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Use Colons for Lists

In this worksheet, students decide whether or not to use a colon at the beginning of a list.

'Use Colons for Lists' worksheet

Key stage:  KS 2

Year:  Year 5 11+ worksheets

Curriculum topic:   English

Curriculum subtopic:   Punctuation: Colons, Semicolons & Apostrophes

Difficulty level:  

Worksheet Overview

A colon is a punctuation mark. It looks like this :

A colon is often used at the beginning of a bullet pointed list.

We need:

  • apples
  • pears
  • bananas
  • oranges
  • kiwi fruit

 

It can also be used in some other types of list, but not all lists.

 

The first of the following sentences needs a colon, but the second does not.

These are the people I am inviting to my party: Kate, Joe, Adil, Dwayne and Jamila.

I am inviting Kate, Joe, Adil, Dwayne and Jamila to my party.

 

So how can we decide whether we need a colon or not?

 

If the section of the sentence before the colon makes sense on its own, then we use a colon. If it doesn't make sense on its own, we don't use a colon.

'These are the people I am inviting to my party' makes sense on its own, but 'I am inviting' does not.

 

Let's see if we can put this into practice!

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