Semicolon vs. Colon

Kristen King

by Heather Wardell

www.inkthinkerblog.com — “Next week; he will call me.”

“I told him what to do: he made it clear he wouldn’t do it.”

Colons and semicolons are probably the most difficult punctuation marks to use correctly. Once you understand them, though, you will find that they can really enhance your writing.

Colons can be thought of as being like a very short equals sign. They connect the first part of the sentence to the second. For example, we could say, “All of the important people arrived: Lisa, Holly, Beth and Matthew,” and use a colon.

We would not use a semicolon in that case. Semicolons connect two separate thoughts together. “I told him what to do; he made it clear he wouldn’t do it.” This could have been written as two sentences, but linking the pieces together gives the thought strength, and also provides a change from very short sentences. The sentence about the important people could not have been written as two separate sentences, so it requires a colon.

Semicolons are also used when you are listing a number of things, some of which contain commas. They help to make it clear when you are listing the next thing and when you are listing attributes of the first thing. An example is definitely necessary!

I ask you to bring three things to my party: tomatoes, bread and cheese. (Notice the colon!) You arrive, and say, “Here you go! I brought the fresh, ruby red tomatoes; whole wheat bread straight from the oven; and cheese, bought from the farmers’ market this morning.” Try this sentence with commas instead of semicolons, and you will find that you’re not really sure when to pause. The semicolon gives a slightly longer pause than a comma does, and it helps to keep the various items separate.

What about the first sentence I gave you? The semicolon there should simply be a comma.

Try these last few sentences on for size:

The cat slept in the sun ___ his owner looked on.

She added the last few ingredients ____ milk, sugar, and one egg.

Keep in mind that colons connect two halves of a sentence, and semicolons connect two separate sentences or pieces of a list, and you will be fine!

(Answers: The cat slept in the sun; his owner looked on. She added the last few ingredients: milk, sugar, and one egg.)

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Heather Wardell is a freelance writer specializing in technology, and is obsessed with good grammar. Her eBook, “Simple HTML,” will be available soon. Visit www.heatherwardell.com for more information on Heather and her work.

Although this article was published by Kristen King, the original author retains all copyright and should be contacted for reprint requests.

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Its vs. It’s

Kristen King

by Heather Wardell

Every dog has it’s day.

Its beginning to snow.

www.inkthinkerblog.com — Many people confuse “its” and “it’s.” How can you be sure you’re using the right one? This is one of the most common grammatical errors, and one of the easiest to fix.

“It’s” is a contraction made up of the word “it” and the word “is” or “has.” If you can read something as “it is” or “it has”, then “it’s” is the right way to go. If not, if you want to say that something belongs to “it,” then “its” is correct.

Let’s look at the first two sentences of this article. “Every dog has it is day.” No, that wouldn’t make sense, so the sentence should read, “Every dog has its day.”

Similarly, you could say, “It is beginning to snow,” so that sentence should be, “It’s beginning to snow.”

Give these sentences a try!

I put the cereal back into _____ cupboard.

Nigel hates this weather – _____ so cold!

______ been lovely seeing you.

Keep the rule firmly in mind – “it’s” means “it is” – and you’ll never confuse “it’s” and “its” again!

(Answers: I put the cereal back into *its* cupboard. Nigel hates this weather – *it’s* so cold! *It’s* [it has] been lovely seeing you.)

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Although this article was published by Kristen King, the original author retains all copyright and should be contacted for reprint requests.

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Guest Post: The Creative Writer’s Secret Weapon – Are You Using One?

Kristen King

Creative Writing Journal – The Creative Writer’s Secret Weapon – Are You Using One?

By Dan Goodwin

www.inkthinkerblog.com — What’s the difference between a prolific creative writer and a writer who struggles to write consistently, and never feels they have enough good ideas?

Actually, there’s very little difference.

There are essentially two parts to being a prolific creative writer, and writing close to your true potential. Both of them can be hugely enhanced by using the creative writer’s secret weapon – a creative writing journal. Here’s how:

Part 1. Having ideas.

All of us who write are capable of having a steady stream of great creative writing ideas. Yes that includes you.

The main difference between those who have plenty of ideas, and those who feel they hardly have any is not ACTUALLY the amount of ideas they have.

It’s the number of ideas they NOTICE they have, and how many of these they capture. Here’s where the creative writing journal comes in.

By having a creative writing journal close to hand wherever you go, as soon as a fragment of an idea comes to you, you can jot it down in your journal. Just the act of writing the idea down instantly gives it “permission” to develop into something more.

If you have the idea in your head and think you’ll remember it, you’re very likely to be disappointed. It’s not a weakness or a failing on your part, we all do the same.

Accept that you can’t remember every glimmer of an idea in your head and begin writing the ideas down. That way you’re guaranteed to have them to develop in the future into larger pieces of writing.

Which brings us on to: [continue reading…]

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Inkthinker Content Updates

Kristen King

www.inkthinkerblog.com — Just a heads up, I know there are still a whole lot of posts missing from October and November of last year, and I’m hoping to get them in place tonight. There may be a couple of dups while I get it straightened out, but I’m hopeful that I’ll be able to get rid of them fairly quickly. So don’t panic!

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Business Card Sale at Streetcards.com!

Kristen King

www.inkthinkerblog.com — I’m sure you remember my elation at receiving my awesome business cards from UK-based Streetcards, and I’m equally excited to let you know that YOU can have your VERY OWN awesome business cards at a pretty nice discount by taking advantage of the current sale at Streetcards.

From the announcement they sent me:

From today until August 26th, the following streetcards FREE upgrades are available to help…

A. if you place an order for 100 streetcards, we’ll upgrade you to 200 cards

or,

B. If you place an order for 250 streetcards or more, we’ll Matt Laminate them for FREE

or,

C. If you place an order for 250 streetcards, we’ll upgrade you to 500 cards

Simply choose option A, B or C and email us [the message came from feedback@streetcards.com] once you’ve placed your order, quoting which offer you’d like… this offer applies to all re-orders too, if you would like to re-order past designs please email: reorders@streetcards.com or phone +44 20 8876 5466. If you can find your original order number, that would be terrific, but if not, we’ll find you on our system somewhere we have all streetcards orders since day one.

Enjoy! And if you don’t yet have business cards, one of my favorite inexpensive marketing tools, this is the perfect opportunity for you to get on the ball.

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