and peppers, onions, and
olives.
We greatly appreciated your
excellent on-the-job
performance; therefore, we
are giving you a raise.
Works Cited



"Semicolons." The Writing Center: University of Wisconsin-Madison.
2006. The Writing Center: University of Wisconsin-Madison. 26
June 2007 <http://www.wisc.edu/writing/Handbo
ok/Semicolons.html>.
"The Semicolon." Guide to Grammar and Writing. The Guide to
Grammar and Writing. 26 June 2007
<http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/marks
/semicolon.htm>.
"Basic Colon And Semicolon Rules ." Faculty of Arts Writing Centre.
2001. Memorial University of Newfoundland. 26 June 2007
<http://www.mun.ca/writingcentre/colonrules.shtml>.