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by A Dash of Style- The Art

  Now facing the flaming sky in the west, and now facing the sharp mountains, the car followed the dusty trail down the canyons into air which began to smell of other things besides the endless ozone of the heights: orange blossoms, pepper, sun-baked excrement, burning olive oil, rotten fruit.

  This comes from Paul Bowles's story "A Distant Episode." Most writers would have merely listed one or two items to convey a sense of smell; by choosing to list so many, and to use a colon to herald them, Bowles wants us to slow down, to really take in the place.

  • The colon can be used to pause. Periods and semicolons provide a pause between thoughts, commas provide a pause between clauses, but no other punctuation mark can provide a substantial pause within the same thought. The pause created by the colon is useful for all of the colon's functions: it preps the stage for a dramatic revelation, for a summary, or for a conclusion. It gives us a slight feeling of separation, a bit of breathing room to prepare for the finale. Even the spacing required around a colon points to its ability to create separation: in the past, two spaces were required after the colon (as opposed to the mere one space required after a comma and semicolon), and hundreds of years ago, the colon was the only punctuation mark to require two spaces after it and two spaces before it.

  Sometimes a pause is necessary within the same sentence to allow something to sink in. Consider:

  I want to tell you that I love you.

  We don't feel a pause here, or a revelation. But if we add a colon:

  I want to tell you something: I love you.

  Now there is just enough of a pause to give the words impact. By adding the colon (and modifying the surrounding words accordingly) we've also created an arc to the sentence, a sense of building and of resolution.

  • Just as the colon can be used to create a feeling of summary within a sentence, so can the colon, in the greatest context, be used for finality at the end of a section, chapter, or book. This is a device to be used sparingly, since the conclusion of a chapter or book is inherently dramatic, and mustn't be overdone. But when one needs a grand final sentence, sometimes only a colon will do. For example, consider this conclusion:

  As they stood on the ice and watched the huge ship steam away they felt their sudden isolation, and it dawned on them that there was no turning back, that it would be a long, hard winter.

  Somehow this doesn't feel as final as it could. But with a colon:

  As they stood on the ice and watched the huge ship steam away they felt their sudden isolation, and it dawned on them that there was no turning back: it would be a long, hard winter.

  The finality is unmistakable. The colon here is like the final drumbeat at the end of a song, like the "The End" title card that appears after the film credits have rolled. Again, in most cases a final colon would be overkill, and it is preferable to construct the final sentence in a way where the finality is inherent, and not reliant upon a colon to do its job. Nonetheless, sometimes nothing else will work, and for this sort of job, the colon has no equal.

  Let's look at some examples from literature. George Bernard Shaw was famous for his use of the colon. He relied on it heavily. Many of his usages are questionable —in fact, overall, I don't think he used it well. Nonetheless, here is an interesting example from his play Widowers' Houses. It is especially interesting because he manages to squeeze two colons into one sentence:

  The other, Mr. William de Burgh Cokane, is probably over 40, possibly 50: an ill-nourished, scanty-haired gentleman, with affected manners: fidgety, touchy, and constitutionally ridiculous in uncompassionate eyes.

  A colon can work well in summing up a character, particularly after listing his attributes, and here Shaw states Mr. Cokane's age, then uses a colon to go deeper into what it means to be that age. He segues to the man's manners, then uses another colon to go deeper into precisely how these manners manifest. With Shaw, each colon is like a "zoom in" button: he touches on something, then uses a colon to bring us to the next level.

  Here is an example from James Joyce's short story "The Boarding House," suggested by critically acclaimed author and writing teacher Ellen Cooney:

  For her only one reparation could make up for the loss of her daughter's honour: marriage.

  Notice how Joyce uses nearly the entire sentence to build to the colon, and simply a one-word revelation in its wake. The contrast is magnificent. It puts the word "marriage" in the strongest possible spotlight.

  I walked close to the left wall when I entered, but it was empty: just the stairs curving up into shadows.

  This is from William Faulkner's The Sound and the Fury. Faulkner could have used a period and broken this into two separate sentences, or used a dash to indicate an afterthought. But he chose to use a colon. By doing so, he intimates that the "stairs curving up into shadows" are an enhancement of what it means to be "empty." It is a terrifically melancholy image, and brings home to the reader the experience of emptiness.

  Here's an example from the opening of Alice Munro's story "Royal Beatings":

  Royal beating. That was Flo's promise. You are going to get one Royal Beating.

  The word Royal lolled on Flo's tongue, took on trappings. Rose had a need to picture things, to pursue absurdities, that was stronger than the need to stay out of trouble, and instead of taking this threat to heart she pondered: how is a beating royal?

  The colon here makes us pause, makes us feel her "pondering." It also sets us up for the question she asks herself, and for her unexpected viewpoint. Note also Munro's use of other punctuation marks here: she begins by using the period heavily, with three short sentences, followed by an immediate paragraph break. Then she brings in the comma, and her sentences grow longer, culminating in her incredibly long, final sentence, a colon, then a final question mark. This varied punctuation makes us feel the impact of the colon all the more, especially since the portion of the text that precedes it is so long compared to the portion that follows it.

  "When we are very young, we tend to regard the ability to use a colon much as a budding pianist regards the ability to play with crossed hands: many of us, when we are older, regard it as a proof of literary skill, maturity, even of sophistication: and many, whether young, not so young, or old. employ it gauchely, haphazardly or, at best, inconsistently."

  — Eric PartridgE, You Have a Point There

  DANGER OF OVERUSE OR MISUSE

  You can get away with a work devoid of colons, but if you misuse or overuse them, it will stand out, and readers will be unforgiving. Like semicolons, colons are addictive. A colon gives a writer an anchor, helps him construct a sentence —indeed, an entire thought. It enables the writer to think differently, in rising and falling arcs, with soaring openings and neat conclusions. But not every sentence is meant to progress in such an arc. For the reader, sentence after colon-laden sentence is like riding in a sea with endless rolling waves: he will grow seasick and want off the boat. Consider:

  He went to the park every day to do one thing: feed the pigeons. He loved those damned birds more than he loved me, and I'd had enough: it was time to move out. I packed my bags, left him a note, and put it in the one place he wouldn't miss it: on his bag of bird feed.

  Colons are stylistic, and demand the text around them to be stylized. Use them sparingly. If more than one or two appear per page you are probably overdoing it and should find a way to reduce them or, preferably, reconstruct your sentences in a way where the arc is inherent.

  • Sometimes a colon is not truly necessary. A colon should connect two clauses only when such connection is crucial, for instance, when one clause reveals or summarizes the other. If the text after a colon reveals, then the text preceding it must build to that revelation. The clauses cannot be unrelated, or too independent. If so, they must be divided into two separate sentences. And that's the job of the period. For example, this cannot work:

  My grandfather shot squirrels in his spare time: I didn't do my homework yesterday.

  These two clauses a
re not related, and thus a colon cannot be used. In order to use a colon, the text would need to read something like this:

  My grandfather shot squirrels in his spare time: he loved to kill anything that moved.

  Similarly, two clauses might be vaguely related to one another, yet not make a perfect match, not truly summarize or reveal each other. Like this:

  The lightbulb died while I was drinking my coffee: this coffee tastes horrible.

  This sentence should either be reconstructed to make the two clauses a better match, like this:

  The lightbulb died while I was drinking my coffee: the electricity in this building is awful.

  Or be reconstructed without a colon, like this:

  The lightbulb died while I was drinking my coffee. This coffee tastes horrible.

  If the connection between two clauses isn't perfect, then a colon should not be present.

  • Conversely, relying too heavily on the colon can lead you to create half sentences, form half thoughts, where the first clause of the sentence cannot be completed without the second, and the second clause cannot exist without the first. While the two clauses must be connected and relevant to each other, at the same time you cannot allow this to be an excuse to write flimsy, half clauses that cannot exist without their colon counterparts. The colon strengthens the sentence as a whole, yet it weakens the individual parts, as they can no longer exist without each other. Consider:

  I went to the movies on Tuesday afternoons: that was when tickets were half price.

  Technically, the first portion of this sentence could stand on its own, but it would be hard to make a case that the second portion could (unless the writing is stylized), and even the first portion would make a weak sentence. Ultimately, the two clauses of this sentence need each other to allow a full thought. You can get away with this from time to time, but if you rely heavily on this sort of construction, your sentences will become too dependent on the colon. As a rule, the text preceding and following a colon must be more independent than text demarcated by a comma, yet less independent than text demarcated by a semicolon. For example, this sentence could exist without a colon if need be:

  I went to the movies on Tuesday afternoons, since that was when tickets were half price.

  Remember, only use a colon if you must.

  •As with all punctuation, the need to use the colon must be organic to the text. If a colon is forced onto a sentence—for example, in

  order to try to force drama where there is none — then that colon will feel fake, and readers will resent it. A colon must never be forced to do the job of content. If a sentence is inherently dramatic, often a colon won't be needed; and when it is needed, it must flow seamlessly into the rhythm of the sentence. The more subtle the better, especially when it comes to the colon. It is such an inherently dramatic, attention-grabbing tool, that one must always tone it down. Forcing a colon into a sentence is like blasting a fog horn while waiting at a stop sign.

  Here the colon is forced, making the sentence feel cheap:

  The drums rolled, the curtain rose, and there she stood, in the spotlight: my favorite actress.

  With the colon removed and some rearranging, it reads more naturally:

  The drums rolled, the curtain rose, and there, in the spotlight, stood my favorite actress.

  It is an inherently dramatic sentence; "my favorite actress" will shine either way. Using the colon is overkill.

  "To be mulcted of our money and mutilated of our property is serious enough: to be deprived of our colon would be intolerable."

  — Eric Partridge, You Have a Point There

  CONTEXT

  Although the colon may be bossy, it is also sensitive: the punctuation surrounding it has great effect upon it. Likewise, it also has great effect upon other marks. There are many issues to consider when it comes to using the colon in context:

  • In order to get maximum effect out of a colon, the text that precedes it should ideally be unimpeded by other punctuation, while the text that follows should flow unimpeded to the sentence's end. When no other punctuation marks exist, the text can race headlong into a colon and then race to a conclusion. The colon becomes the star player, shining by itself in the midst of the sentence. Of course, it needn't always be this way, and there are many fine examples of colons functioning well while commas and semicolons abound on either side. But this will maximize the colon's effect. Consider:

  Halogen lamps, left on at night, can be dangerous, if not deadly: many fires have started as a direct result of their overheating.

  The commas in this sentence detract from the impact of the colon. If we remove them, though, and keep just the colon, we can feel the difference:

  Halogen lamps left on at night can be dangerous if not deadly: many fires have started as a direct result of their overheating.

  If we go one step further and remove not just the commas but the clauses they contain, we can even more powerfully feel the colon's impact:

  Halogen lamps can be deadly: many fires have started as a direct result of their overheating.

  This example is more streamlined. The colon can shine here. We feel the sentence rush toward the moment of revelation, then rush to its conclusion.

  As you can see, the colon, when used properly, tends to muscle other punctuation out of the way. When using it, beware: it will minimize your use of surrounding punctuation, or at the very least, swallow up their effect. It is the fighting fish in the tank of dociles, and eventually it will be the only fish left. The colon even detracts from the power of the period. For a period to have maximum power, readers shouldn't be slowed at any point throughout the sentence, and the colon slows them in a major way. With a near full stop before the final stop, the final stop is no longer so important. Consider:

  Every time I try to speak she does it again: she interrupts me.

  The major stop in the rhythm come after "again," thus detracting from the stopping power of the period. But if we remove the colon (and trim the sentence accordingly), then the period's power can be felt again:

  Every time I try to speak she interrupts me.

  The colon doesn't play well with semicolons either. A semicolon is a semi-full stop and implies it is the penultimate stop before the period. Theoretically a colon could follow a semicolon, but more often than not it would read awkwardly. There is rarely room for both of these giants in the universe of one sentence.

  There are always exceptions, though, particularly in the hands

  of a master author. In the following example from The Autobiography of My Mother, Jamaica Kincaid breaks the rules skillfully:

  When my mother died, leaving me a small child vulnerable to all the world, my father took me and placed me in the care of the same woman he paid to wash his clothes. It is possible that he emphasized to her difference between the two bundles: one was his child, not his only child in the world but the only child he had with the only woman he had married so far; the other was his soiled clothes.

  The colon here is a powerful choice, setting the stage to elaborate on the "difference" between the two "bundles" of clothing. And the semicolon, surprisingly, works well with it, forcing us to a stop right before the end of the sentence, and allowing a pithy contrast.

  • The primary function of the colon is to flag something as important, whether it's a revelation, summary, conclusion, or a point that needs to be offset. The colon is a giant red flag. And if you flag every point as important, readers will stop taking it seriously. Imagine looking at two documents, one with dozens of red flags and the other with merely one. In the former, with everything marked as important, nothing will seem to be; in the latter, the one flagged point will be spotted immediately. It's all about context. When you overuse it, the colon loses its effect. Revelations will no longer have any import. To keep the colon strong, keep context in mind, and use it sparingly.

  An example of a skillful (and unusual) placement of a colon in context of a paragraph comes from the opening of Jo
nathan Franzen's The Corrections:

  The madness of an autumn prairie cold front coming through. You could feel it: something terrible was going to happen. The sun low in the sky, a minor light, a cooling star. Gust after gust of disorder. Trees restless, temperatures falling, the whole northern religion of things coming to an end. No children in the yards here.

  While the colon is normally used to culminate, Franzen goes against the grain and uses it here to open his novel. At first it might feel jarring, but as you read on, you realize it works well; instead of summarizing a paragraph, it sets the stage for one. With every sentence we read in its wake, we keep in the back of our minds that something terrible is going to happen. Note also the heavy use of the period here, the numerous short, incomplete sentences. The style is skillfully established within a few moments of the novel's opening.

  WHAT YOUR USE OF THE COLON REVEALS ABOUT YOU

  As with other punctuation marks, how you use (or don't use) the colon reveals a lot about you as a writer.

  The overuse of the colon generally indicates an overly dramatic writer. This writer's primary concern is making a bang, slamming the reader with a revelation. His greater plot might likewise offer cheap revelations, shocking plot twists, uncovered secrets, surprise endings. Just as the writer who overuses the colon forces drama on a sentence to sentence basis, so will he likely employ more flash than substance. He is more likely to have a cat jump out and scare you than a long, slow build to genuine terror. He wants immediate gratification, and quick fixes.

  Since the colon can be used to neatly summarize or conclude, the overuse of the colon can indicate the writer who likes to tie things into neat packages —not just on a sentence-to-sentence basis, but in the greater plot as well. His subplots might tie together too perfectly, his characters might journey through the too-perfect arc — he might even offer moral lessons to be learned. This writer is more inclined to write for the sum of all parts than for the parts themselves. He might be uncomfortable with morally ambiguous characters, and he will more likely people his work with straightforward good and evil characters.