My high school English teacher harped on the correct use of commas so much that the comma rules are forever etched in my brain. Yet, when it comes to the use of other forms of punctuation, specifically colons and semicolons, I struggle. This lead me to overview the section on colons (P-6) and semicolons (P-2) in The Little Seagull Handbook. I learned that semicolons are used to join related independent clauses, so the fragments before and after the semicolon must be able to stand alone.
Ex.) Our team had poor communication last night; we lost the game.
Also, I learned that colons are used to set off a list, quote, or explanation.
Ex.) On my walk to the grocery store I went over what I needed to get for dinner: potatoes, chicken, and cheddar cheese.
Hi, Madalyn,
We will discuss semi-colon usage when we talk about sentence structure, but it’s good to review. Colons are little trickier because they are usually not necessary for listing unless the list is finite (meaning, if you were listing a limited set of items and nothing else could be listed). We’ll talk more about it in class, but your examples are correct. Consider incorporating a semi-colon into your essay to try in practice.