SILENT READING for 10 minutes

Imaginative Writing

Lesson 6: Understanding and

practising how to use colons and
semi-colons
 Colons and semi-colons
: Right or wrong?
;
Have the colons and semi-colons been used correctly or incorrectly
in these sentences? Hold up your planner to show what you think!

1. I had a tough day at school today: homework

set in all five lessons!
2. I walked home from school; my feet hurt
afterwards.
3. It was my favourite food for dinner tonight:
pasta!
4. I was hungry; I ate it all up.
 Colons and semi-colons
Right or wrong?
Well done if you agreed that all the sentences were correct!
1. I had a tough day at school today: homework
set in all five lessons!
2. I walked home from school; my feet hurt
afterwards.
3. It was my favourite food for dinner tonight:
pasta!
4. I was hungry; I ate it all up.

Extension: Can you explain why they are all correct?

 TIP: Colons are placed directly after the last
Colons word of the main idea, followed by one space –
and never a hyphen (-) or a dash (– )!
A colon (:) shows that the words which follow it are an explanation or
example of what is written before it. For example:
A hamburger is made up of three layers: the bottom half of the
bun, the burger and the top half of the bun.

A colon is usually placed after a complete sentence but it can be

followed by many or few words.
The environment is facing a huge threat: global warming.
Ex
1.Tom watched a football match: Chelsea versus Arsenal.
a mp
2.The fire destroyed many things in the house: the furniture, the les
carpets and the curtains.
3.I just bought a new car: an Audi.
Now write two sentences which use colons.
Extension: Can you help anyone who is stuck?
 Now write three sentences
Semi-colons which use semi-colons.
A semi-colon (;) joins two sentences into one. This is because some
sentences are too closely related to be separated by a full stop but they are
missing a connecting word (such as and, but or so).
Eating chocolate in moderation is fine; eating chocolate to excess is bad.
The semi-colon joins the separate statements about chocolate into one
sentence which acts like a warning: eating a little chocolate is fine but
beware of eating a lot because it is bad. It suggests that the first event is
related to the second event.
Ex
1.I don’t like cabbage; I don’t like carrots.
2.Leila was hot; the sun was blazing.
a mp
3.I found the film long; Tim found the film short. les
Which connecting words would you use to replace the semi-colons?
Semi-colons can also be used instead of commas to separate items in a list.
I went to the supermarket to buy food for the picnic: sundried tomatoes;
quiches and pies; my favourite cheese and onion crisps; and three cartons
of different juices.
SILENT READING for 10 minutes
 Imaginative Writing

Lesson 6: Colons and Semi-colons

 What do these mean?
Using semi-colons can change the meaning of the same set of words.

Leah is happy. Max is sad.

Leah is happy: Max is sad.

Leah is happy; Max is sad.

Discuss in
pairs for 2
minutes.
 Ambiguity
Using semi-colons can change the meaning of the same set of words.

Leah is happy. Max is sad.

Using a full stop separates the events, making them unrelated. Lei
happens to be happy while Max happens to be sad.

Leah is happy: Max is sad.

The colon changes the two events into one event with an explanation.
Lei is (quite cruelly) happy because Max is sad.

Leah is happy; Max is sad.

The semi-colon links the two events. Is Lei happy because Max is sad
or is Lei’s happiness saddening Max? Which conjunctions could
replace the semi-colon?
Extension: Can you write a sentence on the board (using a semi-colon)
that is ambiguous, like the example?
Colons – 3
Semi-colons - 4 Insert the colons and semi-colons
It was a cold night and it was quiet. It was too quiet the kind of quiet
that sounded loud to you. The knight was sitting beneath a crooked
tree trying to look out into the dark. He couldn’t sleep it was much too
quiet to sleep. Not only this but he hadn’t been able to find and dry
wood to build a fire, and he had wrapped his armour in his only
waterproof cloth so that it would not rust. Now, when it rained, it
rained on him. He was cold, tired and hungry he was afraid.

The knight was not young anymore he was not properly old yet either.
When he noticed that his hair was beginning to turn grey he had cut it
off. He didn’t have a castle or a lot of land or even a nice house. All he
had was what was beneath the crooked tree a suit of armour a sword
and shield and his body to fight with. But this wasn’t enough. He
wanted to be rich. He wanted to be famous. And in the morning he
was going to make sure he would be – or he would die trying. In the
morning he was going to go to see a dragon.
Continue the story, using at least one colon or semi-colon.
 How does your extract compare?
It was a cold night and it was quiet. It was too quiet: the kind of quiet
that sounded loud to you. The knight was sitting beneath a crooked
tree trying to look out into the dark. He couldn’t sleep: it was much
too quiet to sleep. Not only this but he hadn’t been able to find and
dry wood to build a fire, and he had wrapped his armour in his only
waterproof cloth so that it would not rust. Now, when it rained, it
rained on him. He was cold, tired and hungry; he was afraid.

The knight was not young anymore; he was not properly old yet
either. When he noticed that his hair was beginning to turn grey he
had cut it off. He didn’t have a castle or a lot of land or even a nice
house. All he had was what was beneath the crooked tree: a suit of
armour; a sword and shield; and his body to fight with. But this wasn’t
enough. He wanted to be rich. He wanted to be famous. And in the
morning he was going to make sure he would be – or he would die
trying. In the morning he was going to go to see a dragon.
 Using colons and semi-colons
• Rewrite your practice paragraph on the
reflection sheet.
15 minutes
• Use your targets – alone in
silence

• Use better punctuation including semi-colons

and colons.
 Peer-assessing editing
• Swap your re-written extract with another
group.
• How successfully have they managed to
incorporate colons and semi-colons into their
work?
• Have the met their target? Do they deserve a
stamp?
T1: Use punctuation correctly
T2: Describe the picture using adjectives, nouns and verbs
T3: Use different types of sentences
T4: Add more descriptive detail
T5: Use imaginative and dynamic range of vocabulary
T6:Use metaphors, similes, repetitions, rhetorical questions
T7: Start your sentences in different ways
T8: Spell all the words correctly
T9:Divide your text into paragraphs when needed
T10:Use clear sentences
T11: Use grammatically accurate sentences