Ode to the Colon

The full colon is a much abused couple of dots.  It is often omitted or misplaced.  I just ran across this sentence in my student's essay:

"I was picking through a rack of clothing, flipping through mindlessly, when I saw it.  The shirt."

I let that slide, but in my punctuating heart I would have preferred

"I was picking through a rack of clothing, flipping through mindlessly, when I saw it:  the shirt."

Colon Rule #1

Colons introduce lists, even a list of one.

Colons follow nouns, not verbs.  I tend to follow colons with two spaces, semicolons with one space.  If you follow periods with two spaces, do the same with colons.

Which of these sentences are wrong?

1. Things that make my life meaningful are:  love, food, and music.
2. My life is made meaningful by these things:  love, food, and music.
3. Our topic might include: the impact of violent video games on computer science students, the best violent video games, and the gaming subculture.
4. Our group members are:  Adam, Jane, Shaun, and Matt.
5. The thieves stole the following items a printer, a DVD player, and a laptop.
6. My boss insisted on three rules of behaviour be polite, control your temper, and ask questions when you don’t understand.
7. Some of my qualities are:  charm, intelligence, and ambition.
8. The officer seized the following items, 12 bullets, 13 knives, 20 semi-automatic weapons, and one virtual light sabre.

Colon Rule #2

Colons also introduce direct quotations; however, in most informal writing, a comma is preferred.

Insert colons, quotation marks, and hyphens in the sentences below:

1. The CBC website today says A court in China has sentenced an online gamer to death for the real world murder of a fellow player after a confrontation over a virtual weapon.
2. The article also says that the victim was stabbed with a real weapon for selling a virtual sabre.  It is unclear whether the sabre was sold for real or virtual money.
3. The website at http://open.utoronto.ca/ has the following This cross divisional, tri campus project was launched in November 2004 with a two and a half year grant from the Provost's Academic Initiatives Fund (AIF).

Colon Rule #3

Colons are used to indicate time.  The robbery took place at 11:30 a.m.  Take note that a.m. and p.m. are written in lower case with periods.

When using military time (the 2400 clock), the use of the colon seems to depend on the author.  The Toronto airport and Via Rail use the colon.  Police, hospitals, and emergency services often do not use the colon; however, scientists and engineers tend to use it.  Here are some correct sentences:

1. The GTAA website says my flight will arrive at 16:20.
2. The ambulance arrived at 0022.  
3. I was dispatched at 2320 to 1285 Main St. East.

Ode to the Colon

by Elizabeth Zetlin

O double pinhead

dagger of colonization

never direct

always explaining

leading us to expect

you’ve got the answer.

You dribble along

a tangle of intestine

ending up at:

yes: the rectum,

that final excretion

of all your verbiage

all your promises all your excuses

about being too busy,

not having enough time,

you’ll get to it tomorrow.

You lead us on and on

with your examples,

series of comments, lists

of things you have to do.

Why don’t you just relax,

tip sideways

like the eyes of crows:

come to an end.

 from The Thing with Feathers, BuschekBooks, 2004, p. 68.

Answers
Quiz 1:  Only #2 is correct.
Quiz 2:  

1. The CBC website today says, "A court in China has sentenced an online gamer to death for the real-world murder of a fellow player after a confrontation over a virtual weapon."
2. The article also says that the victim was stabbed with a real weapon for selling a virtual sabre.  It is unclear whether the sabre was sold for real or virtual money.
3. The website at http://open.utoronto.ca/ has the following: "This cross-divisional, tri-campus project was launched in November, 2004, with a two-and-a-half year grant from the Provost's Academic Initiatives Fund (AIF).