Linking function of the colon

WEBVTT
Kind: captions
Language: en

00:00:00.208 --> 00:00:01.310
- [Voiceover] Hello grammarians.

00:00:01.310 --> 00:00:02.847
In this video I'm going to tell you about

00:00:02.847 --> 00:00:05.385
a piece of punctuation called the colon.

00:00:05.385 --> 00:00:07.187
The colon is these two
little dots right here,

00:00:07.187 --> 00:00:08.887
one stacked on top of the other.

00:00:08.887 --> 00:00:10.596
And it has quite a few functions,

00:00:10.596 --> 00:00:13.418
just like a lot of other
pieces of punctuation.

00:00:13.418 --> 00:00:16.432
The idea of this linking function
is that the colon can link

00:00:16.432 --> 00:00:18.299
an independent or dependent clause

00:00:18.299 --> 00:00:20.993
with another independent
or dependent clause,

00:00:20.993 --> 00:00:23.923
or a phrase, or a word when
there's a strong connection

00:00:23.923 --> 00:00:26.714
between the two things that it's linking.

00:00:26.714 --> 00:00:28.091
So if I want to tell someone what I think

00:00:28.091 --> 00:00:31.395
about two movies about
animals, I could say:

00:00:31.395 --> 00:00:34.574
Both movies are great,
but Sky Pal has one thing

00:00:34.574 --> 00:00:37.939
that makes it better:
dogs that play sports.

00:00:37.939 --> 00:00:39.760
This is one sentence with two parts

00:00:39.760 --> 00:00:41.557
that are linked with this colon.

00:00:41.557 --> 00:00:43.547
So the first part says,
both movies are great,

00:00:43.547 --> 00:00:45.847
but Sky Pal has one things
that makes it better.

00:00:45.847 --> 00:00:48.570
And that could stand alone as a sentence,

00:00:48.570 --> 00:00:51.996
but it doesn't tell us
what that one thing is.

00:00:51.996 --> 00:00:53.910
So the colon comes in and tells us,

00:00:53.910 --> 00:00:56.149
I'm about to tell you what that thing is,

00:00:56.149 --> 00:00:57.922
dogs that play sports.

00:00:57.922 --> 00:00:59.989
So in this case the
colon just sort of serves

00:00:59.989 --> 00:01:02.798
as a connection between the
purple part of the sentence

00:01:02.798 --> 00:01:04.794
and the yellow part of the sentence.

00:01:04.794 --> 00:01:06.339
Another example is something like:

00:01:06.339 --> 00:01:07.747
Going skydiving made me face

00:01:07.747 --> 00:01:10.830
one of my greatest fears: parachutes.

00:01:14.574 --> 00:01:16.867
Right, again this colon is
sort of linking these two

00:01:16.867 --> 00:01:19.319
parts of the sentence where one answers

00:01:19.319 --> 00:01:21.545
an unanswered question
from the first part.

00:01:21.545 --> 00:01:23.990
Like, what is this greatest fear?

00:01:23.990 --> 00:01:25.344
Well, it's parachutes.

00:01:25.344 --> 00:01:26.776
The colon is here to link between

00:01:26.776 --> 00:01:29.769
this whole independent clause
and the word parachutes.

00:01:29.769 --> 00:01:32.097
I could just as well say
going skydiving made me face

00:01:32.097 --> 00:01:34.409
one of my greatest fears.

00:01:34.409 --> 00:01:36.243
That's a perfectly fine sentence.

00:01:36.243 --> 00:01:39.025
But without a colon linking
to what that fear is,

00:01:39.025 --> 00:01:41.377
that sentence just kind
of leaves us wondering.

00:01:41.377 --> 00:01:43.882
So another sort of subset
of the colon's ability

00:01:43.882 --> 00:01:46.939
to link things is that
it can introduce things.

00:01:46.939 --> 00:01:50.390
One thing that the colon
can introduce is a list.

00:01:50.390 --> 00:01:51.223
I could say:

00:01:51.223 --> 00:01:54.547
We needed to find three more
items on the scavenger hunt:

00:01:54.547 --> 00:01:58.714
a four-leaf clover, a cauldron,
and an abandoned ship.

00:02:00.807 --> 00:02:03.856
The second thing a colon
can introduce is an item.

00:02:03.856 --> 00:02:05.154
If I'm talking about the other day

00:02:05.154 --> 00:02:08.493
when I had a weird legume
craving, I could say:

00:02:08.493 --> 00:02:12.660
I only wanted one thing from
the grocery store: peanuts.

00:02:16.261 --> 00:02:19.387
Lastly, a colon can introduce a quote.

00:02:19.387 --> 00:02:22.173
My friend Liz says it best:

00:02:22.173 --> 00:02:25.079
"Never open a jar of
pickles you can't close."

00:02:25.079 --> 00:02:26.928
I'm not really sure what that means,

00:02:26.928 --> 00:02:28.850
but she does say it best.

00:02:28.850 --> 00:02:31.598
So, as you can see, like it
was in the first couple of

00:02:31.598 --> 00:02:34.931
example sentences, there's
kind of information missing

00:02:34.931 --> 00:02:37.596
from the first parts of all
three of these sentences.

00:02:37.596 --> 00:02:40.261
We needed to find three more
items on the scavenger hunt.

00:02:40.261 --> 00:02:42.332
Well, what did you need to find?

00:02:42.332 --> 00:02:45.330
Or, I only wanted one thing
from the grocery store.

00:02:45.330 --> 00:02:46.576
What did you want?

00:02:46.576 --> 00:02:47.846
Or, my friend Liz says it best.

00:02:47.846 --> 00:02:49.568
Well, what does she say?

00:02:49.568 --> 00:02:51.142
That's were the colon comes in,

00:02:51.142 --> 00:02:53.922
to introduce that missing information.

00:02:53.922 --> 00:02:56.589
So there's one final case
of the linking function

00:02:56.589 --> 00:02:58.997
of the colon that I want
to get into in this video.

00:02:58.997 --> 00:03:00.778
If you remember from the
beginning of the video,

00:03:00.778 --> 00:03:03.903
I said that colons can
introduce an independent clause

00:03:03.903 --> 00:03:06.511
to another independent clause sometimes.

00:03:06.511 --> 00:03:08.525
That's pretty rare.

00:03:08.525 --> 00:03:11.149
Usually that's the job of
a comma and a conjunction,

00:03:11.149 --> 00:03:12.823
or maybe a semicolon.

00:03:12.823 --> 00:03:14.716
But, as always, it's still
important for you to know

00:03:14.716 --> 00:03:17.472
even the things that don't
happen all that often.

00:03:17.472 --> 00:03:20.146
Something like, remember
to take off your sunglasses

00:03:20.146 --> 00:03:22.036
when you drive through a tunnel:

00:03:22.036 --> 00:03:24.089
you can't see when it's that dark.

00:03:24.089 --> 00:03:26.600
The colon in this example
shows that, you can't see

00:03:26.600 --> 00:03:29.228
when it's that dark is
an explanation of why

00:03:29.228 --> 00:03:31.180
you need to take off your sunglasses.

00:03:31.180 --> 00:03:32.808
This is one of the two types of sentences

00:03:32.808 --> 00:03:34.611
where it makes sense to have a colon

00:03:34.611 --> 00:03:36.413
between two parts of the sentence

00:03:36.413 --> 00:03:40.113
that could stand on their
own as individual sentences.

00:03:40.113 --> 00:03:44.280
So we can say, one, the second
part explains the first part.

00:03:45.502 --> 00:03:47.104
The other case is when the second part

00:03:47.104 --> 00:03:49.474
of the sentence is emphasized.

00:03:49.474 --> 00:03:51.132
So this would be something like,

00:03:51.132 --> 00:03:55.657
I drank way too much soda: I'm
never going to fall asleep!

00:03:55.657 --> 00:03:57.435
These are two independent clauses

00:03:57.435 --> 00:03:59.619
that could be their own sentences,

00:03:59.619 --> 00:04:01.139
but they're closely related enough that

00:04:01.139 --> 00:04:03.394
it makes sense to have
them connected as one.

00:04:03.394 --> 00:04:05.241
So the colon links them together.

00:04:05.241 --> 00:04:06.898
And the second part is emphasized, right?

00:04:06.898 --> 00:04:08.950
That's the focus of the sentence.

00:04:08.950 --> 00:04:10.578
I'm never going to fall asleep!

00:04:10.578 --> 00:04:12.183
So in these two sentences we can see

00:04:12.183 --> 00:04:14.600
that the colon can connect two parts

00:04:14.600 --> 00:04:17.206
that can stand alone as
their own sentences, right?

00:04:17.206 --> 00:04:18.833
Whether it's two independent clauses,

00:04:18.833 --> 00:04:21.782
like in the second sentence,
or an independent clause

00:04:21.782 --> 00:04:24.565
that's technically connected
to a dependent clause

00:04:24.565 --> 00:04:26.157
but can stand alone.

00:04:26.157 --> 00:04:28.832
Now okay, this usage is really uncommon.

00:04:28.832 --> 00:04:30.024
I really want to stress that.

00:04:30.024 --> 00:04:33.105
Usually when we're uniting
two independent clauses,

00:04:33.105 --> 00:04:34.822
or at least two parts of a sentence

00:04:34.822 --> 00:04:37.934
that can stand on their own
as individual sentences,

00:04:37.934 --> 00:04:42.030
we're gonna use a comma and
a conjunction or a semicolon.

00:04:42.030 --> 00:04:43.465
But in the case that the second clause,

00:04:43.465 --> 00:04:46.085
or the second part of the
sentence is emphasized

00:04:46.085 --> 00:04:48.593
or explaining the first clause,

00:04:48.593 --> 00:04:50.472
then you'll want to use a colon.

00:04:50.472 --> 00:04:51.411
Just keep that in mind.

00:04:51.411 --> 00:04:54.729
Usually this independent to
independent clause linking

00:04:54.729 --> 00:04:57.152
happens with a semicolon and not a colon.

00:04:57.152 --> 00:04:58.843
But regardless, this is important to know.

00:04:58.843 --> 00:05:00.662
It's possible in these specific cases.

00:05:00.662 --> 00:05:01.942
What's most important for you to take away

00:05:01.942 --> 00:05:04.100
is that the colon can link things

00:05:04.100 --> 00:05:07.743
and introduce things as
part of its many functions.

00:05:07.743 --> 00:05:09.426
And that's the linking
function of the colon.

00:05:09.426 --> 00:05:11.950
We've got independent
clauses, dependent clauses,

00:05:11.950 --> 00:05:14.078
phrases, words, and introductions

00:05:14.078 --> 00:05:16.905
for lists, and items, and quotes.

00:05:16.905 --> 00:05:17.891
You can learn anything.

00:05:17.891 --> 00:05:18.724
Paige out.


Official SAT Practice on Khan Academy

WEBVTT
Kind: captions
Language: en

00:00:00.714 --> 00:00:03.454
- [Voiceover] Welcome to
Official SAT Practice.

00:00:03.454 --> 00:00:05.862
Khan Academy and the
College Board have teamed up

00:00:05.862 --> 00:00:08.484
to create the only SAT practice tool

00:00:08.484 --> 00:00:11.550
developed with the
experts who write the SAT.

00:00:11.550 --> 00:00:13.442
It's personalized for each student.

00:00:13.442 --> 00:00:15.830
Available any time, anywhere,

00:00:15.830 --> 00:00:17.705
and completely free.

00:00:17.705 --> 00:00:21.154
We'll create personalized
practice recommendations for you.

00:00:21.154 --> 00:00:24.323
Based on your test
results from the PSAT89,

00:00:24.323 --> 00:00:25.848
PSAT10,

00:00:25.848 --> 00:00:27.464
PSATMMSQT,

00:00:27.464 --> 00:00:28.297
and SAT.

00:00:29.292 --> 00:00:31.872
If you haven't already
taken a College Board test

00:00:31.872 --> 00:00:35.398
you can take our short diagnostic
quizzes to get started.

00:00:35.398 --> 00:00:38.446
Your practice plan will show
you where you already excel

00:00:38.446 --> 00:00:41.076
and where you should focus your practice.

00:00:41.076 --> 00:00:43.250
We'll also create a
practice schedule for you

00:00:43.250 --> 00:00:44.943
based on your test date.

00:00:44.943 --> 00:00:47.453
We have tons of interactive
practice questions

00:00:47.453 --> 00:00:48.805
developed with the College Board

00:00:48.805 --> 00:00:51.639
that give you instant
feedback on your answers.

00:00:51.639 --> 00:00:53.621
As well as hints, and videos

00:00:53.621 --> 00:00:56.790
to help you master your skills.

00:00:56.790 --> 00:01:00.508
Mini sections help you
practice under time pressure.

00:01:00.508 --> 00:01:02.641
We have official practice
tests written by the

00:01:02.641 --> 00:01:03.942
College Board.

00:01:03.942 --> 00:01:05.790
Taking at least two practice tests

00:01:05.790 --> 00:01:08.218
will help you build the
experience and endurance

00:01:08.218 --> 00:01:11.155
necessary to do well on test day.

00:01:11.155 --> 00:01:13.906
Join more than one million
students already using

00:01:13.906 --> 00:01:15.739
Official SAT Practice.

00:01:16.607 --> 00:01:19.277
- Khan Academy was probably the best way

00:01:19.277 --> 00:01:20.774
that I can use the study.

00:01:20.774 --> 00:01:23.139
My math was below par.

00:01:23.139 --> 00:01:25.061
Using Khan Academy built it up.

00:01:25.061 --> 00:01:26.767
It improved my scores dramatically.

00:01:26.767 --> 00:01:28.210
- I like the leveling up.

00:01:28.210 --> 00:01:29.153
It kind of makes it a game.

00:01:29.153 --> 00:01:31.928
- I feel excited and prepared
because it's something that

00:01:31.928 --> 00:01:33.887
I've already seen, I've
already read through it.

00:01:33.887 --> 00:01:36.305
So, when I take it I'm gonna do it well.

00:01:36.305 --> 00:01:38.247
- [Voiceover] Sign up
and get started today

00:01:38.247 --> 00:01:39.914
at satpractice.org.


Sal and David discuss the new SAT

WEBVTT
Kind: captions
Language: en

00:00:03.210 --> 00:00:05.540
- Hello, this is Sal
Khan of the Khan Academy.

00:00:05.540 --> 00:00:07.250
I'm here with David
Coleman who's president

00:00:07.250 --> 00:00:10.350
of the College Board and
we're excited to together

00:00:10.350 --> 00:00:14.100
announce the first launch
of our collaboration

00:00:14.100 --> 00:00:16.320
between the College Board
and the Khan Academy

00:00:16.320 --> 00:00:20.620
to create the first ever
official SAT preparation

00:00:20.620 --> 00:00:21.890
for the new SAT.

00:00:21.890 --> 00:00:23.890
And what I'm personally
really excited about

00:00:23.890 --> 00:00:25.410
is that this is a very different SAT.

00:00:25.410 --> 00:00:28.330
It's much simpler, it's much more focused

00:00:28.330 --> 00:00:30.962
on the things that students
actually learn in school.

00:00:30.962 --> 00:00:33.650
The vocabulary is vocabulary
that you would actually

00:00:33.650 --> 00:00:37.230
use in life as opposed
to these kind of crazy,

00:00:37.230 --> 00:00:39.140
classic SAT words.

00:00:39.140 --> 00:00:42.060
- When we redesigned the SAT,
starting three years ago,

00:00:42.060 --> 00:00:45.090
our whole aim actually was
to put students more at ease.

00:00:45.090 --> 00:00:48.010
We eliminated the penalty for
wrong answers, as you know.

00:00:48.010 --> 00:00:50.470
We want students to be able
to do their personal best

00:00:50.470 --> 00:00:52.370
on the exam to show what they know

00:00:52.370 --> 00:00:54.870
and it's also why we partnered
with you with Khan Academy,

00:00:54.870 --> 00:00:57.770
to provide the best, world
class, free test preparation

00:00:57.770 --> 00:01:00.040
in the world, right here, working together

00:01:00.040 --> 00:01:02.170
close with you to make sure it focuses

00:01:02.170 --> 00:01:04.570
on what the exam measures
and helps kids advance.

00:01:04.570 --> 00:01:06.800
So I think what's so
exciting about Khan has done

00:01:06.800 --> 00:01:09.440
is whatever level of
performance students are at,

00:01:09.440 --> 00:01:11.160
whether they're behind in math,

00:01:11.160 --> 00:01:12.860
even far behind in math, they can start

00:01:12.860 --> 00:01:14.490
with where they're confident and strong

00:01:14.490 --> 00:01:16.638
and build on those strengths
to get more and more ready

00:01:16.638 --> 00:01:20.400
for PSAT, for SAT, and
really ready for college

00:01:20.400 --> 00:01:22.470
and career readiness
'cause that's the core now

00:01:22.470 --> 00:01:23.640
of what those exams measure.

00:01:23.640 --> 00:01:25.740
- Yeah, and what I wanna
stress for everyone is

00:01:25.740 --> 00:01:27.040
a lot of what we've been focused on

00:01:27.040 --> 00:01:28.729
with our team here at Khan Academy,

00:01:28.729 --> 00:01:33.729
as software engineers,
the designers, scientists,

00:01:33.970 --> 00:01:37.040
have been working on a
personalization platform

00:01:37.040 --> 00:01:40.320
where students go, they can
take some practice tests,

00:01:40.320 --> 00:01:42.780
some practice questions,
and then based on that,

00:01:42.780 --> 00:01:44.390
the software is trying to say,

00:01:44.390 --> 00:01:46.420
well what's the next best
thing they should work on

00:01:46.420 --> 00:01:49.030
to get more practice so that they can

00:01:49.030 --> 00:01:50.750
advance in the best possible way.

00:01:50.750 --> 00:01:52.840
So there's really no reason why someone

00:01:52.840 --> 00:01:54.140
should feel intimidated.

00:01:54.140 --> 00:01:55.600
It's all stuff that they've seen in school

00:01:55.600 --> 00:01:56.433
and they're gonna be able to get

00:01:56.433 --> 00:01:57.730
as much practice as they need.

00:01:57.730 --> 00:02:00.049
- So go for it and do your best.

00:02:00.049 --> 00:02:01.049
- All right.


The colon as a separator

WEBVTT
Kind: captions
Language: en

00:00:00.145 --> 00:00:01.324
- [Voiceover] Hello grammarians.

00:00:01.324 --> 00:00:04.586
So today we're gonna talk
about third and final function

00:00:04.586 --> 00:00:05.582
of the colon.

00:00:05.582 --> 00:00:08.597
So this final function of the
colon is that it can be used

00:00:08.597 --> 00:00:09.970
as a separator.

00:00:09.970 --> 00:00:11.787
So it might sound like we're talking about

00:00:11.787 --> 00:00:13.027
the comma again, right?

00:00:13.027 --> 00:00:15.253
The comma separates
elements of a sentence.

00:00:15.253 --> 00:00:17.447
But the colon does it in
kind of a different way.

00:00:17.447 --> 00:00:19.052
So, let's look at some examples.

00:00:19.052 --> 00:00:20.910
So one common use of
the colon as a separator

00:00:20.910 --> 00:00:22.312
is in titles.

00:00:22.312 --> 00:00:25.473
So you can have two separate
parts of the title, or like

00:00:25.473 --> 00:00:28.680
a title and a subtitle
for a book or a movie

00:00:28.680 --> 00:00:29.889
or a TV show.

00:00:29.889 --> 00:00:31.881
And there will be a colon in between them.

00:00:31.881 --> 00:00:35.396
We can have something like
Bear Man: Adventures in Alaska.

00:00:35.396 --> 00:00:37.283
Another common use of the
colon as a separator is in

00:00:37.283 --> 00:00:40.670
citations from a book or a poem,

00:00:40.670 --> 00:00:43.156
and pretty often the Bible.

00:00:43.156 --> 00:00:45.404
For example, we can use
it to separate the number

00:00:45.404 --> 00:00:48.208
of a Bible chapter from
the number of the verse.

00:00:48.208 --> 00:00:51.203
If we want to reference First
Corinthians, Chapter 13,

00:00:51.203 --> 00:00:53.165
Verse four, we can write it like

00:00:53.165 --> 00:00:54.665
One Corinthians 13

00:00:56.141 --> 00:00:57.058
colon four.

00:00:58.296 --> 00:01:00.958
Finally, we can use the
colon to separate the hour

00:01:00.958 --> 00:01:03.164
from the minutes in the time of day.

00:01:03.164 --> 00:01:05.480
If I want to tell someone what time it is,

00:01:05.480 --> 00:01:07.979
I can say it is now ten-oh-nine AM.

00:01:07.979 --> 00:01:10.426
And between the ten, which
is the hour of the day,

00:01:10.426 --> 00:01:13.371
and oh-nine, which is the
minutes, we put a colon.

00:01:13.371 --> 00:01:15.537
So that's how the colon
works as a separator.

00:01:15.537 --> 00:01:20.068
We can use it in titles,
citations, and times.

00:01:20.068 --> 00:01:21.286
You can learn anything.

00:01:21.286 --> 00:01:22.119
Paige out.