[federico]

alright, I never learned this in school I guess, or I musta forgot, but, when do you apply the following punctuations:

;

:

---

I think I just used the : up above, but I don't know why. Any help would be appreciated.

 

[cftwo]

I found a number of online sources that describe the difference. In some cases, I'm still not completely clear on it myself. You use semicolons to separate complete sentences, and colons to set of a clause. This rule seemed the most clear to me:

Quote:

Use a colon instead of a semicolon between two strong clauses (sentences) when the second clause explains or illustrates the first clause and no coordinating conjunction is being used to connect the clauses. Capitalization of the sentence following the colon is optional.

Examples I enjoy reading: novels by Kurt Vonnegut are among my favorites.

Garlic is used in Italian cooking: it greatly enhances the flavor of pasta dishes.

 

[Skylark]

You might want to try mastering capitalization and commas before tackling the colon and semi-colon.

To my knowledge, semi-colons only go between two independent clauses or in sentences so long and convoluted you would have to use commas within commas were it not for the semi-colon. Try to rewrite those sentences.

 

[IamJen]

Ouch.

 

[Seb_0810]

Semicolons take the role of joining two related sentences.

Mark scored a goal;he is very good at hockey.

Colons start a list.

Here are the things I need to pack for my trip:

-sunglasses

-sunscreen

-hat

-food

And en dashes join words (like twenty-five) and they can be used as "bullets" for a list.

 

[Black Heart]

You used a colon ( : ) because you were introducing a list. Cftwo gave the other way it is used.

You would use a semicolon ( ; ) as Skylark said, in between two very closely related sentences, usually instead of a word such as and, but, or however. You also use it between items in a list.

I'm not sure about the last punctuation - is it underscores, hyphens/dashes or an ellipsis (...)?

 

[Brandon]

Quote:

Originally Posted by IamJen

Ouch.

No kidding.......daaaaaaaaaayum!