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Subject:RE: Correct punctuation for bulleted lists From:Bill Burns <BillDB -at- intl -dot- com> To:techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com Date:Thu, 23 Mar 2000 08:26:47 -0700
> If the introductory sentence is actually a sentence fragment, a colon
> would
> be necessary.
>
Here is the first rule for colon usage from section 5.74 of the "Chicago
Manual of Style," 13th edition:
"The colon is used to mark a discontinuity of grammatical construction
greater than that indicated by the semicolon and less than that indicated by
the period. It may thus be used to emphasize a sequence in thought between
two clauses that form a single sentence or to separate one clause from a
second clause..."
The keyword here is "clause." Aside from salutations, every example in the
CMoS using a colon presents an *independent* clause preceding the colon. In
one instance where the preceding element is incomplete but contains the
verb, the colon is omitted. Granted, this is an old edition of the CMoS, but
I've seen the same rules outlined the "Handbook of Technical Writing"
(Brusaw et al), as well as the MLA guide, the Gregg reference, and various
other style guides.
Do you have a reference that supports your contention?
Bill Burns - Eccentric Technology Consultant
INT'L.com Design & Development
billdb -at- intl -dot- com
"Being disintegrated makes me very angry."
