Perfect Colon and Semicolon Use that Everyone Will Ignore

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Colon and semicolon usage are often confused, even by self-proclaimed professional writers. In fact, most of my editorial work for skilled writers involves the use of commas, colons, and semicolons. And for good reason. The rules concerning their use are similar, as is their appearance.

And let’s face it — readers don’t really notice or care, anyway. To those of us who care about writing correctly, these issues are essential. To the everyday modern reader, they scan and move, scan and move, without taking the time to read, notice, understand, and digest.

But for those of you who are interested in writing excellence, here are the basic rules for using the colon and semicolon in your writing. Bookmark this page, return often, and write well, my friends.

Colon

The colon has three primary grammatical uses and several additional non-grammatical, yet important, uses. Let’s explore the grammatical uses first, especially since those are the ones where writers experience the most confusion.