Usage of Colon: By January 2, 2000, the so-called, page 199

[AZ679]

Page 199, Manhattan SC book, 5th Edition:

Right: By January 2,2000, the so-called "Y2K problem" was already widely considered a joke— although the reason for the non-event was the huge corporate and governmental investment in prior countermeasures.

Question: Could we use colon in place of dash?

Analysis: Perhaps no, because the sentence after dash is not an explanation for the sentence before dash.

Right?

[tim]

Colons can only be used to separate two independent clauses.

[AZ679]

Colons can only be used to separate two independent clauses.

Thanks tim.
Though on page 198 of Manhattan SC book, 5th edition, it is written that:

"What comes before the colon must be able to stand alone as a sentence. What comes after the colon does not have to be able to stand alone."

However, perhaps if what comes after the colon is a clause, then, as you have said, it must be an independent one.

[RonPurewal]

(i'm going to ignore the terminology, because i don't know any of it)

a colon can be followed by almost anything imaginable. what matters is the context, which differs between (1) a colon followed by a complete sentence and (2) a colon followed by anything else.

1/
if a colon is followed by a complete sentence, then that sentence should be some sort of explanation of what is described in the preceding sentence.
Edwin simply had no time to come to the party: his wife was out of town, and his two small children were sick and in need of constant care.

2/
if a colon is followed by anything else (usually -- but not always -- a noun or list of nouns), then that item should SPECIFY something described (more vaguely) in the preceding sentence.
The thieves left only one thing: the kitchen sink.
Belinda knows only one way to edit documents: meticulously.
The jewels were stored in the one place where the burglars didn't bother to look: inside the toilet tank.

[tim]

Ugh, I'm so sorry! I misread "colon" as "semicolon" for some reason. Semicolons must have an independent clause on both sides. Please refer to Ron's post about usage of the colon and disregard what I said earlier.

[KiranT979]

Hi,

I am referring the 6th edition of sc guide. In that its given that I can use comma instead of the the dash.. However isn't this wrong? Since both clauses are independent and although is a transition word should we use semi colon?

[tim]

If you intend to refer to the 6th edition, please provide us with a page number so we can check what the book actually says and explain the rule to you.