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The Grammar Business Part Three

The Grammar Business Part Three. 3. Using colons, semi-colons and dashes. Colons (:) are used. To introduce a list e.g. To make puff pastry you require the following ingredients : plain flour, salt, butter. Colons (:) are also used.

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The Grammar Business Part Three

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  1. The Grammar BusinessPart Three 3. Using colons, semi-colons and dashes

  2. Colons (:) are used • To introduce a list • e.g. To make puff pastry you require the following ingredients: plain flour, salt, butter.

  3. Colons (:) are also used • To introduce an explanation (or expansion of what has just been said) • e.g. She couldn’t eat another thing: she had already consumed a seven-course meal.

  4. And a colon (:) may be used • To introduce a quotation • The following statement was released from Downing Street: “No further comment at this time.”

  5. Or • To introduce a set of bullet points. For example You should always bear in mind: • your assailant may be armed • s/he may not like you • s/he may have martial arts training

  6. The old punctuation sign that looks like this :- • is dead • so don’t use it • you have to hit TWO keys on a keyboard even to make it appear • A colon can do all the same things for much less effort!

  7. A semi-colon (;) • joins two clauses • usually to draw attention to the contrast • but sometimes to point the similarity • For example: • “She was charming; he was rude.” • “He was Algerian; she was Rumanian.” • “He was fed up; so was she.”

  8. Or a semi-colon (;) may • separate items on a list, if the items are wordy (instead of a comma) • e.g. She went to the grocers and bought two pounds of Conference pears; five large, pink, luscious grapefruits; a pineapple which was reduced by 50 pence; and finally a huge bunch of beautiful red grapes.

  9. It is wrong to use a semi-colon (;) • To introduce a list (it can only separate items on the list) • To introduce a set of bullet points • To substitute for a comma just because you think it looks nice

  10. Dashes (-) • Should not be confused with hyphens • A hyphen joins two words together and makes one e.g. semi-detached • Hyphens have no spaces round them: they take up the same space as an ordinary letter inside a word • whereas dashes always have a single space before and after - like - this.

  11. Dashes (-) • Can be used to make an emphatic pause • e.g. How can I wear - this? • To indicate an explanation will follow (like a colon but more dramatic) • e.g. She was just a baby - barely four months old.

  12. Dashes (-) may also be used • to indicate a hesitation or interruption • “I think I should - er - go now.” • “Please help me,” she screamed. “I -” • or to separate points of information, like bullets, as they do on this slide

  13. And two dashes • can be used to separate a piece of information from the rest of the sentence e.g. She was going to get out the little sharp vegetable knife - the one she had carefully sharpened the previous day - and she was going to threaten to cut his throat. • This way of using dashes helps the reader see the main thread of the sentence

  14. In business or formal writing • You often need to use a colon (:) • Semi-colons (;) are occasionally useful • Dashes ( - ) are rarely used in business writing, but frequently occur in short stories or newspaper reports • For further information on this, ask for Handout Two.

  15. And finally • There’s the new use for colons, semi-colons and dashes in curious combinations :-) in e-mail signifies a smile ;-) is a wink and a smile :-( is too sad to explain…

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