Everyday Writing: Apostrophes and Colons When is a colon used in a title?

A colon is used in a title to clarify composition titles. A colon is used to give emphasis, present dialogue, introduce lists or texts, and clarify composition titles.

Colon is one of the punctuations which is used to:

1. Lay emphasis

Example: He loved just one: Bruno, his dog

2. To present dialogue (we write the name of the speaker and then insert colon followed by his/her dialogue.)

Example: Rita: How are you?

Mary: Fine, and you?

3. Clarify composition titles (to explain parallel ideas colon is used in compositions like lectures or book titles), and

Example: Rousseau's Dog: Two Great Thinkers at War in the Age of Enlightenment

4. To introduce text or lists.

Example: Three types of Subordinate or Dependent Clauses are: Adjective clause, Adverb clause and Noun clause