ferdis

“I frequently struggle with a certain type of sentences where I believe a colon would fit nicely but it is not, technically, allowed, as far as I know. Consider these sentences. [colon?]

"I observed the following: his car is red." -- is a colon ok after all these forms of 'the following' or 'consider these'?

"I finally understand now: his car is red!"

I know a colon is used in a general-specific relationship between phrases; however, to me, a colon also means "ok, here it comes, the conclusion of it all" and I believe it to be a very strong punctuation mark. What do you think about this? How would you write these sentences?

”

I once learnt that the clause before the colon must be a complete idea (independent clause). It must be able to stand on its own.

Don't ask me why. I simply recalled that.