Using the Semicolon and colon in OET Writing
The Semicolon
The semicolon is somewhere between a full stop and a comma. Semicolons can be used in English to join phrases and sentences that are thematically linked without having to use a conjunction (example 1 below). Semicolons can also be used instead of commas to separate the items in a list when the items themselves already contain commas (example 2 below).
Examples
I like your brother; he’s a good friend.
Many great leaders, Churchill, leader of Britain during the Second World War; Alexander, the great Emperor and general; and Napolean, the brilliant French general, had strong characters, which were useful when their countries were at war but which did not serve them well in times of peace.
The Colon
The colon expands on the sentence that precedes it, often introducing a list that demonstrates or elaborates whatever was previously stated.
Examples
There are many reasons for poor written communication: lack of planning, poor grammar, misuse of punctuation marks, and insufficient vocabulary.
He collected a strange assortment of items: bird’s eggs, stamps, bottle tops, string, and buttons.
Peter had an eclectic taste in music: latin, jazz, country and western, pop, blues, and classical.
He had just one fault: an enormous ego.
The colon is also used to divide the hour from the minutes in writing a time in English.
Examples
4:15 = “four fifteen”
6:45 = “six forty-five”