October 14, 2011

Why Does Anyone Capitalize the Words after Colons?

Colons are slightly advanced punctuation marks, so it’s important to use them carefully.

Some writers still capitalize a word after a colon, as in this sentence:

Mary Ann thinks the presentation is flawed: She finds it too long and unfocused.

The capital letter in “She” is a bit old fashioned; we recommend lowercasing all words after colons except for proper nouns.

However, the traditional uppercase letter points to an important fact about colons. Like periods, colons should only follow groups of words that could stand alone as correct, complete sentences. (“Mary Ann thinks the presentation is flawed. She finds it too long and unfocused.”)

Even though it’s simpler to lowercase the word “she” after the original colon above, the old-fashioned capital letter can remind you not to use a colon incorrectly in sentences such as this one:

Mary Ann thinks that: the presentation is too long, lacks focus, and should be completely revised.

Adding a colon makes that sentence incorrect. You can add sophistication to your writing when you’re careful never to type a colon after a fragmentary idea.

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Write It Well’s book Essential Grammarincludes a chapter on sentence mechanics and two more on punctuation. You’ll learn how to write for maximum impact in all your business documents.

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 clarify your thoughts and double-check your punctuation and grammar? Just use Write It Well’s editing services to make sure your readers follow your ideas and respect your voice.