A pickpocket in every car; a cheat at every station; every third switch on the road misplaced; the danger of being hurled from the track, and then burned alive: these considerations prevent my traveling on the railroad of which you speak.
OBS. 2. In examples like the above, a very common and perhaps better method is to put a comma and dash in place of the colon. The colon is neater, but more old-fashioned. (See second example under Rule 10.)
8. The colon is commonly used whenever an example, a quotation, or a speech is introduced.
The Scriptures give us an amiable representation of the Deity in these words: “God is love.”
OBS. 3. Modern writers, instead of the colon, mostly use the semicolon, dash, or period. Our first example, under Rule 9,—with a colon substituted for the semicolon,—might with propriety have been placed under Rule 6. We prefer the semicolon, however; {p98} and if the word for were inserted in the example mentioned, the colon would be inadmissible:
“Let there be no strife between theology and science; for there need be none.”
In reprinting old works, the colon should be carefully retained, as essential to a clear understanding of them.
The colon is generally placed after as follows, the following, in these words, thus, or any other word or phrase which formally introduces something; and when the matter introduced forms a distinct paragraph, the colon may or may not be followed by a dash, as the style of the author or office may require.
III. SEMICOLON.
9. When two or more clauses of a sentence are not so closely connected as to admit the use of a comma, a semicolon is used.