punctuation - A phrase as an interjection


Often in spoken English, I see one sentence or phrase "set up" another much like an interjection. For example:



I forgot to ask. Did you find that book I told you about?



How do you generally punctuate this? I've seen a comma used for this, but I that's only correct if it can be argued that I forgot to ask is a proper interjection (can it be?).


Should I use a colon? Semi-colon? Does it matter?



Answer



You could punctuate this in a few ways, in decreasing levels of formality


With a colon (:)



I forgot to ask: did you find that book I told you about?



With a dash (–)



I forgot to ask—did you find that book I told you about?



With an ellipsis (…)



I forgot to ask…did you find that book I told you about?



The colon is the most formal, the ellipsis quite informal. I personally would use a dash. The ellipsis here is used to indicate a pause or an unfinished thought, which some purists might object to (claiming that an ellipsis can only be used to indicate something which has been left out).


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