The colon (:) marks a bigger pause than that is expressed by the semicolon. It is sometimes used with a dash after it.
- We cancelled our decision to go on a holiday: we had too little money.
- Jane had to be hospitalized: she had heart trouble.
Direct speech
A colon is used when famous sayings are quoted.
- Bacon says: ‘Reading makes a full man, writing an exact man, speaking a ready man.’
A colon is also used when direct speech is introduced by a name.
Polonius: What do you read, my lord?
Hamlet: Words, words, words.
In other cases, direct speech is usually introduced by a comma.
- Peter looked at the photo and said, ‘Who is this beautiful girl?’
Lists
A colon can introduce a list.
- The three tenses are: the present tense, the past tense and the future tense.
- We need three kinds of support: financial, political and moral.
In a title or heading, a colon is often used to introduce a subdivision of a subject.
- Tenses: the present tense
- Punctuation: colon
Capital letters
In British English, we do not normally use a capital letter after a colon. In American English, colons are more often followed by capital letters.
- Verbs: transitive verbs (GB)
- Verbs: Transitive verbs (US)
Letters
In letters Americans usually put a colon after the opening salutation.
Dear Mr. Mathews:
I am writing to…
British people prefer a comma in this case. Sometimes they do not use any punctuation mark at all.
Dear Mr Mathews,
I am writing to…