So, why bother with a colon?
Example 1 - When to USE a colon
I want the following items: butter, sugar and flour.
Example 2 - When NOT TO USE a colon
I want butter, sugar and flour.
Example 3 - When to USE a colon
At the end of A Midsummer Night's Dream, Puck explains the madness of the play with his eloquent soliloquy:
“If we shadows have offended,
Think but this, and all is mended,
That you have but slumbered here
While these visions did appear.
And this weak and idle theme,
No more yielding but a dream".
Think but this, and all is mended,
That you have but slumbered here
While these visions did appear.
And this weak and idle theme,
No more yielding but a dream".