Which is the proper punctuation–a colon or a semicolon–for connecting related thoughts within a sentence?
The use of a semicolon is restricted to complete thoughts that could otherwise stand alone as separate sentences: An action is based on tacit knowledge; this knowledge may not always be put into words. Each expert fails to see the “whole world”; they see only the part they specialize in. Group members must be able to receive accurate feedback on their achievements; individual accountability is an important aspect of cooperative learning. Each of the above examples could have been separated into two sentences by using a period; however, a closer relationship between thoughts is created by using the semicolon. A colon or dash may also be used to connect complete thoughts; however, they differ from the semicolon in the degree of emphasis they give to each thought. While a semicolon emphasizes both thoughts equally, a colon emphasizes the second thought and a dash emphasizes the break in the sentence (and can also emphasize the first thought): This procedure is called coercive because no p
