The colon ( : ) and semicolon ( ; ) are frequently used incorrectly in place of each other. The two punctuation marks serve very different purposes, and should not be used interchangeably. Colon. A ...

Use colons in the following situations: Combine two complete sentences when the second sentence completes, explains, or illustrates an idea in the first sentence. If you can mentally insert "namely," ...

The colon is one of the most versatile punctuation marks (and organs). We use it to mark time (he arrived at 3:15 pm), ... It’s in ordinary writing that the colon gets a bit confusing. It’s sometimes ...

Semi-Colons. The most frequent use of the semi-colon is between two complete sentences. It can be substituted for a comma plus a conjunction. Ex: Tom ate breakfast with his family, and then he left ...