| Author |
Message |
Summit Guy
Guest
|
| Posted: Sun Nov 14, 2004 3:00 am
Post subject: Can I use a colon here? |
|
|
I know a sentence preceding a colon needs to be complete, so I'm not
sure if the following sentence I've written is acceptable.
"If there's one thing I've learned from my travels, it's this: If
thinking through a situation doesn't yield an acceptable answer, then
go with your gut feeling."
I like the feel of the colon because to me it sets off the revealing
of my little travel secret. Thoughts?
Parry
|
|
| Back to top |
|
 |
Bill Bonde ( ``And the La
Guest
|
| Posted: Sun Nov 14, 2004 3:00 am
Post subject: Re: Can I use a colon here? |
|
|
Summit Guy wrote:
| Quote: |
I know a sentence preceding a colon needs to be complete, so I'm not
sure if the following sentence I've written is acceptable.
"If there's one thing I've learned from my travels, it's this: If
thinking through a situation doesn't yield an acceptable answer, then
go with your gut feeling."
Montezuma's revenge got you too? |
| Quote: | I like the feel of the colon because to me it sets off the revealing
of my little travel secret. Thoughts?
What's not complete about your sentence? |
--
"Throw me that lipstick, darling, I wanna redo my stigmata."
+-Jennifer Saunders, "Absolutely Fabulous" |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Lars Eighner
Guest
|
| Posted: Sun Nov 14, 2004 3:00 am
Post subject: Re: Can I use a colon here? |
|
|
In our last episode,
<655a8e6f.0411131522.1955fa15@posting.google.com>,
the lovely and talented Summit Guy
broadcast on alt.usage.english:
| Quote: | I know a sentence preceding a colon needs to be complete, so I'm not
sure if the following sentence I've written is acceptable.
"If there's one thing I've learned from my travels, it's this: If
thinking through a situation doesn't yield an acceptable answer, then
go with your gut feeling."
I like the feel of the colon because to me it sets off the revealing
of my little travel secret. Thoughts?
|
Aside from some special situations (times, citations, salutations,
dialogues, etc.) check to see if something on one side of the colon
is equal to something on the other side. The colon serves for
definition, restatement, and equality. In your sentence, the
something on the left site of the colon is "this," and everything on
the right of the colon is equal to "this." You can substitute the
right side for "this" to be sure:
"If there's one thing I've learned from my travels, it's (that) if
thinking through a situation doesn't yield an acceptable answer, then
go with your gut feeling."
Thus, the colon is correct.
--
Lars Eighner -finger for geek code- eighner@io.com http://www.io.com/~eighner/
"The very essence of the creative is its novelty, and hence we have no
standard by which to judge it." --Carl R. Rogers, On Becoming a Person
|
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Donna Richoux
Guest
|
| Posted: Sun Nov 14, 2004 3:00 am
Post subject: Re: Can I use a colon here? |
|
|
Summit Guy <summitguy@gmail.com> wrote:
| Quote: | I know a sentence preceding a colon needs to be complete, so I'm not
sure if the following sentence I've written is acceptable.
"If there's one thing I've learned from my travels, it's this: If
thinking through a situation doesn't yield an acceptable answer, then
go with your gut feeling."
I like the feel of the colon because to me it sets off the revealing
of my little travel secret. Thoughts?
|
Yes, a colon is fine there. Your opening:
If there's one thing I've learned from my travels, it's this
*is* a complete sentence, grammatically, so you have no conflict with
the rule you learned. Content-wise, it seems unfinished, but that's the
nature of an introductory sentence. It's just as complete as:
If it rains, I will leave.
Now, whether the rule you refer to is hard-and-fast or just a guideline
is a different matter, but the Guide to Grammar and Writing seems to
think it's useful:
http://www.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/marks/colon.htm
--
Best -- Donna Richoux |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
don groves
Guest
|
| Posted: Sun Nov 14, 2004 3:00 am
Post subject: Re: Can I use a colon here? |
|
|
In article <41969B9B.DB05DB41@backpacker.com>, Bill Bonde ( ``And
the Lamb lies down on Broadway'' ) at stderr2@backpacker.com
exposited:
| Quote: |
Summit Guy wrote:
I know a sentence preceding a colon needs to be complete, so I'm not
sure if the following sentence I've written is acceptable.
"If there's one thing I've learned from my travels, it's this: If
thinking through a situation doesn't yield an acceptable answer, then
go with your gut feeling."
Montezuma's revenge got you too?
|
Nah, he's just making a pun on "colon".
| Quote: |
I like the feel of the colon because to me it sets off the revealing
of my little travel secret. Thoughts?
What's not complete about your sentence?
|
--
dg (domain=ccwebster) |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
CyberCypher
Guest
|
| Posted: Sun Nov 14, 2004 3:00 am
Post subject: Re: Can I use a colon here? |
|
|
Summit Guy wrote on 14 Nov 2004:
| Quote: | I know a sentence preceding a colon needs to be complete, so I'm not
sure if the following sentence I've written is acceptable.
"If there's one thing I've learned from my travels, it's this: If
thinking through a situation doesn't yield an acceptable answer, then
go with your gut feeling."
I like the feel of the colon because to me it sets off the revealing
of my little travel secret. Thoughts?
|
Fine. No problem.
--
Franke: EFL teacher & medical editor
For email, replace numbers with English alphabet. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
J. W. Love
Guest
|
| Posted: Sun Nov 14, 2004 6:00 am
Post subject: Re: Can I use a colon here? |
|
|
Someone wrote:
| Quote: | I know a sentence preceding a colon needs to be complete,
|
Oh?
| Quote: | so I'm not sure if the following sentence I've written is
acceptable.
"If there's one thing I've learned from my travels, it's this: If
thinking through a situation doesn't yield an acceptable
answer, then go with your gut feeling."
I like the feel of the colon because to me it sets off the
revealing of my little travel secret. Thoughts?
|
The example is fine, though capitalizing "if" marks a low style. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Qp10qp
Guest
|
| Posted: Sun Nov 14, 2004 3:01 pm
Post subject: Re: Can I use a colon here? |
|
|
It's usual for what goes before a colon to be a full sentence, but I wouldn't
say that's it's a rule. The acceptable form you used earlier in your post
demonstrates that well enough:
| Quote: | Yes, a colon is fine there. Your opening:
If there's one thing I've learned from my travels, it's this
*is* a complete sentence, grammatically, so you have no conflict with the rule
you learned. |
(Clearly "Your opening" is not a complete sentence.)
Peasemarch. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Donna Richoux
Guest
|
| Posted: Sun Nov 14, 2004 6:00 pm
Post subject: Re: Can I use a colon here? |
|
|
Qp10qp <qp10qp@aol.com> wrote:
| Quote: | From: trio@euronet.nl (Donna Richoux)
Now, whether the rule you refer to is hard-and-fast or just a guideline
is a different matter, but the Guide to Grammar and Writing seems to
think it's useful:
http://www.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/marks/colon.htm
It's usual for what goes before a colon to be a full sentence, but I
wouldn't say that's it's a rule.
|
See, we have this perpetual disagreement around here about what "rules"
are. The prescriptivists and rebels-against-prescriptivists think they
are moral dictates, to be obeyed or shunned. The descriptivists-at-heart
think they just attempt to describe how language tends to work. Yes, I'd
say if someone (and more than one someone) has noticed that what usually
goes before a colon is a complete sentence, then I'd call that a "rule".
I could just as well call it an "observation." The name is completely
independent of whether I intend rewrite anything in order to "obey" it.
| Quote: | The acceptable form you used earlier in your post
demonstrates that well enough:
Yes, a colon is fine there. Your opening:
If there's one thing I've learned from my travels, it's this
*is* a complete sentence, grammatically, so you have no conflict with the
rule you learned.
(Clearly "Your opening" is not a complete sentence.)
|
Yabbut having to put quoted material on a new line in the middle of a
sentence is not exactly a common situation. A big style guide might have
advice on punctuating before indented sections. Meanwhile, the colon
looks better to me than a comma, or nothing.
--
Best -- Donna Richoux |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Stuart Duncan
Guest
|
| Posted: Mon Nov 15, 2004 6:03 am
Post subject: Re: Can I use a colon here? |
|
|
"J. W. Love" <lovejw@aol.comma.net> wrote in message
news:20041113223533.08096.00000665@mb-m07.aol.com...
| Quote: | Someone wrote:
I know a sentence preceding a colon needs to be complete,
Oh?
so I'm not sure if the following sentence I've written is
acceptable.
"If there's one thing I've learned from my travels, it's this: If
thinking through a situation doesn't yield an acceptable
answer, then go with your gut feeling."
I like the feel of the colon because to me it sets off the
revealing of my little travel secret. Thoughts?
The example is fine, though capitalizing "if" marks a low style.
|
Oh? Really? Not in the real world it doesn't. Seems few of the world's great
writers have known this. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
ap
Guest
|
| Posted: Mon Nov 15, 2004 6:00 pm
Post subject: Re: Can I use a colon here? |
|
|
trio@euronet.nl (Donna Richoux) wrote in message news:<1gn8ylv.1onrb41x3w93pN%
| Quote: | Yes, a colon is fine there. Your opening:
If there's one thing I've learned from my travels, it's this
*is* a complete sentence, grammatically, so you have no conflict with the
rule you learned.
(Clearly "Your opening" is not a complete sentence.)
Yabbut having to put quoted material on a new line in the middle of a
sentence is not exactly a common situation. A big style guide might have
advice on punctuating before indented sections. Meanwhile, the colon
looks better to me than a comma, or nothing.
|
I agree; though it is easy enough to standardise new-line punctuation
with in-sentence punctuation. In any case, a colon may be used after a
non-independent clause in the body of a paragraph, too.
Father and son: what could be better than that? (Tobias Wolff.)
The festival's prime mover, Liz Calder (declaration of interest: my
first publisher), told me getting sponsorship had been a struggle.
(Julian Barnes in the garden.)
In my opinion, the rule or observation that what comes before a colon
usually has a subject and a predicate is of no more use than the rule
or observation that what comes before a full stop usually has a
subject and a predicate.
Peasemarch. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Qp10qp
Guest
|
| Posted: Mon Nov 15, 2004 6:00 pm
Post subject: Re: Can I use a colon here? |
|
|
Correction:
| Quote: | (Julian Barnes in the garden.)
|
Should have been "Julian Barnes in the Guardian". (Rather different.)
Peasemarch. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Linz
Guest
|
| Posted: Mon Nov 15, 2004 9:01 pm
Post subject: Re: Can I use a colon here? |
|
|
"J. W. Love" <lovejw@aol.comma.net> wrote in message
news:20041113223533.08096.00000665@mb-m07.aol.com...
| Quote: | Someone wrote:
I know a sentence preceding a colon needs to be complete,
Oh?
so I'm not sure if the following sentence I've written is
acceptable.
"If there's one thing I've learned from my travels, it's this: If
thinking through a situation doesn't yield an acceptable
answer, then go with your gut feeling."
I like the feel of the colon because to me it sets off the
revealing of my little travel secret. Thoughts?
The example is fine, though capitalizing "if" marks a low style.
|
It's at the start of a sentence. Not capitalising it would be a low
style. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
J. W. Love
Guest
|
| Posted: Tue Nov 16, 2004 6:01 pm
Post subject: Re: Can I use a colon here? |
|
|
On capitalizing independent clauses after colons, someone wrote:
| Quote: | It's at the start of a sentence. Not capitalising it would be
a low style.
|
Ah! so _that_ must be why the best writers also capitalize "sentences" after
semicolons!
Here are examples of lowercased "sentences" after colons in an eminent British
periodical, the (London) _Times Literary Supplement,_ in its issue dated 5
November 2004:
I loathe Jimmy's fiction: it is crudely written and of a balls-aching boredom.
(p. 3, quoting James Baldwin)
Indeed, it seems to fuel it: there follows a passage of what seems like
disarming frankness about the relationship between [V. S. Pritchett's] life and
his work. (p. 7)
Had Kudrova worked in local archives, she might have come to different
conclusions: officials on the periphery were far more preoccupied wih the Civil
War than their counterparts at the centre. (p. 9)
He argues powerfully that neither the Austrians nor the French can be
categorized as simply backward or incompetent: their military policies and
wartime strategies were based on conscious choices that were reasonable and
might have worked. (p. 12)
Postcolonial English has long ceased to imply Englishness: as Mbulelo Mzamane,
South African short-story writer, poet and academic, suggested, there is a
whole new world of literary possibility---the South, "the unfolding culture of
liberation". (p. 17)
We were the first of the stripped pine brigade in our area: no net curtains for
us! (p. 18)
The dangerous revelations leaked to the press are not leaked to the audience in
any detail: this is no political thriller. (p. 21)
The remorseless sobriety of Plateau and Muybridge, and others using photography
to investigate, analyse and finally synthesize motion, contrasts strikingly
with the toy-makers and showmen: when the latter succeed, you reflect, as you
stare at a great wall of trotting horses, that the fun is going to go
corporate. (p. 22)
One cannot _not_ know that Depardieu and Ardant are lovers: the programme
speaks of their happiness together, and the pictures in the programme/text show
two radiant people enjoying rehearsals. (p. 22)
I come home with my head full of strange thoughts: the secret beauty of the
word "No": is it because my body failed to do an exercise named after a swan?
(p. 26)
Acton's sentiment is echoed by David Metzger's definition of medievalism in the
introduction to Volume X (1998), entitled "Medievalism and the Academy II":
"like classicism, medievalism is the name for a cause that goes unsaid in . . .
images, words and habits". (p. 28)
Jennie Erdal explains in _Ghosting_ why he stopped writing: she had ghosted
every word he wrote and after nearly fifteen years she had decided to lay down
her pen. (p. 40) |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
| |
FAQ
Memberlist
Register
Profile
Log in to check your private messages
Log in