<p>Harriet Beecher Stowe was renowned not only in the United States but also in Europe: in Rome she could seldom walk through the streets unrecognized. </p>
<p>^^I thought you were only allowed to use the colon when listing things. For example,</p>
<p>"I bought the materials I needed at the store: A pencil, notebook, and a eraser."</p>
<p>You can use it separate two independent clauses, especially in cases like the example when the second clause explains the first.</p>
<p>… You wouldn’t use a colon for the first one. You’d use a semicolon, which allows you to connect two independent clauses.</p>
<p>I think both are correct. Although I know I should not, I usually use them interchangably.</p>
<p>It’s usually used for emphasis, like the dash (-) </p>
<p>Like… </p>
<p>“His legs were broken: he would be a cripple for the rest of his life” </p>
<p>It basically draws attention to the second clause there… the semicolon wouldn’t quite work here.</p>
<p>Hah, my rule of thumb - hyphen for emphasis, semicolon for combining two (ind) clauses and colon for lists. It’s easy and simple to follow.</p>
<p>Colons rarely show up on the SATs, so it’s not much to worry about. (Or at least I’ve never seen them?)</p>
<p>My English teacher said it is kind of like an equal sign: one side of the colon equals the other side of the colon.</p>
<p>In one of my essays, she changed my period to a semicolon everytime I becan a sentence with “however.”</p>
<p>I think this is a good way to see it:
Semi colon connects 2 independent clauses that are related.
Colon connects 2 independent clauses when the 2nd is a RESULT of the first. Because she was renowned in Europe, she couldn’t walk the streets unrecognized. A semi-colon would also work there, I think, but I guess a colon is just a bit better. Obviously, a colon is also used for lists (which can be thought of as a result of the former clause).
A dash is either for emphasis or for an interjection of sorts.</p>
<p>I have seen colons come up a couple times, and they usually come up with semi-colons as other possible answer choices. However, usually the difference between the choices will not ONLY be the colon and the semi-colon. Thus, you can just use other clues to find the right answer instead of having to pick between a colon and semi-colon.</p>
<p>Because she was renowned in Europe, she couldn’t walk the streets unrecognized.</p>
<p>neither a colon OR a semicolon would work here… because “because she was renowned in Europe” is not an independent clause.</p>
<p>
That’s not an example of a sentence. That’s my explanation for why a colon would work for the original sentence…</p>