The Colon

The colon is like the maître d’ of the punctuation world: the first part of your sentence must be an independent clause that tells your reader, “I’m about to share some information with you.” The colon tells your reader, “It’s right this way.” The colon has two main uses in a sentence: to introduce a list, statement or phrase, and to connect two thoughts.

Use this writing center handout to learn more about using colons.