Punctuation

Congo

- More errors in using the colon - Some writers in their eagerness to use the colon make the mistake of putting it after a linking verb: The places we will visit are: Boyoma Falls, Malebo Pool, and the great cataracts above Matadi. This construction is best left without a colon: The places we will visit are Boyoma Falls, Malebo Pool, and the great cataracts above Matadi. An alternate construction is the formal introduction without a linking verb: We will visit some wonderful places: Boyoma Falls, Malebo Pool, and the great cataracts above Matadi. Similarly, we sometimes use the colon incorrectly within a prepositional phrase: Ajaja learned a great deal about: waterfalls, rapids, cataracts, and caldrons. A series of terms inside a prepositional phrase should not begin with a colon: Ajaja learned a great deal about waterfalls, rapids, cataracts, and caldrons. Again, if we want to introduce the series of terms more formally, we could use a colon as follows: Ajaja learned a great deal about geographical features of the Congo: waterfalls, rapids, cataracts, and caldrons.

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