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Snarf Posted 14 years ago
Letter Writing
Colons vs. Periods
Sometimes I wonder if I should be connecting two different sentences with a colon. Take these two examples:
That was the truth. He did not know.
That was his excuse. He could not resist.
Would a colon be better after "truth" and "excuse" or does it not matter?
Thanks.
That was the truth. He did not know.
That was his excuse. He could not resist.
Would a colon be better after "truth" and "excuse" or does it not matter?
Thanks.
Top answer
The colon is not so good for fiction. It's technical and it sticks out. A colon would be correct there because the second clause defines the first, but I like an em dash for that in non-technical writing: That was the truth—he did not know.
- The colon is not so good for fiction.
- It's technical and it sticks out.
- A colon would be correct there because the second clause defines the first, but I like an em dash for that in non-technical writing: That was the truth—he did not know.
- That was his excuse—he could not resist.
- In case you were wondering, you make an em dash by holding down <ALT> while typing 0151.
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6 Answers
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The colon is not so good for fiction. It's technical and it sticks out. A colon would be correct there because the second clause defines the first, but I like an em dash for that in non-technical writing:
That was the truth—he did not know.
That was his excuse—he could not resist.
In case you were wondering, you make an em dash by holding down <ALT> while typing 01
That was the truth—he did not know.
That was his excuse—he could not resist.
In case you were wondering, you make an em dash by holding down <ALT> while typing 01
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Oh, cool, I always wondered how to do that. But why does it have to be an em dash? Why can't it just be a hyphen with a space before and after it?
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Punctuation is there to help the reader. The process whereby language is made visible is imperfect. We need to make it as easy as possible for the reader. Let's at least not distract and baffle him with funny marks among the words. Space, hyphen, space is not one of the standard marks of punctuation. The em dash is.
That said, the computer makes it difficult, doesn't it? The em dash did n
That said, the computer makes it difficult, doesn't it? The em dash did n
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What about with matters like a character pausing before saying the last part of what he/she has to say. Is an em dash better than a hyphen in cases like that as well? For example:
"We find the defendent - not guilty."
The hyphen there would be the pause of the head juror who is speaking.
"We find the defendent - not guilty."
The hyphen there would be the pause of the head juror who is speaking.
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We are not free to make up punctuation. Its effect depends entirely upon convention. There is no instinct for it the way there is for words. The hyphen has a few strictly defined roles, and that is not one of them.
There is another character that they left off the computer keyboard called the ellipsis. It can be rendered with three unspaced periods (...), and it is treated like a word as
There is another character that they left off the computer keyboard called the ellipsis. It can be rendered with three unspaced periods (...), and it is treated like a word as
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