Grammar and vocabulary, Year 8: colons, commas and tense

A colon

提示The same mark separates the hours from the minutes on a digital clock.

为什么For example: 'Pack three things: a torch, a map and a whistle.' The words before the mark must make a complete sentence without the list.

A semicolon

提示It is built from two other marks, one above the other.

为什么For example: 'The rain eased; the match went on.' It is stronger than a comma and weaker than a full stop, and shows that the two ideas belong together.

A colon, to introduce the explanation

提示It is the mark that says 'and here is why'.

为什么A colon says 'and here it is'. What follows explains, proves or gives an example of what came before.

Each side is a complete sentence

提示Try putting a full stop there instead, and see whether both halves still stand.

为什么That is the test: if a full stop would work, a semicolon can. It is chosen when the two statements are too closely linked to separate.

No — 'I packed' is not a complete sentence followed by another

提示Check whether the words after the mark could stand alone.

为什么'A torch, a map and a whistle' is not a sentence, so a semicolon cannot stand before it. The sentence needs no mark at all after 'packed'.

It shows Grandma is being spoken to

提示Without it, she becomes the meal.

为什么The comma separates the person addressed from the rest of the sentence. Remove it and 'Grandma' becomes the object of 'eat'.

After 'passed'

提示Find where the opening clause ends and the main one begins.

为什么'After the storm passed' is a subordinate clause placed first, so a comma marks where it ends. Without it, the eye reads 'passed the children'.

'Time travellers'

提示Read the sentence aloud with no pause after the fourth word.

为什么The comma shows that 'Most of the time' is a unit and 'travellers' begins the main clause. Without it, the reader briefly sees a different phrase.

'Looks'

提示Two of the three verbs are in the past.

为什么'Opened' and 'gasped' are past tense, so the middle verb should be 'looked'. Drifting between tenses by accident confuses the reader about when things happen.

No — it is a deliberate shift to the present

提示'Even now' signals that the writer means it.

为什么The story happened then; its effect on the narrator continues today. The change of tense carries that meaning, and the phrase 'Even now' flags it.