Colons and semicolons
Colon
Colons are used in the following ways.
1. When the part of the sentence before the colon leads on to the meaning or illustration after the colon.
Andrew has two responsibilities in the meeting: to greet the members and to take the minutes.
2. To introduce a list, with or without bullet points.
Style guides deal with items such as:
- colons and semi-colons
- headings and titles
3. Before a quotation, and sometimes before direct speech
The headline reads: 'Students to pay more fees.'
UCAS Chief Executive said: 'We are committed to using UCAS' data sets to assist public understanding of social policy issues.'
Semi-colon
A semicolon suggests more equal status between the two parts of a sentence. It constitutes more of a break than a comma, but less than a full stop. It is also used to link related but separate clauses in a sentence or list introduced by a colon (especially where some elements already include a comma).
Some personal statements are excellent; others are less so.