I am sure that if they can end with a period, they can also end with a semicolon. Using a question mark is probably the most common choice, but it is really up to the writer to use whatever punctuation matches best the intent of the rhetorical question. Rhetorical questions can be ended with either a question mark, an exclamation mark or a period. This is a question of style, and style guides and personal preferences may vary. The first sentence could be seen as more of a rhetorical question than actual. British Engįinally, the colon is used in formal lettersĪnd in citing references to published work."You've heard of warfare, right it's when multiple countries fight for some cause." The minutes in giving a time of day: 2:10, 11:30 (A). In formal writing, however, it is usually preferable to write out ratios in words:Īmong students of French, women outnumber men by more than fourįourth, in American usage, a colon is used to separate the hours from Third, the colon may be used in writing ratios:Īmong students of French, women outnumber men by more than 4:1. Observe that, exceptionally, the colon is not followed by a white space in The story of Menahem is found in II Kings 15:14–22. Second, the colon is used in citing passages from the Bible: You should do this even though no colon may appear on the cover or the title I recommend Chinnery's book Oak Furniture: the British Tradition. First, when you cite the name of aīook which has both a title and a subtitle, you should separate the two with a There are three consecutiveĮxamples of this just above, in the second, third and fourth paragraphs of this Material which is set off in the middle of the page. Phrase or sentence in the middle of a text which introduces some following It is, however, usual to use a colon after a word, Which introduces a new section of a document: look at the chapter headings and section headings in the present document. You should not use a colon, or any other mark, at the end of a heading Never preceded by a white space and never followed by anything except a single While you're studying these examples, notice again that the colon is Like all inverted constructions, this one should be used sparingly. Saussure, Sapir, Bloomfield, Chomsky: all these have revolutionized Specifics coming first and the general summary afterward: Very occasionally, the colon construction is turned round, with the I propose the creation of a new post: School Executive Officer.
We found the place easily: your directions were perfect. Several friends have provided me with inspiration: Tim, Ian and, above They're smart and tell the smart ones they're pretty." Mae West had one golden rule for handling men: "Tell the pretty ones She was sure of one thing: she was not going to be a housewife.
The situation is clear: if you have unprotected sex with a stranger, you Here areĪfrica is facing a terrifying problem: perpetual drought. A colon is not normally followed by a capital letter inīritish usage, though American usage often prefers to use a capital. The colon may or may not be a complete sentence, and it may be a mere list orĮven a single word. General terms, you can use a colon and go on to explain that same topic in moreĪ colon is nearly always preceded by a complete sentence what follows That is, having introduced some topic in more The colon is used to indicate that what follows it is an explanation orĮlaboration of what precedes it. One of the commonest of all punctuation mistakes is following a colon with a But first please note theįollowing: the colon is never preceded by a white space it is always followedīy a single white space in normal use, and it is never, never,īy a hyphen or a dash - in spite of what you might have been taught in school. Use correctly, since it has only one major use. The colon ( :) seems to bewilder many people, though it's really rather easy to