Signaling Your Meaning with Colons and Semicolons

Colons and semicolons are like traffic signals: they tell readers how to steer through two parts of a sentence. The following sentence features a correctly used colon:

That’s the bottom line: The lawns go away when the water rates go up.

— “Author sees growth in the trend of replacing lawns,” sfgate.com, August 21, 2011

The colon signals that the second half of the first sentence follows logically from the first half. (I.e., the bottom line is that lawns are linked to water rates.)

The following quotation in the same article features a correctly used semicolon:

“I planted my native grass meadow in 1989; it’s never been fertilized.”

The semicolon merely links two loosely related thoughts. (It makes sense for the speaker to mention both fertilization and a planting date in a sentence about one meadow. However, the no-fertilizer choice doesn’t depend on the date.)

Using semicolons and colons correctly can help readers navigate through your prose and follow your ideas more easily. Being able to use them deftly adds sophistication to your business writing.

Write It Well’s book Essential Grammar includes two full chapters on punctuation. We’ve made all the book’s exercises available as a free download here to accompany the e-book, which is now available on Amazon.com!

Do you have an important document but not enough time to untangle your sentences or double-check your punctuation and spelling? Just use Write It Well’s editing services to make sure your readers follow your ideas and respect your voice.