A colon in an unconsolidated complex sentence: the rules of setting

Non-union sentences with a colon consist of two or more parts, each of which has a certain meaning. It is from him that the choice of this or that punctuation mark depends.

A colon in an unconsolidated complex sentence

1. This punctuation mark is placed in the event that the following sentence (or their group) indicates the reason for which occurred what is said in the first. For example: "Andrei could not arrange his brother as a master student: they did not take such young people there," "The sailors stayed on deck: it was unbearably stuffy downstairs"

2. A colon in an unconditioned complex sentence is also applied when the next sentence (or group of them) reveals the essence of the entire first sentence or one of its members. Then between its constituent parts, instead of the punctuation mark, it is easy to insert exactly (an explanatory union). For example: "In the house quietly began to make noise: at one end the door creaked, steps in the courtyard could be heard, someone sneezed in the room," "Soon I found happiness: my daughter returned to me." A colon is put between several parts of such a sentence and when the first contains pronominal words.

The concrete meaning of words so, one, such, such , etc. , is interpreted by the second part. For example: "All people are there: a gossip on the gossip is sitting and gossiping chases", "One thing was clear: he would never come back." It should also be clarified that in a complex union-free sentence, one pronoun word is explained in its entirety by the second part. This is the case when a colon is used after it. For example: "I ask you only one thing: decide more quickly." And in a simple non-union sentence, it is supplemented only with an explanatory word, after it a dash is placed. For example: "In relations with strangers, the father demanded only one thing: to preserve decency."

3. A colon in an unconditioned sentence is also used when the first sentence contains verbs to look back, look, listen , and also those that indicate an action warning about what will be described below. Instead of a punctuation mark between its parts, it is easy to insert a union, or even a combination of words: and noticed that; And saw that . Sometimes in these cases, put a dash, although it is preferable to put just a colon. For example: "I looked out the window: the stars appeared in the clear sky," "I looked around: the night reigned triumphantly around." In these examples, the second sentence reveals the meaning of the first, complements it.

4. A colon in an unconditioned complex sentence is also used if the next part of it is presented as a direct question. For example: "I was walking now, talking with you and thinking all the time: why do not they change?", "You better confess to me: Is it true that you are still in love with it?"

A colon in an unconsolidated complex sentence in newspaper headlines

When the title of an article breaks up into two parts, this is a separate case of setting up this punctuation mark. The nominative theme - the first part of the title - indicates the problem as a whole, the person, the place of action, etc. And the continuation of the name already concretizes what was mentioned at the beginning. For example: "Children: desired and not very".