Colon and Semi Colon
Many English speakers are uncertain about the correct usage of the colon and the semi colon.
The colon ( : ) is a punctuation mark consisting of two dots one over the other whereas the semi colon ( ; ) consists of a dot above a comma.
In the majority of the cases, the colon is used to introduce a list of things while a semi colon is used to separate sentences where the conjunction has been left out.
The following examples will make the usage clear.
COLON |
SEMI COLON |
|
I have packed my cricket kit with the equipment I need: bats, gloves and pads. |
Sumit likes to play cricket; Amit likes to play soccer. |
|
A man needs three things to survive: air, water and food. |
I drank lemonade; Manish drank tea. |
The following sentence will illustrate the use of both these punctuation marks -
I talked to four men: Amit, who is from Delhi; Manoj, who is from Lucknow; Vinod, who is from Mumbai; and Mohan, who is from Patna.
