Correct usage colons

Question

On the neighbouring soapbox, a succession of socialists spoke well on the need to protect migrants and workers’ rights in a reformed Europe. But they were leftists, not the left: the left of Jeremy Corbyn, Seumas Milne, Len McCluskey, the Communist Party of Britain and Stop the War; the left that thinks historians give Stalin a bad rap; the left that will excuse Saddam Hussein, Slobodan Milosevic, Nicolas Maduro, Iran, Russia, Hamas and Hezbollah; the anti-European and anti-Semitic left; the bully left; the crank left; the left that no amount of shame could kill. Until now.

Is the colon being used correctly in this paragraph, in bold? And are the inconsistent mix of phrases and sentences listed with semi-colons ok?

Use colons between two sentences if the second sentence emphasizes or illustrates the first. For example:

Thinking back, our trip to Ireland was the best: we saw some of the most beautiful terrain this earth has to offer.

Could you not use a semi-colon this way too ?

Anonymous · Accepted Answer

panda blue 483Is the colon being used correctly in this paragraph, in bold? And are the inconsistent mix of phrases and sentences listed with semi-colons ok?

Yes, the jumble is fine. The semicolons are there only because two of the elements in the list have internal commas, and we use semicolons where we would otherwise have used commas to separate the elements in lists like that. The semicolons do not carry their usual import—they are a purely mechanical convention here.

panda blue 483Could you not use a semi-colon this way too ?

It's a judgment call. A strong connection gets a colon, and a weaker one, a semicolon. I think they are both overused, and two sentences get the job done better more often than not, as in this case. It's like in chess, where you should move a piece instead of a ****. Use words to convey what you want, not punctuation.

Correct usage colons

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