The Blue Quill

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Common Misspellings

The dreaded colon, semi- and otherwise

Don't panic -- the colon is your friend, not your enemy. And the semi-colon is just as useful. The trick is to tell them apart and use them in the right places. Used sparingly and correctly, these two punctuation marks can add subtlety to your prose style. They convey shades of meaning beyond the scope of commas and periods.