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Subject:Colon, semicolon, comma, or period? From:"Dave L. Meek's User Account" <dave -at- ROGUE -dot- DISC-SYNERGY -dot- COM> Date:Tue, 25 Jul 1995 17:04:51 -0700
Timothy Schablin wrote:
>Consider the following-----> At ABC company, we make products with the
>consumer in mind; products that aid in productivity and quality.
>Notice the semicolon. Would you change it to a comma, period, colon, or
>leave the semicolon.
>The reason i'm asking, 'cause everyone i ask seems to have a different
>opinion. (One of my books says a semicolon, the other a colon.)
>thanks
I would replace the semicolon with a colon. The portion "products
that aid in productivity and quality." is not a complete
sentence, so merely replacing the semicolon with a period
wouldn't work. For the same reason, a semicolon wouldn't work;
the last portion of the sentence is not of equal grammatical rank
nor is it a complete statement. In this instance, a comma would
indicate that the last portion is a dependent clause and would
weaken its importance.
A colon would signal that the following clause will emphasize or
clarify the idea presented prior to the colon.
/
----- /
c-----O| |\____________________________________________/
L_____| | |
| | |
\__/ |
\ |_______________________________________| |
| | | |
^-- ^--
"Get a long little doggie!"
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Dave Meek
