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| | They call home std test at home std test kit me Emilia. Hiring has been my [http://Www.wisegeek.org/how-do-i-recognize-a-sore-throat-from-an-std.htm profession] for some time but I've currently applied for an additional 1. To play baseball is the pastime he will never stop doing. over the counter std test [http://www.Chw.org/display/PPF/DocID/22764/router.asp Puerto Rico] is exactly where he's usually been living but she requirements to transfer simply because of her family.<br><br>Here is my web-site - over the counter std test ([http://singapore-forex.com/candida-albicans-tips-and-cures-that-may-meet-your-needs/ look at here now]) |
| {{Punctuation marks|:|
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| | caption = Colon
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| | variant-size = 500%
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| | variant1 = ː
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| | caption1 = [[IPA]] triangular colon
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| | variant2 = ：
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| | caption2 = [[Fullwidth form|Fullwidth]] colon
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| | variant3 = ∶
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| | caption3 = [[Ratio]]
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| }}
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| The '''colon''' is a [[punctuation]] mark consisting of two equally sized dots centered on the same vertical line. A colon is used to explain or start an enumeration. A colon is also used with [[ratio]]s, titles and [[subtitle (titling)|subtitles]] of books, city and publisher in [[bibliographies]], business letter salutation, hours and minutes, and [[formal letter]]s.<ref>{{cite web|title=Semicolon & Colon Rules|url=http://www.gcsu.edu/writingcenter/colonrules.htm|publisher=Georgia College Writing Center|accessdate=17 April 2013}}</ref>
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| In Unicode, it is encoded at {{unichar|003A|Colon|html=}}.
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| ==Usage==
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| The most common use of the colon is to inform the reader that what follows the colon proves, explains, defines, describes, or lists elements of what preceded it. In modern American English usage, a complete sentence precedes a colon, while a list, description, explanation, or definition follows it. The elements which follow the colon may or may not be a complete sentence: since the colon is preceded by a sentence, it is a complete sentence whether what follows the colon is another sentence or not. Some writers prefer to capitalize the first letter after the colon; others do not. Both are correct in American English usage.
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| ;''colon used before list''
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| Williams was so hungry he ate everything in the house: chips, cold pizza, pretzels and dip, hot dogs, peanut butter and candy.
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| ;''colon used before a description''
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| Jane is so desperate that she'll date anyone, even Tom: he's uglier than a squashed toad on the highway, and that's on his good days.
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| ;''colon before definition''
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| For years while I was reading Shakespeare's ''Othello'' and criticism on it, I had to constantly look up the word "egregious" since the villain uses that word: outstandingly bad or shocking.
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| ;''colon before explanation''
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| I had a rough weekend: I had chest pain and spent all Saturday and Sunday in the Emergency room.
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| Some writers use fragments — incomplete sentences — before a colon for emphasis or stylistic preferences (to show a character's Voice in literature), as in this example:
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| ''Dinner: chips and beer. What a well-rounded diet I have.
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| ''
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| Writers often also do that in social media such as [[Twitter|Tweets]] because the number of characters is limited and they are trying to say as much as possible in as few characters as they can while maintaining somewhat correct grammar usage. Please note that a colon (:) and a semi-colon (;) are not interchangeable in grammar and that the usage of both has changed over the last couple hundred years. This is the contemporary usage of a colon in expository writing or literature: older literature such as novels or plays may use it differently.
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| [[The Bedford Handbook]] describes several uses of a colon. For example, one can use a colon after an independent clause to direct attention to a list, an [[appositive]] or a quotation, and it can be used between independent clauses if the second summarizes or explains the first. In non-literary or non-expository uses, one may use a colon after the salutation in a formal letter, to indicate hours and minutes, to show proportions, between a title and subtitle, and between city and publisher in bibliographic entries.<ref>{{cite book|last=Hacker|first=Diana|title=The Bedford Handbook|year=2010|publisher=Bedford/St. Martin's|location=Boston-New York|isbn=0-312-65269-0|pages=384–387}}</ref>
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| [[Luca Serianni]], an Italian scholar who helped to define and develop the colon as a punctuation mark, identified four punctuational modes for it: ''syntactical-deductive'', ''syntactical-descriptive'', ''appositive'', and ''segmental''.<ref>{{cite book |last = Serianni |first = Luca |authorlink = Luca Serianni |coauthors = Castelvecchi, Alberto |year = 1988 |title = Grammatica italiana. Italiano comune e lingua letteraria. Suoni, forme, costrutti |publisher = UTET |location = [[Turin]] |language = Italian |isbn = 88-02-04154-7}}</ref> Although Serianni wrote this guide for the [[Italian language]], his definitions apply also to English and many other languages.
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| ===Business Letter Salutation===
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| One of the ways used for salutation in a letter other than to use comma "," is to use colon, though more common practice is to use the comma.
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| ''Hello Mr. XYZ:
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| It's great to have your confirmation for the upcoming event.''
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| ===Syntactical-deductive===
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| The colon introduces the [[logical consequence]], or effect, of a fact stated before.
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| :''There was only one possible explanation: the train had never arrived.''
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| ===Syntactical-descriptive===
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| In this sense the colon introduces a description; in particular, it makes explicit the elements of a set.
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| :''I have three sisters: Daphne, Rose, and Suzanne.''
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| Similarly, the syntactical-descriptive colon separates chapter and verse numbers in [[citation]]s of passages in widely-studied texts, such as [[epic poetry]], [[religious text]]s, and the plays of [[William Shakespeare]].<ref name="trask" />
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| :[[Gospel of John|John]] 3:14–16 or John III:14–16 refers to verses 14 to 16 of chapter three of the [[Gospel of John]].
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| Syntactical-descriptive colons may separate the numbers indicating [[hour]]s, [[minute]]s, and [[second]]s in abbreviated measures of time.<ref
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| name="ISO8601">{{Cite ISO standard|csnumber=40874}}</ref>
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| :''The concert begins at 21:45.''
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| :''The rocket launched at 09:15:05.''
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| [[British English]], however, more frequently uses a [[full stop]] for this purpose:
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| :''The programme will begin at 8.00 pm.''
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| :''You will need to arrive by 14.30.''<ref name="trask">{{cite web |url=http://www.informatics.sussex.ac.uk/department/docs/punctuation/node16.html |title=The Colon |last=Trask |first=Larry |authorlink=Larry Trask |year=1997 |work=Guide to Punctuation |publisher= |accessdate=28 July 2011}}</ref>
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| ===Appositive===
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| The colon introduces an [[appositive]] [[independent clause]]. In other words, the sentence after the colon is in [[apposition]] (grammatically parallel) to the one before the colon. Please note that this could also be simply considered an explanation of why Bob could not speak, and written without the capital He after the colon. Both would be technically correct.
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| :''Bob could not speak: He was drunk.''<ref>Example quoted in [http://web.archive.org/web/20061209020735/eatsshootsandleaves.com/eslguide.pdf ''An Educational Companion to ''Eats, Shoots & Leaves''] by Lynne Truss</ref>
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| ''Bob could not speak: he was drunk.''
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| An appositive colon also separates the [[Subtitle (titling)|subtitle]] of a work from its principal title. In titles, neither needs to be a complete sentence as it is not expository writing.
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| :''[[Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope]]''
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| ===Segmental===
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| Like a [[dash]] or [[quotation mark]], a segmental colon introduces [[speech]]. The segmental function was once a common means of indicating an unmarked quotation on the same line. The following example is from the grammar book ''[[The King's English]]'':
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| :''Benjamin Franklin proclaimed the virtue of frugality: A penny saved is a penny earned.''
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| This form is still used in written [[dialogue]]s, such as in a [[Play (theatre)|play]]. The colon indicates that the words following an individual's name are spoken by that individual.
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| :''Patient: Doctor, I feel like a pair of curtains.<br>Doctor: Pull yourself together!''
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| ===Use of capitals===
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| Use of capitalization or lower-case after a colon varies. In [[British English]], the word following the colon is in lower case unless it is a [[proper noun]] or an [[acronym]], or is normally capitalized for some other reason (e.g. see segmental use hereinbefore). However, in [[American English]], many writers capitalize the word following a colon if it begins an independent clause, i.e. a clause that could stand as a complete sentence. This follows the guidelines of some modern American style guides, including those published by the [[Associated Press]] and the [[Modern Language Association]]. ''[[The Chicago Manual of Style]]'',<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.chicagomanualofstyle.org/qanda/data/faq/topics/Capitalization.html |title=Chicago Style Q&A: Capitalization |publisher=Chicagomanualofstyle.org |date= |accessdate=2011-11-08}}</ref> however, requires capitalization only when the colon introduces a direct quotation or two or more complete sentences.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/marks/colon.htm |title=Capital Community College: Guide to Grammar and Writing |publisher=grammar.ccc.commnet.edu |date= |accessdate=2011-11-08}}</ref>
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| In many [[Europe]]an languages the colon is usually followed by a lower-case letter (unless the upper case is required for other reasons, such as for a proper noun). However, usage differs from this in [[german language|German]], where an upper-case letter may be used only if the sentence ''after the colon'' could stand alone without the preceding sentence (otherwise one may judge freely according to the relative independence of the two assertions{{clarify|date=July 2012}}),<ref>[http://wayback.archive.org/web/20120609203504/http://www.duden.de/deutsche_sprache/newsletter/archiv.php?id=21 Duden Newsletter vom 24.08.2001]</ref> and in [[dutch language|Dutch]], where an upper-case letter must be used if the colon is followed by a quotation or an enumeration of complete sentences, although in all other cases a lower-case letter should be used.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://taaladvies.net/taal/advies/vraag/392/ |title=Hoofdletter na dubbele punt |publisher=taaladvies.net |date= |accessdate=2011-11-08}}</ref>
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| ===Spacing===
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| In print, a thin space is traditionally placed before a colon and a thick space after it. In modern [[english language|English-language]] printing, no space is placed before a colon and a single space is placed after it. In [[french language|French-language]] typing and printing, the traditional rules are preserved.
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| One or two spaces may be and have been used after a colon. The older convention (designed to be used by [[monospaced font]]s) was to use ''two'' spaces after a colon.<ref>{{cite web|last=Paterson|first=Derek|title=How many spaces after a colon?|url=http://absolutewrite.com/forums/showthread.php?p=4279434#post4279434|work=Absolute Write forums|date=2009-11-19|accessdate=2012-11-04|at=Post 4|quote=Back in the typewriter day, when fading ink ribbons could result in commas being mistaken for periods and vice versa, typists were taught to insert 2 spaces after the period to differentiate between the two. The same happened with colons and semicolons: 2 spaces were left after a colon; 1 space after a semicolon.}}</ref>
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| {{See also|Sentence spacing}}
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| ==History==
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| {{further|Colon (rhetoric)}}
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| [[english language|English]] ''colon'' is from [[latin language|Latin]] ''{{lang|la|colon}}'' (plural ''{{lang|la|cola}}''), itself from [[greek language|Greek]] {{lang|el|κῶλον}} "limb, member, portion", in [[rhetoric]] or [[Meter (poetry)|prosody]] especially a part or section of a sentence or a rhythmical period of an utterance.<ref name=OnEtDict>{{cite web|title=colon|url=http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=colon&allowed_in_frame=0|publisher=[[Online Etymology Dictionary]]}}</ref><ref name=LSJ>{{LSJ|kw{{=}}lon|κῶλον|ref}}.</ref> In [[palaeography]], a ''colon'' is a clause or group of clauses written as a line.
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| The [[OED]] cites [[William Blades]]' ''The life and typography of [[William Caxton|W. Caxton]]'' (1882), p. 126:
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| "The [[Greek grammarians]] […] called a complete sentence a ''period'', a limb was a ''colon'', and a [[clause]] a ''[[comma]]''."
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| Use of the '':'' symbol to mark the discontinuity of a grammatical construction, or a pause of a length intermediate between that of a [[semicolon]] and that of a [[full stop|period]], was introduced in [[English orthography]] around 1600.
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| [[John Bullokar]]'s ''An English expositor'' (1616) glosses ''Colon'' as "A marke of a sentence not fully ended which is made with two prickes."
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| [[John Mason (1706–1763)|John Mason]] in ''An essay on elocution'' (1748) prescribes "A Comma Stops the Voice while we may privately tell one, a Semi Colon two; a Colon three: and a Period four."
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| ==IPA Diacritical usage==
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| [[Image:IPA length mark.png|20px|right|The IPA length mark]]
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| A special triangular colon symbol is used in [[International Phonetic Alphabet|IPA]] to indicate that the preceding sound is [[length (phonetics)|long]]. Its form is that of two triangles, each a little larger than a point (dot) of a standard colon, pointing toward each other. It is available in [[Unicode]] as ''modifier letter triangular colon'', Unicode U+02D0 ({{IPA|ː}}). A regular colon is often used as a fallback when this character is not available, and in the practical orthography of some languages which have a phonemic long/short distinction in vowels.
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| If the upper triangle is used without the lower one, it designates a "half-long" vowel.<ref>{{cite web|title=The International Phonetic Alphabet|url=http://weston.ruter.net/projects/ipa-chart/view/|work=Weston Ruter|accessdate=27 October 2011|year=2005}}</ref>
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| ==Word-medial separator==
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| In [[Finnish language|Finnish]] and [[Swedish language|Swedish]], the colon can appear inside words in a manner similar to the [[apostrophe]] in the English [[possessive case]], connecting a grammatical [[suffix]] to an [[abbreviation]] or [[initialism]], a special symbol, or a [[Numerical digit|digit]] (e.g., Finnish ''USA:n'' and Swedish ''USA:s'' for the [[genitive case]] of "USA", Finnish ''%:ssa'' for the [[inessive case]] of "%", or Finnish ''20:een'' for the [[illative case]] of "20").
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| ==Abbreviation==
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| In Swedish, the colon is used in [[Contraction (grammar)|contractions]], such as ''S:t'' for ''Sankt'' (Swedish for "Saint"), e.g. in the [[Stockholm metro]] station ''[[Sankt Eriksplan metro station|S:t Eriksplan]]''. This can even occur in people's names, for example [[Antonia Ax:son Johnson]] (''[[Ax:son Johnson family|Ax:son]]'' for ''Axelson''). The colon was also used to mark abbreviations in early modern English.<ref>{{Cite book |url=http://books.google.com/books?id=wbZHFFvA9eUC&pg=PA73 |page=73 |publisher=Psychology Press |first=Grace |last=Ioppolo |title=Dramatists and their manuscripts in the age of Shakespeare, Jonson, Middleton and Heywood |year=2006}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |url=http://books.google.com/books?id=DO5vQXpdJHIC&pg=PA460 |page=460 |title=Elizabeth I: translations, 1544-1589 |year=2009 |publisher=University of Chicago Press |editor-first=Janel |editor-last=Mueller |editor2-first=Joshua |editor2-last=Scodel}}</ref>
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| ==Letter==
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| The colon is also used as a grammatical tone letter in [[Budu language|Budu]] in the [[Democratic Republic of the Congo]], in [[Sabaot]] in [[Kenya]], in some [[Grebo language|Grebo]] in [[Liberia]], and in [[Papua New Guinea]]: [[Erima]], [[Gizra]], [[Go꞉bosi]], [[Gwahatike]], [[Kaluli]], [[Kamula]], [[Kasua language|Kasua]], Kuni-Boazi, and [[Zimakani]].<ref>Peter G. Constable, Lorna A. Priest, [http://www.dkuug.dk/jtc1/sc2/wg2/docs/n3216.pdf ''Proposal to Encode Additional Orthographic and Modifier Characters''], 2006.</ref> The Unicode character used for the tone letter {{unichar|A789|modifier letter colon}} is different from the punctuation (U+003A), as well from IPA's triangular colon U+02D0.
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| ==Mathematics and logic==
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| The colon is used in [[mathematics]], [[cartography]], [[scale model|model building]] and other fields to denote a [[ratio]] or a [[scale (ratio)|scale]], as in 3:1 (pronounced “three to one”). When a ratio is [[reduction (mathematics)|reduced]] to a simpler form, such as 10:15 to 2:3, this may be expressed with a double colon as 10:15::2:3; this would be read "10 is to 15 as 2 is to 3". [[Unicode]] provides a distinct character {{unichar|2236|ratio}} for mathematical usage.
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| The notation |{{mvar|G}}:{{mvar|H}}| may also denote the [[index of a subgroup]].
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| The notation {{math|ƒ: {{mvar|X}} → {{mvar|Y}}}} indicates that {{mvar|f}} is a [[Function (mathematics)|function]] with domain {{mvar|X}} and codomain {{mvar|Y}}.
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| The combination with an equal sign, {{math|≔ }}, is used for [[definition]]s.
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| In [[mathematical logic]], when using [[set-builder notation]] for describing the characterizing property of a [[Set (mathematics)|set]], it is used as an alternative to a [[vertical bar]] (which is the [[ISO 31-11]] standard), to mean “such that”. Example:
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| :<math>S = \{x \in \mathbb{R} : 1 < x < 3 \}</math> (''S'' is the set of all {{mvar|x}} in <math>\mathbb{R}</math> (the [[real number]]s) such that {{mvar|x}} is strictly greater than 1 and strictly smaller than 3)
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| In [[type theory]] and programming language theory, the colon sign after a term is used to indicate its type, sometimes as a replacement to the "∈" symbol. Example:
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| :<math>\lambda x . x \mathrel{:} A \to A </math>
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| Some languages like [[Haskell (programming language)|Haskell]] use a double colon (<tt>::</tt>) to indicate type instead.
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| A colon is also sometimes used to indicate a [[tensor contraction]] involving two indices, and a double colon (::) for a contraction over four indices.
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| ==Computing==
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| {{see also|Semicolon#Computing usage}}
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| {{Refimprove section|date=November 2011}}
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| In [[computing]], the colon [[character (computing)|character]] is represented by [[ASCII]] code 58, (HTML &#58;) and is located at [[Unicode]] [[Universal Character Set|code-point]] U+003A (colon). Scripts comprising wide characters, such as [[kanji]], use a full-width equivalent, located at Unicode code point {{unichar|FF1A|fullwidth colon}}.
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| Several programming languages use the colon for various purposes.
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| A number of programming languages, most notably [[Pascal (programming language)|Pascal]], and [[Ada (programming language)|Ada]] use colon immediately followed by an equality sign, <code>:=</code> in which case the colon and the equality sign are considering to compose to an independent ''[[Assignment (computer science)|assignment]] sign''; this can be represented in Unicode as {{unichar|2254|colon equals}}.
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| [[Label (computer science)|Labels]] — targets for jumps, notably [[goto]], but also some [[switch statement]]s — are general formed of a label name followed by a colon. These include C, and [[DOS]] [[batch file]]s.
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| For the double colon used in computer programming, see the [[scope resolution operator]], and [[Class member function|class member access]] of [[C++]].
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| The colon is also used as part of the [[?:]] conditional operator in C and other languages.
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| In a number of languages, including [[JavaScript]] and Python, colons are used to define [[name-value pair]]s in a dictionary or [[Object (computer science)|object]].
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| <source lang=javascript>
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| var obj = {
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| 'name': 'Charles',
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| 'age': 18,
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| }
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| </source>
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| The colon is also used in many operating systems commands. It is often used as a single post-fix [[delimiter]], signifying a token keyword had immediately preceded it or the transition from one mode of character string interpretation to another related mode. Some applications, such as the widely used [[MediaWiki]], utilize the colon as both a pre-fix and post-fix delimiter.<!-- Could work more wikimarkup into that as an example. --->
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| ===Addresses===
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| The colon is quite often used as a special [[control character]] in [[Uniform Resource Locator|URLs]],<ref name=rfc3986>[[Tim Berners-Lee|Berners-Lee, T.]]; [[Roy Fielding|Fielding, R.]]; Masinter, L. (January 2005). ''[http://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc3986 Uniform Resource Identifier (URI): Generic Syntax]'' [[Internet Engineering Task Force|IETF]]. STD{{nbsp}}66, RFC{{nbsp}}3986.</ref> [[computer programming]] [[programming language|languages]], in the [[path (computing)|path representation]] of several [[file system]]s (such as FAT, following the drive letter, as in <code>C:\Windows\</code>, and [[Hierarchical File System|HFS]]).
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| In an [[IPv6 address#Notation|IPv6 address]] colons (and one optional double colon) separate up to 8 groups of 16 [[bit]]s in [[hexadecimal]] representation.<ref name=rfc4291>Hinden, R.; [[Steve Deering|Deering, S.]] (Februari 2006) ''[http://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc4291 IP Version 6 Addressing Architecture]''. [[Internet Engineering Task Force|IETF]]. RFC{{nbsp}}4291.</ref>
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| In a [[URL]] a colon follows the initial scheme name (like [[http]]), and separates a [[port number]] from the [[hostname]] or [[IP address]].<ref name=rfc3986 />
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| ===Other languages===
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| In [[BASIC]], it is used as a separator between the statements or instructions in a single line, which is represented in other languages via the semicolon.
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| In [[Forth (programming language)|Forth]], colon ''precedes'' definition of a new word.
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| [[Haskell (programming language)|Haskell]] uses a colon (pronounced as “[[cons]]”, short for “construct”) as an operator to add an [[Data element|element]] to the front of a [[List (computing)|list]]:<ref>[http://book.realworldhaskell.org/read/getting-started.html Real World Haskell] by Bryan O'Sullivan, Don Stewart, and John Goerzen</ref>
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| <source lang="haskell">"child" : ["woman", "man"] -- returns ["child","woman","man"]</source>
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| while a double colon <code>::</code> is read as "has type of" (confer [[Scope resolution operator#Haskell|scope resolution operator]]):<ref>{{cite web|url=http://learnyouahaskell.com/types-and-typeclasses |title=Learn You a Haskell for Great Good! - Types and Typeclasses |publisher=Learnyouahaskell.com |date= |accessdate=2011-11-08}}</ref>
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| <source lang="haskell">("text", False) :: ([Char], Bool)</source>
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| The [[ML (programming language)|ML]] languages (including [[Standard ML]] and [[OCaml]]) have the above reversed, where the double colon (<code>::</code>) is used to add an element to the front of a list; and the single colon (<code>:</code>) is used for type guards.
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| [[MATLAB]] uses the colon as a binary operator that generates vectors, as well as to select particular portions of existing matrices.
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| In [[Python (programming language)|Python]], which uses indentation to indicate blocks, the colon is used in statements to indicate that the next line is the start of an indented block.
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| [[APL (programming language)|APL]] uses the colon<ref>{{cite web|url=http://docs.dyalog.com/13.0/Dyalog%20APL%20Language%20Reference.v13.0.pdf |title=Dyalog APL Language Reference Manual | date= | accessdate=2012-02-14}}</ref>
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| * to introduce a control structure element. In this usage it must be the first non-blank character of the line.
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| * after a label name that will be the target of a <code>:goto</code> or a right-pointing arrow (Note: this style of programming is deprecated and programmers are encouraged to use control structures instead.
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| * to separate a guard (boolean expression) from its expression in a dynamic function. Two colons are used for an Error guard (one or more error numbers).
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| * Colon + space are used in class definitions to indicate inheritance.
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| In the [[esoteric programming language]] [[INTERCAL]], the colon is called "two-spot" and is used to identify a 32-bit variable - distinct from a spot (.) which identifies a 16-bit variable.
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| ==Internet usage==
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| On the [[Internet#The name Internet|Internet]], a colon, or multiple colons, is sometimes used to denote an action or to emote{{Or|date=May 2012}}, similarly to [[asterisk]]s. In this use it has the inverse function of quotation marks, denoting actions where unmarked text is assumed to be dialogue. For example:
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| :'''Tom:''' Pluto is so small; it should not be considered a planet. It is tiny!
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| :'''Mark:''' Oh really? ::drops Pluto on Tom’s head:: Still think it’s small now?
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| Colons may also be used for sounds, e.g. ::click::, though sounds can also be denoted by asterisks or other punctuation marks.
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| Colons can also be used to represent eyes in [[emoticons]].
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| ==Encoding==
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| *{{unichar
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| | 003A
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| | colon
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| | ulink =
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| | image =
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| | cwith =
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| | size = 200%
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| | html =
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| }}
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| *{{unichar
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| | FF1A
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| | full-width colon
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| | ulink =
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| | image =
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| | cwith =
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| | size = 200%
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| | html =
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| }}
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| *{{unichar
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| | 02D0
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| | IPA triangular colon
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| | ulink =
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| | image =
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| | cwith =
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| | size = 200%
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| | html =
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| }}
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| ==References==
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| {{reflist}}
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| ==External links==
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| * {{cite web |url=http://programs.northlandcollege.edu/owl/Colon%20rules.htm |title=Using the Colon |author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |website=On-line Writing Lab |publisher=[[Northland Community and Technical College]] |accessdate=2 December 2013}} .
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| [[Category:Punctuation]]
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| [[Category:Typographical symbols]]
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