Talk 4 writing symbols colon

Last time I talked about sentence interrupters: em-dashes, parentheses, and commas.

Talk 4 writing symbols colon

These typographical markers indicate information interpolated into the body of a sentence in the form of a dependent clause. Such passages are supplemental in nature. They add depth and background, but you can still read around the interpolations—that is, skip over them without losing or altering the essential meaning of the sentence.

This time, we’ll talk about two marks that set off complementary information, phrases and clauses without which a sentence is incomplete: the colon and the semicolon.

Dependent and Independent Clauses

Use the colon to mark the division between two clauses of unlike kinds: that is, between an independent clause (i.e., one that can function on its own as a complete sentence, having a subject and a verb) and a dependent clause (i.e., sentence fragment).

The colon separates the two, which are closely related in topic, and also join