Use semicolons, colons and commas with lists
Key Notes
Use a colon to introduce a list after a complete sentence. If a list does not follow a complete sentence, do not use punctuation to introduce the list.
- My parents have visited much of Western Europe: Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal and Spain.
- My parents have visited much of Western Europe, including Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal and Spain.
Put a comma after each item in the list, except for the last one. The serial comma, or Oxford comma, is the comma that appears before the conjunction. The serial comma is optional.
- Our speakers will be Kevin O’Malley, Rachel Stein, and Linda Wu.
Use semicolons to separate items in a series when using commas would be unclear, such as when one or more items in the series already contain commas.
- Our speakers will be Kevin O’Malley, an English professor; Rachel Stein, a print journalist; and Linda Wu, a blogger.
Learn with an example
Add commas, semicolons or colons if needed. Otherwise, submit the text without any additional punctuation.
- When Ben went to France, he visited the Palace of versailles____the Père-Lachaise Cemetery, where his favourite writer, Oscar Wilde, is buried____and the Louvre.
One or more of the items in the series already contain commas. Separating the items with commas would be unclear, so you should complete the sentence with semicolons.
Add commas, semicolons or colons if needed. Otherwise, submit the text without any additional punctuation.
- Your nose contains about 5 million scent receptors, but a dog’s nose has an average of 125 million, which is why dogs are able to sniff out explosives_____ bed bugs____drugs__ and disaster victims.
No items in the series already contain commas, so you should complete the sentence with commas.
Add a comma, semicolon or colon if needed. Otherwise, submit the text without any additional punctuation.
- In order to introduce possible alien beings to Earthlings, the Voyager spacecrafts have carried various audio recordings—–samples of Bach, greetings in fifty-five languages, Navajo chants, volcanic eruptions and more.
There is a list introduced by a complete sentence, so you should use a colon.
let’s practice!
