What is this:? I am not asking you about the question mark. I am asking you about the two dots that came before the question mark.
A colon is a type of PUNCTUATION.
Use a colon
We use it before a list, summary or quote.
1) Before a list.
I could only find three of the ingredients: sugar, flour and coconut.
2) Before a summary.
To summarise: we found the camp, set up our tent and then the bears attacked.
3) Before a quote.
As Jane Austen wrote: “It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife.”
We also use it to complete a statement of fact. It adds a little variety to your writing and allows you to experiment: it is used in place of the following or thus. Here is an example:
There are only three kinds of people: the good, the bad and the ugly.
If you would like to continue to learn about the colon try reading newspapers, books or articles and observing if and when the colon is used.
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