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3. Colons can be used to add more explanation to a sentence.
There is something I really want to do: I want go sky diving.

4. Colons can be used to show who is speaking in a play script.
Sara: Do you like my new coat?
Alia: Yes, it’s lovely. Where did you get it?
Sara: I bought it from the new shop in town.

Semi-colons
1. Semi-colons are used to connect two or more ideas that go together into one
sentence.
Driving conditions were bad. The roads were very icy.

We could join these two ideas together with words like because, as or since:
Driving conditions were bad because the roads were very icy.

However, using a semi-colon can make the sentence more dramatic or stronger.
Driving conditions were bad; the roads were very icy.

2. You have learned how commas separate simple items in a list. But, if the items in
the list are more complicated and already have commas, we use semi-colons.
Example -
I need to: These items
sell my car, which is old already have
tidy my bedroom, which is untidy commas.
mend my computer, which is broken.

Here is the list joined together in a sentence with semi-colons:
I need to sell my car, which is old; tidy my bedroom, which is untidy; and mend my

computer, which is broken.

Colons and semi-colons are not used often and are a higher level punctuation skill, but
if you can think of a sentence occasionally in your writing that shows you know how to
use them correctly, it will help improve your grades.

Self Assessment Guide for Punctuation:
Use the ‘Traffic light’ system to colour in the boxes next to each target in the table:
GREEN = I can do this. YELLOW = I can sometimes do this. RED = I can’t do this.
My sentences begin with capital letters and end with full stops,
question marks or exclamation marks.

I have used commas for lists and for adding information to sentences.
Red/yellow/green Traffic lights
I have used speech marks and apostrophes.
I have used other punctuation marks such as brackets, dashes, colons
or semi-colons.
My target:

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