Year 6 · English

Use Colons In Lists

5 checked activities 3 video matches

Start here

Focus on using a colon before a list. Start with “Practise Using Colons in Lists”, then explain the idea in your own words.

Understand the key idea

A colon introduces a list when the words before it already make a complete sentence. If you can stop at the colon and still have a sentence that makes sense on its own, the colon belongs there. If the sentence would be left dangling, no colon is needed.

When should a colon introduce a list?

Use a colon before a list when the clause before it is complete and the list explains or supplies what that clause promises. "The habitat has three essential features: water, shelter and food" works because "The habitat has three essential features" can stand alone as a sentence.

Do not insert a colon between a verb or preposition and the words that complete it. "The habitat contains water, shelter and food" needs no colon because the list completes the verb contains. This sentence test is more dependable than adding a colon whenever a list appears.

Punctuating the items

Short, simple items are normally separated by commas, with and or or before the final item. Semicolons can separate longer items that already contain commas. If the list is displayed as bullet points, the introduction still needs to be grammatically complete and the punctuation of the bullets should be consistent.

Common mix-up

Writing something like "You will need: a pen and paper" looks tidy but is not quite right, because "You will need" is not a complete sentence on its own. "You will need three things: a pen, paper and a ruler" works.

Try this first

Cover everything after the colon and check the first part still stands as a sentence.
Write two list sentences, one that needs a colon and one that does not.
Try the same list punctuated with semicolons when the items themselves contain commas.

Ask: Read the part before the colon out loud. Is it a whole sentence?

Curriculum check: DfE English Appendix 2: vocabulary, grammar and punctuation

Year 6 learners practise using a colon before a list.

The activities include Practise Using Colons in Lists, Understand Colons and Semicolons, Understand How To Use Colons and Semicolons, and related practice. The checked support below includes video, worksheet, teaching, lesson. Open a resource in its provider's website and choose the format that best helps the learner explain the idea independently.

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Activities covered

Practise Using Colons in Lists
Understand Colons and Semicolons
Understand How To Use Colons and Semicolons
Use Colons Correctly in Lists and Quotations
Use Colons for Lists

Learning path

These same-subject links were reviewed as the foundations for this topic and the learning it directly unlocks.

Learn this first

Year 2Use Appropriate Punctuation
Secure sentence punctuation before the Year 6 punctuation set is added.
Year 5Use Commas To Clarify
Commas separating list items precede the colon that introduces the list.

Where this leads next

Year 6Punctuate Bullet Points
The colon taught here introduces the bulleted list punctuated there.
Year 6Punctuate Independent Clauses
Extends colon use from lists to the boundary between independent clauses.

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