Skip to content
Auralith
Menu
Log inGet started

Year 6 · English · Colons, semi-colons and dashes · Lesson 1

Colons

Colons: introducing lists, explanations and examples, with a complete main clause before the colon.

Whiteboard video lesson: Colons

13-minute video lesson

Teaching, worked examples and 20 practice questions solved step by step.

Watch free for a month

What your child will learn

  • Identify a colon
  • Use a colon before a list
  • Use a colon before an explanation
  • Check the clause before is complete

The method

  1. Full main clause.
  2. List/explanation follows?
  3. Colon after clause.
  4. Lower case after.

Key words: colon, list, explanation, main clause.

Worked examples

The first three practice questions from the lesson, with every step.

Question 1

Draw a colon.

  1. Step 1: Two dots

Answer: :

Question 2

Name one job of a colon.

  1. Step 1: List...

Answer: introduces a list / explanation / example

Question 3

Add a colon: ‘I have three pets a cat, a dog and a fish.’

  1. Step 1: Before the list

Answer: I have three pets: a cat, a dog and a fish.