Colons and Dashes

1
Colons and Dashes

• Looking ForwardLooking Backward

2
Colons

• The colon is essentially forward-looking and
  introduces something hinted at but not yet
  mentioned, most often in the form of a list
• My mother is sending me to the store to buy
  groceries eggs, bacon, milk, and flour.
• We will visit seven European countries in the
  spring France, Italy, Belgium, the Netherlands,
  Spain, Germany, and the Czech Republic.
• Cannibalism is of three kinds
  endo-cannibalism, exo-cannibalism, and ritual
  cannibalism.

3
Dashes

• Dashes are backward-looking, and specify the
  particulars of something already mentioned
• I was born in Rhodesiaor Zimbabwe, as it is
  called today.
• I graduated from Brigham Young Universityand
  yes, I was a Mormon at the time.

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Dashes

• Dashes may also be used parenthetically
• My motherwho lives in Idaho nowstill considers
  herself a Hoosier.
• The Hundred Years Warwhich lasted 116 years,
  mind youran from 1337 to 1453.
• When I wrote my first booktwenty-two years ago,
  now, Im chagrined to sayit was much easier to
  find a publisher than it is today.

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General Principles

• The general principle to remember, then is that
• colons are introductory in nature and present
  something not yet mentioned.
• dashes are explanatory in nature and elaborate on
  something already mentioned.

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Questions?
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The End
PowerPoint Presentation by Mark A. Spalding, BA,
MEd, MA.
Painting by Burne-Jones, The Baleful Head.