Please check my colon

March 3, 2015 7:59 AM

Please help settle a debate. Is the colon in the following sentence used properly? "Disagreement about climate change is rarely a simple dispute about facts: people’s interpretation of climate change information is influenced by cognitive factors and motivated reasoning." Thank you.
posted by griseus to Writing & Language (22 answers total)

Yes.
posted by General Malaise at 8:02 AM on March 3, 2015 [1 favorite]

No. That should be a semicolon. You have two separate independent clauses that could be treated as sentences. You use semicolons for that. A colon would usually introduce a list or dependent clause.
posted by Pater Aletheias at 8:03 AM on March 3, 2015 [71 favorites]

Best answer: Not incorrect, strictly speaking, but IMO it's not great as a stylistic choice. I would use a semicolon there.
posted by holborne at 8:05 AM on March 3, 2015 [16 favorites]

Agree with the above. I would use a semicolon but a colon isn't technically incorrect.
posted by alms at 8:08 AM on March 3, 2015

I would use an emdash but that's my personal style. Colon, semi-colon and period all acceptable IMO.
posted by Rash at 8:09 AM on March 3, 2015 [4 favorites]

It's grammatically fine: colons introduce lists, dependent clauses, definitions, explanations, etc. And I kinda prefer it there to a semi-colon; semi-colons separate two independent clauses of equal weight, while colons generally indicate that one side of the sentence is more important than or governs the other in some way.
posted by experiencing a significant gravitas shortfall at 8:09 AM on March 3, 2015 [21 favorites]

Nix the colon. You can tie the two independent clauses together with a semicolon if you want, but these statements are strong enough that they'd stand better as two separate sentences.
posted by Faint of Butt at 8:09 AM on March 3, 2015 [2 favorites]

If you can replace a colon with a full stop and it still makes sense then you shouldn't use a colon.
posted by holgate at 8:10 AM on March 3, 2015 [3 favorites]

APA style:

"between a grammatically complete introductory clause (one that could stand as a sentence) and a final phrase or clause that illustrates, extends, or amplifies the preceding thought. If the clause following the colon is a complete sentence, it begins with a capital letter."
posted by General Malaise at 8:11 AM on March 3, 2015 [5 favorites]

Best answer: That colon would give me pause as a reader, therefore it should go.
posted by Etrigan at 8:12 AM on March 3, 2015 [5 favorites]

Best answer: I suspect that the different reactions you're getting have to do with the genres and discourse communities different readers are most used to. I read mainly academic prose these days, in which that structure wouldn't seem at all out of place (there are, of course, all kinds of academic writing, and in some circles it might seem odd); that said, academic writing isn't generally known for being particularly readable or aesthetically pleasing, so depending on your purpose you might consider rephrasing that sentence.
posted by experiencing a significant gravitas shortfall at 8:21 AM on March 3, 2015 [10 favorites]

It's clunky, and an outlier use of the colon, even if technically correct.

Semicolon is your friend and will make that sentence look professional.
posted by jbenben at 8:44 AM on March 3, 2015 [4 favorites]

;
posted by snorkmaiden at 8:57 AM on March 3, 2015 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: Thanks, everyone. I'll take it out because people seem to be thrown off by it even though it probably is grammatically correct.

(And it is for an academic paper, fwiw.)
posted by griseus at 9:03 AM on March 3, 2015

I realize the question has been answered, but here's another data point. This one comes from Steven Pinker's The Sense of Style:

"When the coherence relation [between two sentences] is elaboration or exemplification (when one is tempted to say that is, in other words, which is to say, for example, here's what I have in mind, or Voilà!), they may be linked with a colon: like this."
posted by xenization at 10:23 AM on March 3, 2015 [6 favorites]

> I suspect that the different reactions you're getting have to do with the genres and discourse communities different readers are most used to. I read mainly academic prose these days, in which that structure wouldn't seem at all out of place

Very true, and as an editor of academic prose I ruthlessly change those misused colons to semicolons (or whatever works). Colons have a quite specific function—they are not get-out-of-jail-free cards for "hey, I feel like sticking another clause or two in here."
posted by languagehat at 11:07 AM on March 3, 2015 [10 favorites]

Semicolon or two sentences is my vote.
posted by aryma at 9:52 PM on March 3, 2015

I can't imagine a better example of a sentence in which a semicolon would be more appropriate than a colon.
posted by John Cohen at 10:08 PM on March 3, 2015 [1 favorite]

In other words, the focus on how the colon might be "grammatically correct" is off point. That shouldn't be your only question. If there are two things that are "grammatically correct," but one is much, much better than the other, you should do the much better one. Grammatical correctness is important, but it isn't the only thing that matters.
posted by John Cohen at 10:16 PM on March 3, 2015

It's grammatically fine: colons introduce lists, dependent clauses, definitions, explanations, etc. And I kinda prefer it there to a semi-colon; semi-colons separate two independent clauses of equal weight, while colons generally indicate that one side of the sentence is more important than or governs the other in some way.

I agree with this. It's amazing to me that so many people are suggesting you should use a semicolon in that sentence. I've spent 20 years editing books, magazines, newspapers and academic journals, and in all of these a semicolon would be the wrong choice here. (This is in the UK, by the way - I realise semicolons are used more liberally in the US.)

I would keep the colon if it's supposed to be formal writing or use a full stop (period) if not. Rejigging the whole thing might be the best choice of all.
posted by cincinnatus c at 2:11 AM on March 4, 2015 [1 favorite]

I'm with zenisation and cincinnaus c. I'm not sure the semi-colon advocates are paying attention to the logical flow from one clause to the other (the second clause focuses the sentiment expressed in the first).
posted by aught at 1:00 PM on March 4, 2015

I would add that, in my experience, about 95% of otherwise fully literate native speakers of English - and 80% of professional writers - do not know how to use semicolons correctly. I pretty much remove every one I see. Even when correctly used, they are usually fussy and unnecessary. I've let about half a dozen through out of hundreds I've seen in the past year. Most writers could go through their whole lives without ever needing to use one.
posted by cincinnatus c at 3:56 PM on March 4, 2015