The following rules and examples will help you know when and where to use the colon as a punctuation mark.

• Use a colon to signal the reader that a series of words, phrases, or clauses follows a complete sentence.

  The baseball coach claimed that the team's success stemmed from four things: consistent hitting, solid pitching, good fielding, and excellent teamwork. The Greasy Spoon restaurant had several house specialties: a hot turkey sandwich, a roast pork dinner, a walleye platter, and a barbecued chicken wing basket.

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• Use a colon to signal the reader that a second complete sentence explains a closely related preceding sentence.

  The supervisor's remark was straight to the point: I won't tolerate workers who show up late. Religion and politics can be sensitive subjects: many people hold opinionated views and are easily offended by other peoples' remarks.

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• Use a colon to signal the reader that a name or description follows a complete sentence when you want to put a lot of emphasis on that item.

  The local anglers had a nickname for the large muskie that had cruised the lake's shoreline for years without being caught: Old Mossback. The preoccupied burglar didn't notice who was standing right behind him: a smiling police officer.

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• Use a colon to introduce a long quotation after a complete sentence.

  In his book, Language is Sermonic, rhetorician Richard Weaver described how language may influence us: Sophistications of theory cannot obscure the truth that there are but three ways for language to affect us. It can move us toward what is good; it can move us toward what is evil; or it can, in hypothetical third place, fail to move us at all. (60)

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• Colons are also used...

  ...to separate titles and subtitles:

  Richard Nixon: The Tarnished President

  ...to express time:

  The accident occurred at approximately 1:45 p.m. on Tuesday.

  ...to cite a law or Biblical passage:

  According to Minnesota statute 1:49:002, it is unlawful to feed licorice or peanut butter to goats.

  ...to end a salutation:

  Dear Rachel:

  ...to separate the place of publication and the publisher in a bibliographic entry:

  West, Gerald. How to Write Best Sellers. New York: Henry

  James Publishing, 1973.