6. Colons Colons have two major uses: 1) Introduce a list 2) Introduce an explanation Important: A colon must follow a full sentence that can stand on its own as a complete thought. A colon does not, however, have to be followed by a complete sentence. Colon before a list Incosrect: ‘The Great Bear Rainforest contains: Western Red Cedas, Sitka Spruce, and Douglas Fir trees. Correct: ‘The Great Bear Rainforest contains three main tree species: Western Red Cedat, Sitka Spruce, and Douglas Fir Although The Great Bear Rainforest contains is a Cull sentence because it contains a subject and a verb, it does not make sense on its own, Colon before an explanation Incorrect! The Amazon patrot does not make an ideal pet for most people because: it requires much more attention and entertainment than many other animals do, Correct: ‘The Amazon parrot does not make an ideal pet for most people for one major reason: it requires much more attention and affection than many other animals do, When a colon precedes an explanation, a complete sentence typically follows the colon. For tis reason, there are instances in which a colon, a semicolon/period, ofa cash (ec next page) is grammatically acceptable: Correct: ‘The Amazon parrot does not make an ideal pet for most people: attention and aflection than many other animals do. requires much more Correct: ‘The Amazon parrot does not make an ideal pet for most peoples it requires much more attention and affection than many other animals do. Comect: ‘The Amazon parrot does not make an ideal pet for most people. It requites much more attention and affection than many other animals do. When either a colon or a semicolon is acceptable, the ACT will never ask you to choose between them, B7. Dashes While dashes are typically the most unfamiliar punctuation mark for many test-takers, mostly because they are ‘used more frequently in British English than in American English, they are fairly straightforward to master, Dashes have three major uses 1) Set off'a non-essential clause 2) Introduce alist or explanation 3) Create a deliberate pause ‘The vast majority of ACT questions that test dashes test the first usage. Questions testing the second usage appear occasionally, and questions testing the third appear only rarely. ‘A. Set Offa Non-Essential Clause: 2 dashes = 2 commas When used this way, two dashes are exactly equivalent to two commas. If one dash appears, so must the other. Another punctuation mark such as a comma cannot be used in place of the dash. Incosrect; London = which is a very old city, has many new buildings. Correct: London ~ which is a very old city ~ has many new buildings. “The choice to use two dashes rather than two commas is purely a stylistic one, and the ACT will never require you to choose between the two. The only tule is that dashes must go with dashes and commas with commas (One of the ACT's favorite errors is to mix and match commas and dashes. For example: ‘The Norman Conquest — which occurred in 1. A. NO CHANGE, 1066, marked an impostant step in the B. 1066 ~marked C. 1066. Macked development of the English language. D._ 1066: marked If you know that a dash must only be paired with another dash, you can immediately choose (B). 16B. Before a List or Explanation: Dash = Colon ‘When used this way, a dash i the exact equivalent of a colon and must come after a fll, stand-alone statement List: ‘The Great Bear Rainforest contains three main tree species — Westen Red Cedar, Sitka Spruce, and Douglas Fis. Explanation: The Amazon parrot does not make an ideal pet for most people — it requires much more attention and affection than many other animals do. ‘The dash vs. colon distinction is purely stylistic; the ACT will never ask you to choose between them. C. Create a Pause A dash can also be used for stylistic reasons: to deliberately interrupt a statement or to create a dramatic pause or sense of suspense, Create a pause: After eight hours of deiving, we finally arrived home ~ and that was when we discovered that we had forgotten to close all of the windows. Because questions testing this use of dashes appear very rarely, you do not need to spend a lot of time focusing ‘on it; you should simply be awase that it exists, Moreover, when this construction does appear in an answer choice, the focus of the question will often be content or style rather than grammar. In such eases, you are simply responsible for recognizing that it is acceptable to use a dash this way and will not be required ¢© make a corsection. 1