punctuation - Colon usage in English


I have always thought that colons were used to clarify, expand, provide evidence for the preceding sentence, or show an example. I have heard that this is not true. (Truly, it is a shame if it is so: colons are my favorite punctuation.) Which of the following sentences uses the colon correctly:



There are three children in my class: two boys and one girl.


There are three children in my class: Jack, Larry, and Susan.


He is undoubtedly a true man: his beard is long and his hands are strong.


It was a big fireplace: not one of those ornamental dainties you find in the houses of snobs, but a real fireplace that had a utility surpassed only by the greatest furnaces.


She was a promiscuous fiend: she had seduced every guest who had dared to pass her threshold with her fiery eyes and her wealth.


This is the problem with your stubbornness: if you happen to be wrong, it will be all the more embarassing.


Never in my life have I been homesick: perhaps I am emotionally stronger than others, or perhaps they have a better home than I.




Answer



The Chicago Manual of Style, 14th Edition, section 5.97 agrees with you that a colon is used



to indicate a sequence in thought between two clauses that form a single sentence or to separate one clause from a second clause that contains an illustration or amplification of the first[.]



It also notes, however, that



In contemporary usage [...] such clauses are frequently separated by a semicolon [...] or are treated as separate sentences[.]



I personally would go for a semicolon in your 4th and 5th examples, and a full stop in the last, but the colon is certainly a viable choice.


(Section 5.99 also agrees with you that a colon is absolutely the correct punctuation to introduce an otherwise unadorned list as in your examples 1 and 2.)


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