Colons, Dashes and Parentheses

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Colons, Dashes and Parentheses
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Colons

• Colons create suspense they signal that an
  example, quotation or an explanation will follow.
• Use a colon after a complete sentence to
  introduce related details.
• Before a colon you must have a complete
  statement. Dont use a colon after are or include
  or such as.

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Colons Can Introduce

• A list- First, you need the basic supplies a
  tent, a sleeping bag, a cooking kit and a
  backpack.
• A quotation- The author begins with a shocker
  Mother spent her summer sitting naked on a rock
• An example- Vegetarians often use legumes for
  example, beans or lentils

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Colons Can Introduce

• An emphatic assertion- This is the bottom line I
  refuse to work for less than 10.00 an hour.
• A subtitle- Rules of Thumb A Guide for Writers
• When you type, leave one space after a colon

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Dashes

• Dashes separate a word or remark from the rest of
  the sentence
• Dashes highlight the part of the sentence they
  separate, or show an abrupt change of thought in
  midsentence, or to connect a fragment to a
  sentence.

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Examples

• Alberta Hunter-still singing at the age of
  eighty--performed nightly at The Cookery in
  Buffalo
• At night the forest is magical and
  fascinating--and yet it terrifies me.
• Living the high life--thats what I want

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Dashes Rules

• Dashes are very handy they can replace a period,
  comma, colon, or semicolon. However, they are
  usually informal, so dont use many
• When you type, two hyphens make a dash there is
  no space before or after the dash

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Parentheses

• Parentheses deemphasize the words they separate.
  Use them to enclose brief explanations or
  interruptions. They can contain either part of a
  sentence or a whole sentence.

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Examples

• I demanded reasonable working hours (nine to
  five), and they met my request.
• Bergmans last film disappointed the critics (See
  the attached reviews.)
• Mrs. Moran drives slowly (she claims her car
  wont go over forty miles per hour), so she gets
  tickets for causing traffic jams.

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Parentheses Rules

• Put any necessary punctuation after the second
  parentheses if the parentheses contain part of a
  sentence.
• If the parentheses contain a complete sentence,
  put the period inside the second parentheses.
  Notice, however, that you dont capitalize or use
  a period when parentheses enclose a sentence
  within a sentence.
• Be sparing with parentheses. Too many can chop up
  your sentences.