What's the use of colons and semicolons …

Usage of semicolons Semicolons are sometimes called small periods. Represents a pause, the pause time is between the pause time of comma and colon. If the article adopts many semicolons, its style becomes serious and formal. In order to use semicolons correctly, we must first learn to recognize the main clause. The use of punctuation marks is now a common knowledge point, and colon has become a common knowledge point because of its complicated use. Let's talk about the use of colons and common mistakes in combination with the use of punctuation marks promulgated by the state. 1, used after salutation, means to mention the following. Comrades, let's have a meeting now. It often appears in letters and official documents. Some people often ignore this colon after the address form, which is easy to write as a comma. 2. After the words "say", "think", "yes", "prove", "announce", "give an example" and "as follows", it means to extract the following. For example, he was surprised and said, "Ah, it's you!" However, when there are his original words before and after what someone said, then what someone said should be followed by a comma instead of a colon. "This bridge is about to open to traffic," he said, looking around the venue. "Please bite the bullet and make the final sprint." (The colon should be changed to a comma here) Whether it is necessary to use a colon after the words "think", "yes", "prove", "publish", "point out" and "disclose" depends on the situation. For example, (1) factory leaders promptly pointed out the new idea of "strengthening management, grasping the potential of saving, reducing costs through all-round saving, and opening up the market with high quality and low cost to increase efficiency". (2) At the meeting, Secretary Li pointed out: "The factory should implement two reform measures, one is to work with certificates, and the other is full-time training." You can't use a colon in the first example, because there is no need to use a colon after "point out". It is a complete sentence with a back, without a long pause or pause in the middle. If the object part behind is long, you need to make a short pause and only use commas. The second sentence must be a colon, because it leads to the following series of sentences. After the suggestive verbs such as "yes" and "discover", use a colon to lead to the following, and use a period at the end of the following. If you use commas, it is also wrong. For example, there are two poems by Mao Zedong: "Only heroes drive tigers and leopards, and no heroes fear bears", from which I feel the fearless spirit of people. 3, used after the general discourse, indicating that it causes the following arguments. For example, "The Forbidden City in Beijing has four gates: the Wumen Gate, the Shenwumen Gate, the Donghuamen Gate and the Xihuamen Gate." But there are exceptions Don't use a colon if there is no long pause in the sentence. For example, Wang Yi 'an, Wang Xiaoying and Cheng Naishan, three outstanding women in the city's literary world, talked and laughed together. Some people will put a colon after "three outstanding women", which is wrong. 4, used after the words that need to be explained, indicating that it leads to explanation or explanation. For example: "Title: Integrity." Motto: not the best, but the closest. 5, used in front of the general discourse to summarize the above.