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Anonymous Posted 16 years ago
Grammar

Semicolon or colon

Please tell me whether a colon or semicolon is best for this sentence:

This dynamic allows me to see the world from a dual perspective; one with childlike eyes and the other with a more focused and rational judgment.
  

Top answer

This dynamic allows me to see the world from a dual perspective; one with childlike eyes and the other with a more focused and rational judgment. The full colon is the better choice between the two. The semi has a variety of uses, but in this case it sounds like a mistake, implying that a clause will follow.

— Avangi

  • This dynamic allows me to see the world from a dual perspective; one with childlike eyes and the other with a more focused and rational judgment.
  • The full colon is the better choice between the two.
  • The semi has a variety of uses, but in this case it sounds like a mistake, implying that a clause will follow.
  • ) A dash would also work.
  • Parentheses would also work.
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6 Answers
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This dynamic allows me to see the world from a dual perspective; one with childlike eyes and the other with a more focused and rational judgment.

The full colon is the better choice between the two.

The semi has a variety of uses, but in this case it sounds like a mistake, implying that a clause will follow. (And one doe
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What if it said "This dynamic allows me to see the world from a dual perspective; sometimes through childlike eyes and sometimes with a more focused, rational judgment"?

Would the semicolon be correct then, or the colon?

Thanks!
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A colon. There must be an independent clause (essentially, a complete sentence) on each side of the semicolon.
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If I changed the sentence as follows, would the comma be OK?

This dynamic has allowed me to see the world from a dual perspective, sometimes through childlike eyes and sometimes with a more focused and rational judgment.
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Sounds fine to me! [Y]
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Yes. The comma incorporates the following text more smoothly into the sentence flow, while the colon marks the following text more strongly.
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