Colons
Practice with Colons
Quiz from Capital
Community College
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Colons are used after complete sentences when a list,
explanation, or long quotation follows.

Many creatures live in the ocean: clams, starfish,
coral, sea urchins and more.
Some people who spend time on the ocean believe
they've seen mermaids: women with fish's tails.
T. S. Eliot wrote these lines: "I have heard the
mermaids singing each to each."

Let's look at incorrect ways to write these sentences.

Many creatures live in the ocean like: clams,
starfish, coral, sea urchins and more.

This sentence is incorrect because Many creatures live in
the ocean like is not a complete sentence. The reader is left
asking "like what?"

Some people who spend time on the ocean believe
they've seen : women with fish's tails.

This sentence is incorrect because of the omission of the
word mermaid. The reader needs to know what the writer
has seen for the sentence to be complete.

T. S. Eliot wrote: "I have heard the mermaids
singing each to each."

This sentence is also incorrect. While it would be correct
to write "T. S. Elliot wrote" in answer to the question "what
did T. S. Elliot do", the example sentence is about
something he wrote, and for the sentence to be correct,
what he wrote must directly follow the word wrote.

Colons are also used to indicate subdivisions in a topic;
they are also frequently used in titles.

Oceans: The Watery Depths.
The Ocean: A Source of Power?
Earth has four
oceans: the Arctic,
Atlantic, Indian and
Pacific.
Do you want more
information on colons?
Ask the Tutor!
Most of the Earth's
surface is ocean:
over 70%.
HINT:
Never place a colon
directly after a verb.
The ocean seemed
so important to
Homer, an early
Greek writer, that he
wrote this about it:
"Ocean, who is the
source of all."
Oceans: Worlds of
Wonder
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