Am I using it correctly in this sentence:
"Physical beauty: with disease it fades, with age it dies."
It is my own translation from Ad Herrenium I am using as an example of the diazeugma/disjunctio construction.
"Formae dignitas aut morbo deflorescit aut vetustate extinguitur."
2006-06-08 04:23:27 · 13 answers · asked by Discipulo legis, quis cogitat? 6 in Education & Reference ➔ Words & Wordplay
Most agree with the colon usage. What about use of the semi-colon or comma in the second part of the sentence?
2006-06-08 05:17:30 · update #1
The semicolon should be later, as in:
Physical beauty: with disease it fades; with age it dies.
2006-06-08 04:27:36 · answer #1 · answered by bequalming 5 · 1⤊ 0⤋
The colon is correct; a semicolon would be incorrect.
A semicolon is only used when two phrases can be separate sentences, but the semicolon is used to imply a connected meaning. In my sentence above, both parts could be separate sentences, but since they pertain to the same topic, a semicolon is used to join them in a meaningful manner.
A colon is used when something is being described, such as in the questioner's case. Usually, this means that the initiating phrase will be an incomplete clause, such as a noun, or a nadjective+ noun, or a verb.
The colon is correct.
2006-06-08 04:30:27 · answer #2 · answered by Graft 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
No you're not using it correctly and yes I am an English teacher. Colon are used with words like 'for example' and words that hint broadly that something will follow to explain the previous. In your sentence the correct punctuation to use would be the hyphen (-) and in that particular sentence you may want to use two of them for emphasis (--).
2006-06-08 04:33:58 · answer #3 · answered by cgc17788 4 · 0⤊ 1⤋
Actually I think you should put a semi-colon in there instead, like this: "Physical beauty; with disease it fades, with age it dies."
2006-06-08 04:26:19 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
The colon is correct, but you need a semicolon between fades and with.
"Physical beauty: with disease it fades; with age it dies."
2006-06-08 09:33:30 · answer #5 · answered by ronathecute 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Colons precede a itemizing. To make your fact stunning, you like a comfortable revision: "the two speeches are given to their kings: Beowulf's king, Hrothgar, and Gawain's king, Arthur."
2016-10-30 09:58:34 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Yes, you are using the colon correctly in that sentence.
2006-06-08 04:25:19 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
the " should only be used to show when someone is speaking so grammatically you should have written it like this.... physical beauty : "With disease it fades, with age it dies" observe where and when i used the space bar also .
2006-06-08 04:32:19 · answer #8 · answered by insenergy 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Yes, because you are describing physical beauty.
2006-06-08 04:27:53 · answer #9 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Looks pretty good to this English teacher.
2006-06-08 04:25:28 · answer #10 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋