Common Grammar Mistakes When Using a Colon

A colon is most often used to show that a quote, important explanation, or list is about to follow. What’s important is knowing where to place it in the sentence. Many people do so incorrectly because they do not set up the first part of the sentence to show that what comes after the colon is important to the overall sentence. Here are some common examples and how to correct them:

Incorrect       I love my girlfriend for: her smile and her laughter.

The colon here is unnecessary because you aren’t properly setting the first part of the sentence up to show that you are offering a simple explanation. You always want to be as clear as possible when using a colon, because you are trying to show emphasis on the next part of the sentence. Here, an explanation is being offered why the individual loves their girlfriend, but it isn’t being set up in the first part of the sentence to create emphasis. Here is how it should read:

Correct       I love my girlfriend for two reasons: her smile and her laughter.

Now you have created the emphasis to highlight how important the explanation is.

Incorrect       Sam likes: reading, writing, and playing video games.

Here, you are offering a list as the next part of the sentence following the colon. The problem here is, you haven’t set up the list correctly for a colon to be necessary. You should only ever use a colon when it’s clear that the following part of the sentence is a logical explanation, an obvious list, or a clear quote. So, you’d have to set up this sentence like this:

Correct       Sam liked three things: reading, writing, and video games.

Now you’ve created the buildup to the list, so it is acceptable to use a colon.

Should You Capitalize the First Letter after a Colon?

Many people make this mistake because there is some confusion surrounding it. In American English, only capitalize on the next word if it is an independent clause that can stand as a complete sentence on its own (although this is left up to writers’ choice, it isn’t necessarily a rule). If it is a dependent clause that makes little sense on its own, then you shouldn’t capitalize on the next word (that is a rule). You should also never capitalize if you are introducing a list. Look at these examples below:

Incorrect        The weather reporter said the weather was: “Hot, sunny and dry.”

Introducing the quote in this way would be technically incorrect, because ‘hot, sunny and dry’ is a dependent clause that makes little sense on its own without the first part of the sentence. So, it should read like this:

Correct        The weather reporter said the weather was: “hot, sunny and dry.”

This would be correct because it shouldn’t be capitalized. If it was an independent clause that followed the colon, then a capital letter would make sense.