Colon vs. Semicolon: Punctuation Smackdown

When a comma is too wimpy and a period is too severe, you need a colon or a semicolon—but which?

Jeeves the Colon

A colon is like a butler: it introduces things. It holds open the door and says, “Mrs. Herringbone to see you, ma’am.” The sight of a colon raises expectations for what is to follow.

• A spelunker must possess the following: a miner’s helmet, a sturdy rope, waterproof boots, and nerves of steel.
• Only one creature in these woods burbles like that: the Jabberwock.
• “Your plan failed, Count Svitavsky, because you forgot one thing: Fifi is allergic to jujubes.”

A spelunker must possess the following: a miner’s helmet, a sturdy rope, waterproof boots, and nerves of steel.

A colon can introduce a list, an example, an explanation, or a conclusion, but remember this: what comes before the colon must be able to stand on its own as a sentence.

• X Their date consisted of: hot dogs, a walk on the beach, and some light larceny.
• ✓ Their date consisted of hot dogs, a walk on the beach, and some light larceny.

• X Over the course of the evening they stole: hip waders, hubcaps, and hairnets.
• ✓ Over the course of the evening they stole hip waders, hubcaps, and hairnets.
• ✓ They stole only items beginning with an h: hip waders, hubcaps, and hairnets.

Semicolons Are for Lovers

When you have two sentences so intimately related they beg not to be apart, join them with a semicolon. But be sure the clauses on both sides of the semicolon are independent—that is, able to stand on their own.

• It was spring; they were in love.
• Jonas chose the toasting fork as his weapon; Tariq selected the spatula.

Jonas chose the toasting fork as his weapon; Tariq selected the spatula.

Don’t make the all-too-common mistake of using a comma where you should use a semicolon. Commas work with coordinating conjunctions like and or but (see Commas and Conjunctions); without a conjunction, you get a painful comma splice.

• X It was spring, they were in love.
• ✓ It was spring and they were in love.

• X Jonas chose the toasting fork as his weapon, Tariq selected the spatula.
• ✓ Jonas chose the toasting fork as his weapon, but Tariq selected the spatula.

Semicolons as Supercommas

Semicolons are sometimes used instead of commas in long, complicated sentences holding multiple clauses, especially when those clauses are themselves already stuffed with commas. In those cases, the semicolons are like extra-emphatic commas.

• Outside the agent’s door stood an astronaut, sweating under his helmet; a ballerina, patting her bun and fluffing her tutu; a nun, her wimple in danger of poking someone’s eye out; and a sasquatch, whose oversized footprints could be seen up and down the hall.
• You could scale the wall with your grappling hook and creep through the mansion on silent feet, unnoticed by the sleeping baron, until you found the hidden room and, using your hard-won skills, opened its lock with your little picks; but you still wouldn’t have a clue how to get inside the safe.

Semicolons with However and That Is

A semicolon is often used before that is (or i.e.), for example (or e.g.), however, therefore, indeed, or similar expressions.

• You’ve eaten the last olive; however, I won’t hold it against you.
• I’m always a considerate neighbour; for example, I never practise the tuba after midnight.
• His new fairy wings were a great success; that is, they worked brilliantly until he hit the ground.

Again, notice that the clauses on both sides of the semicolons could work as separate sentences if they wanted to. Otherwise, the semicolons wouldn’t belong there.

• Mitzi swore she’d become an evil enchantress however long it took.
• Your grandmother is indeed running naked through the park.
• Your grandmother is naked; indeed, she is running through the park.

Mitzi swore she’d become an evil enchantress however long it took.

Match Decision

Sometimes the colon-or-semicolon question can be tough to answer. Does the second clause illuminate the first, or are they just holding hands?

• The mailbox was empty: there was no squid.
• The mailbox was empty; there was no squid.

It’s a question of nuance, and one that you, as a writer, will have to decide for yourself. Or you could just avoid the dilemma by using a period instead.

• The mailbox was empty. There was no squid.

It’s your call.

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Defuse vs. Diffuse

When you tell a joke to cut the tension, are you defusing or diffusing the situation?

Defuse

The word defuse originally applied to bombs. To defuse a bomb is literally to de-fuse it: to take out the fuse, rendering it harmless. Metaphorically, defusing a tense situation means easing the mood—removing the danger, so to speak.

• Geneviève defused the awkward formality with a well-timed fart.

Geneviève defused the awkward formality with a well-timed fart.

Diffuse

To diffuse something means to spread it around. You know those department-store perfume ladies who used to lie in wait, ninja-like, to douse unwary shoppers with scent? Their spray bottles are also sometimes called diffusers, because they disperse the perfume in a cloud.

• The breeze diffused fluffy white cottonwood seeds across the meadow, evoking delight in some picnickers and allergic crises in others.

A diffuser: the perfume lady’s weapon of choice

How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Singular “They”

Some of you may have noticed a shocking lapse of grammar in one of my recent posts, namely,

• Your reader instinctively expects parallel construction, even if they couldn’t define it on a game show. (Parallel Construction and Why It’s Good for You)

Yes, I used the pronoun they (plural) with the antecedent reader (singular). Cue pearl-clutching.

Thirty years ago my they would have been corrected to he, but today that kind of sexism looks antiquated at best. Most current guides advise using the gender-neutral but clunky he or she, or better yet, making the subject plural so it matches they.

• Your readers instinctively expect parallel construction, even if they couldn’t define it on a game show.

All astronauts must wash their own spacesuits.

The best way to avoid arguments between your antecedents and their pronouns is usually to recast your sentences.

• X Each astronaut must wash their own spacesuit.
• ✓ All astronauts must wash their own spacesuits.

• X If anyone needs ammo, they can use my toenail clippings.
• ✓ If you need ammo, you can use my toenail clippings.
• ✓ Anyone who needs ammo can use my toenail clippings.

However, some sentences stubbornly refuse to be recast. Writers may find themselves creating syntactically convoluted rats’ nests in an effort to avoid either sexism or pronoun errors.

The They Option

Using they as a gender-neutral alternative to he has long been accepted in spoken English, and it has become more useful as folks with unconventional gender identities have emerged into greater cultural visibility. Even in written English, there are signs here and there of a thaw in attitudes. The Washington Post created a furor in grammar circles last year when it announced it would be allowing the use of they as a singular pronoun. Some editors have followed suit, but most are still firmly on the traditional bandwagon, and guides like The Chicago Manual of Style warn against using the singular they in formal writing.

Certainly it would be the wrong choice for a government document or an academic paper, but in the fast-and-loose blogosphere the singular they hardly raises an eyebrow. You could even argue that such usage conveys an appropriate breezy informality. As always, it’s a question of audience and tone.

Shall I compare you to a summer's day?

Here’s a secret you probably weren’t told in English class: language changes. Once upon a time, most English-speaking people addressed each other as thou. You was reserved for groups of two or more, or to show polite deference—much like the French vous. Grammar is important, yes; but it’s not written in stone.

So I’ve decided to embrace the singular they in this blog, and if anyone doesn’t like it, they can go jump off a stack of dictionaries.

Designing the Page: Presentation Is Everything

Now that anyone can produce a professional-looking document on a computer, how a piece of writing looks is as important as how it reads. In much the same way good grammar allows your readers to focus on the content of your writing, good design will keep them from being distracted by eye-pinching paragraphs or mystifying font choices.

Sure, this page is pretty, but it could use some paragraph breaks.

Spacing: the Final Frontier

Do not put two spaces between your sentences—or anywhere else, for that matter. I know that’s what many of you were taught, and it’s a hard habit to break, but there is not a style guide in the world that will support you on this.

Double-tapping the space bar after a period is a relic of the typewriter age. At one time, it helped reader comprehension, but now that we’ve moved beyond Remingtons and Underwoods, the double space is no longer necessary or desirable. If your fingers refuse to relinquish their bad habits, a simple Find and Replace All will clean up your documents after the fact and save you from copy editors’ dark looks.

Spaced-Out Paragraphs and the Art of the Indent

Your word processing program likes to put spaces between paragraphs, doesn’t it? This format is the convention for business documents—letters, memos, reports—but it doesn’t fit all occasions, regardless of what Microsoft may think.

The advantage of separating paragraphs with spaces is that it presents content in easily consumed chunks, like informational dog biscuits. You’ll find this paragraph style in business documents, manuals, textbooks, and anywhere clarity is paramount. This is also the style most often used in websites (including this one), where a long wall of text is likely to send readers screaming. Short paragraphs surrounded by lots of space are friendly, and easy on computer-weary eyes.

The other type of paragraph is the indented style, which is what you see when you open any novel or newspaper. These paragraphs are not separated by spaces; rather, each opens with an indent, created automatically or by hitting the Tab key. These indents signal a minor break without interrupting the text’s flow.

This style is all about flow—about a lyrical train of imagery or a complex argument built up over several pages. It invites the reader to settle in and get lost in its words. It is immersive. (Note that in this style when you do put a space between paragraphs—as a section break, for example—you don’t need to indent the first line of the new section. Nor do you want to indent the first line of a chapter or story.)

Nothing identifies a self-published novel as quickly as the use of space-style paragraphs instead of indented paragraphs. Unless it’s using both at once—spaced paragraphs with indented first lines. Designers everywhere will shudder at the thought.

Choosing a Font: I Shot the Serif

There are millions of fonts floating around out there, but they can all be divided into two kinds: serif and sans-serif. Serifs are the tiny tails that poke out at the ends of letters. See how the little feet on this m almost form a line? Those feet are serifs, and they help a reader’s eye follow the lines of the text.

Sans is French for “without,” as in sans-souci (without a care) and sans-culottes (without underwear). So, sans-serif fonts are, unsurprisingly, fonts that lack those little tails. Comic Sans is probably the best-known example; use it if you want to give designers an aneurysm.

    •    Serif fonts look like this.
    •    Serif fonts look like this.
    •    Sans-serif fonts look like this.
    •    Sans-serif fonts look like this.

Designers usually recommend using serif fonts for long lines or dense pages of text, as they’re easier to read without losing your place. Sans-serif fonts are often used for smaller, harder-to-read text, such as captions or Wikipedia. In either case, keep your reader in mind when choosing a font. The coolest font in the world will do you no favours if it gives your readers a headache.

Like good grammar, good design doesn’t call attention to itself. It is a frame, a place setting. It’s there so you can enjoy the meal.

Who or Whom?

Does the thought of a misplaced whom make your hands sweat? Does your finger hover, trembling, over the M key as you wonder anxiously, Whoever or whomever?

The good news is that you can decide to sidestep the whole issue. Except in particularly formal writing, it’s safe to use who instead of whom, and The Chicago Manual of Style suggests those who wish to avoid the who(m)ever question use anyone instead.

But suppose you have a hankering for the old-world sophistication of a well-placed whom. Never fear: there is an easy shortcut to determine which case—nominative or objective—to choose, and you don’t need to understand those words in order to use it.

Ed bestows his gifts on whomever he likes best.

The Easy Trick to Decide Between Who and Whom (or Whoever and Whomever)

This invaluable method from The New York Public Library Writer’s Guide to Style and Usage has three steps, which we’ll apply to the following example:

• Ed bestows his gifts on who(m)ever he likes best.

First, separate the part of the sentence that follows who(m)ever.

• 1. … he likes best.

Second, insert either they or them, whichever fits.

• 2. He likes them best.

If they fits, the word you want is who. If them works better, go with whom; the matching m’s will help you remember. (Alternatively, you could use he and him.)

• 3. Ed bestows his gifts on whomever he likes best.

This method is particularly useful for sentences with nested clauses, which can lead even the most experienced grammar nerds astray.

• Ed bestows his gifts on who(m)ever he thinks is the most deserving.

At first glance, this sentence might seem to call for the same pronoun as the last one. Try the steps and see.

• 1. … he thinks is the most deserving.
• 2. He thinks they are the most deserving.
• 3. Ed bestows his gifts on whoever he thinks is the most deserving.

Is your mind blown yet?

Often the dreaded who(m) looms at the beginning of a question, but don’t be thrown off. The three steps still work.

• Who(m) did you ask to the herpetology convention?

• 1. … did you ask to the herpetology convention?
• 2. Did you ask them to the herpetology convention?
• 3. Whom did you ask to the herpetology convention?

• Who(m) may I say is calling?

• 1. … may I say is calling?
• 2. May I say they are calling?
• 3. Who may I say is calling?

Whom did you ask to the herpetology convention?

Whether you decide to apply that extra m or to skip it altogether in favour of a more informal style, consistency is crucial. It’s like shaving your legs—do both or not at all. Sure, you could walk around with only one leg shaved, but let’s face it: people would judge you. And wouldn’t you rather be judged on the quality of your arguments than on your grammatical grooming?

Parallel Construction and Why It's Good for You

Parallel construction is when a series of elements—nouns, adjectives, verbs, phrases, elephants—all follow the same structure, copying each other’s moves like a row of synchronized swimmers. The effect is sometimes a subtle one, but such parallelism will make your writing flow more smoothly.

Life in the middle ages was nasty and brutish, and had alarming dental practices.

Take the following paraphrasing of Thomas Hobbes:

• Life in the middle ages was nasty, brutish, and short.

Part of its pithiness comes from its series of parallel adjectives: “nasty, brutish, and short.” If these three words didn’t match so neatly, the sentence would be much less punchy.

• Life in the middle ages was nasty, brutish, and had alarming dental practices.

In the original sentence, the verb was applied to all three elements: life was nasty, [was] brutish, and [was] short. But in our second version, the syntax falls apart on the third element.

• Life in the middle ages was nasty, [was] brutish, and [was] had alarming dental practices.

This sentence isn’t really a series of three elements; it’s two elements plus another phrase. Notice how its flow is improved when it’s treated as such.

• Life in the middle ages was nasty and brutish, and had alarming dental practices.

Whenever you begin a series—or what looks like a series—your reader instinctively expects parallel construction, even if they couldn’t define it on a game show. If your structure isn’t parallel, your sentences will feel clunky and unsatisfying.

Untangling Your Syntax

My son hunted the Jabberwock through tulgey woods, overgrown wabes, and slithy swamps.

Parallel construction applies to all kinds of series, whatever parts of speech they contain.

• Mr. Simmons set the bell, book, and candle on the countertop and began casting the spell.

Here the three elements bell, book, and candle are all sharing an implied the: the bell, [the] book, and [the] candle.

• X Mr. Simmons set the bell, book, and a candle on the countertop and began casting the spell.

Now our expectations of parallelism are befuddled. Our brains read an awkward “the bell, [the] book, and [the] a candle.” The sentence needs to be reconstructed.

• ✓ Mr. Simmons set the bell, the book, and a candle on the countertop and began casting the spell.

Prepositions, too, should apply evenly to the elements in your series. If that’s not possible, you need to repeat the preposition for each element.

• X My son hunted the Jabberwock through tulgey woods, overgrown wabes, and under tumtum trees.

Through works with the first two elements (“through … woods, [through] … wabes”), but not the third (“[through] under trees”). Either the third element needs to be changed to take the same preposition as the first two, or through needs to be repeated for the second element.

• ✓ My son hunted the Jabberwock through tulgey woods, overgrown wabes, and slithy swamps.
• ✓ My son hunted the Jabberwock through tulgey woods, through overgrown wabes, and under tumtum trees.

Here’s another example of disrupted syntax (which, by the way, would make a great band name).

• X Ndidi powered up the spaceship, fed the cat, put on her sunglasses, and a course was set for Alpha Centauri.

In this sentence we have a nicely repeating series of verb-object, verb-object, verb-object, until the last element flips to object-verb (“a course was set”). Or, to look at it another way, the subject, Ndidi, works with all the series’s elements in the same way, until the last one.

• X Ndidi powered up the spaceship, [Ndidi] fed the cat, [Ndidi] put on her sunglasses, and [Ndidi] a course was set for Alpha Centauri.

The fix, in this case, is simple.

• ✓ Ndidi powered up the spaceship, fed the cat, put on her sunglasses, and set a course for Alpha Centauri.

Sometimes an awkward series is just crying to be separated into two sentences.

• X I felt the waves closing around me, bubbles rush past my face, and saw a long, slimy tentacle wrap around my ankle.
• ✓ I felt the waves close around me and bubbles rush past my face. A long, slimy tentacle wrapped around my ankle.

Parallel Construction and Helping Verbs

Auxiliary, or helping, verbs are little verbs like was, have, and could that glom on to more muscular verbs to form verb phrases, such as were perusing, have murdered, can imagine, did hoodwink, might have been drinking, and so on. Such phrases often wreak havoc on parallelism.

• X The dragon would chew my pillows, eat my shoes, and torched my cuckoo clock.

The helping verb would pairs up chummily with chew and eat (“would chew…, [would] eat”) but doesn’t work with torched (“[would] torched”). We need to rethink our sentence’s structure.

• ✓ The dragon would chew my pillows, eat my shoes, and torch my cuckoo clock.
• ✓ The dragon would chew my pillows and eat my shoes, and it torched my cuckoo clock.

The dragon would chew my pillows, eat my shoes, and torch my cuckoo clock.

• X Dr. Amani has practiced medicine in Osaka, Cairo, and danced at the Bolshoi.
• ✓ Dr. Amani has practiced medicine in Osaka and Cairo and has danced at the Bolshoi.

Parallel Lists

Lists and subheadings should also be constructed in parallel.

Tasks for World Domination

• to test death ray
• digging underground lair in backyard
• practice maniacal laugh
• robot monster

This list contains an infinitive, a participial phrase, a verb, and a noun—and they’re all fighting with each other. Pick a format and apply it across the board.

Tasks for World Domination

• test death ray
• dig underground lair in backyard
• practice maniacal laugh
• build robot monster

Tasks for World Domination

• testing death ray
• digging underground lair in backyard
• practicing maniacal laugh
• building robot monster

Tasks for World Domination

• death ray
• underground lair in backyard
• maniacal laugh
• robot monster

Tasks for World Domination

• to test death ray
• to dig underground lair in backyard
• to practice maniacal laugh
• to build robot monster

Of course, as a writer you may choose to forego parallel construction. Sometimes disrupting the reader’s expectations can be an effective source of surprise or humour. But, as always, knowing the rules and judiciously choosing when to bend them makes all the difference between clever wordplay and sloppy writing.

Italics, Hamlet, and Buffy

To italicize or not to italicize? You may spot the word Hamlet in italics, only to find it in regular type later in the same paragraph. Sometimes Buffy is italicized and other times she’s just Buffy. What’s up with that?

I'm italicized. Ask me how!

In both cases, the choice of italic or roman (i.e., regular) font depends on whether you’re talking about Hamlet the prince or Hamlet the play, Buffy the slayer or Buffy the show. Titles of both plays and TV shows should be written in italics, characters, not. So you could correctly write that Buffy the Vampire Slayer is the hero of Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

• Her thesis was titled “Correlations Between the Colour of Buffy’s Lip Gloss and Methods of Subverting the Patriarchy in Buffy the Vampire Slayer.”
• Students researching Hamlet’s motivation may find themselves asking with Oscar Wilde, “Are the commentators on Hamlet mad, or only pretending to be?”

Other titles that should be italicized are those of books, movies, magazines and newspapers, music albums, epic poems (epic only—think Dante’s Inferno, not “The Lady of Shalott”), works of art, and websites. Use quotation marks for titles of articles, songs, poems, TV episodes, and web posts.

So if for some reason you feel moved to cite this post, call it “Italics, Hamlet, and Buffy,” Grammarlandia. You’re welcome.