Lesson video

Hello and welcome to today's English lesson.

I'm Miss Gayle and today we're going to be continuing our units of work on Grammar for writing.

This time with a focus on the colon.

One of my personal favourite pieces of punctuation.

By the end of today's lesson, I want you to feel confident about using colons in your writing to expand, clarify, and elaborate on your ideas.

All you for today's session is a pen and paper.

So take a moment to clear any distractions away, get comfortable and write down today's title, grammar for writing the colon.

This is the colon.

You're probably familiar with it.

And we can use a colon to make our writing clearer, more precise and more sophisticated.

Those two little dots can be used like a signpost.

And some people like to think of the colon as signalling or drawing our attention to something.

It can illustrate an idea, provide a more specific detail, give examples or add emphasis.

Other people might think of it as like a flashing arrow that prepares you for what's about to come.

And the colon says what's coming next is important detail so take note.

And there are four key uses of a colon.

To introduce a list, to introduce an explanation, to add emphasis or to introduce a quotation.

So we're going to be focusing on these four key ideas today.

So the first one using a colon to introduce a list.

You need to be careful with this one because more often than not, a list can simply be integrated into a sentence so you use your commas to separate those items in the list.

But you can just continue the flow of your sentence without the need for a colon.

But there are some more complex lists that you might benefit from using a colon.

Here's an example of that.

You can use a colon to introduce a list of something, Colon.

Objects, ideas, people, or whatever you need.

The thing you need to remember when you're using a colon to introduce a list is that there must be a main clause before you use the colon.

So you can see in the example on your screen, the phrase you can use a colon on to introduce a list of something could make sense on its own as a complete sentence on main clause.

We then follow the colon on with those ideas.

Pause the video and add the example to your notes.

Probably the most important use of a colon is to separate two main clauses.

Where the second explains or illustrates the first.

Now this is quite similar to a semi-colon.

But it's important not to confuse them if you can.

The key difference is that the second clause explains, illustrates or elaborate is the first.

Usually the first clause is a bit more general and the second clause narrows down to a more specific detail or example.

So here's an example that you can add to your notes.

You can use a colon to separate two main clauses where the second explains, elaborates or illustrates the first colon.

It's simple really.

Both halves of that sentence are main clauses in and of themselves.

But the second one explains the first gives additional information on the first.

The fifth keys or the colon is a really powerful one to use in your writing.

You can use a colon on here to emphasise a phrase or a single word at the end of the sentence.

Adding emphasis means you want the word or phrase to stand out or stick with your reader as they meet on.

Here's an example of that, you can add to your notes.

You can use a colon to emphasise a phrase or single words at the end of the sentence.

Colon easy! So here, all we've got is that single word at the end of the sentence.

And we use the colon to emphasise, draw our attention or signal what's about to come.

Remember we said that the colon is like a signpost.

It draws our attention to what's coming next.

Finally, you can use a colon to introduce other longer quotation.

And this is something that's really useful in essay writing.

As an example, you can use a colon to introduce a longer quotation.

Colon.

What a wonderful piece of punctuation the colon is.

Pause the video and add that to your notes as well.

Okay so here are just some other important rules to remember when you are using colons.

Firstly, you should have a main clause before colon, even when introducing a list.

Second, you should not use a capital letter after a colon unless it is a proper noun or quotation.

So a proper noun is like a name.

Thirdly, usually a more general idea come before the colon and then a narrower, more specific idea comes after it.

So I just want to check your understanding on some of those fundamentals.

If you want to take a moment to write those three key things down, please do that now.

So are these statements true or false? This one is false.

You should not use a colon to separate two subordinate clauses instead it separates two main clauses or one main clause from additional emphasis.

Is this true or false? This statement is true.

You do not need a capital letter after colon unless it's a proper noun or a quotation.

How about this one? True or false? This one is true.

Well done we can use this a colon to introduce a list as long as the part of the sentence before the colon is a main clause.

How about this one? True or false? That is true to use a colon to signpost or signal with flashing lights that you want to emphasise the word or phrase that comes after it.

Finally, when should you use a semicolon between main clauses? So you should use a semi-colon where the two clauses are closely related.

You should use a colon when the second clause explains the first.

So if you haven't already done so, make sure you've written down in your notes what the key rules to remember when using a colon.

well done.

Now last lesson we looked at a statement about wellbeing.

Your wellbeing is your most valuable possession.

It is just as important as academic attainment or success.

Again, today we're going to practise the playings or the rules we've been learning to this statement as we develop our writing skills.

So remember wellbeing is the state of being comfortable, healthy, and happy.

And it's really important that we take time to look after ourselves and take the opportunity to find a healthy balance in our lives and look after our own wellbeing.

Today, we're going to think about some advice that you could give others on how we can do that.

So how can you look after your own wellbeing? Remember, it's helpful to write about what you know.

And when you're trying to argue that wellbeing is valuable, you might give examples of what that might look like in practise.

Remember, we're not saying academic attainment doesn't matter and you should just spend your life relaxing and not doing anything, but we won't suggest perhaps I advise our readers on how they might start to balance their wellbeing with the rest of that life.

So what do you do to look after your wellbeing? What make you feel good? Here's some suggestions from the NHS website on how you can help yourself to focus on wellbeing.

And those are really simple things that you need to make sure that you're giving yourself opportunity to do.

Reframing unhelpful thoughts like anxiety or stress helps you to move on and be mindful in the present moment.

Perhaps through meditation or simply by noticing your thoughts and feelings more often.

We should get plenty of sleep, connect with others like friends and family, and live an active, healthy life by eating well and doing all those things.

It's quite likely that you might even improve your academic statement because you've got more capacity to focus and enjoy your learning.

So I want you to just practise your use of colons here by adding or including a colon in these sentences.

Here's the first example done for you.

Have a go at the other five.

We're going to take our ideas now about how we can value our wellbeing.

I'm using them to write a paragraph, articulating our ideas on this statement.

So today we're focusing on this element of how we might persuade our media, that it is important to take care of your wellbeing.

So I want you to write down your initial thoughts and make sure you use a colon.

Why is wellbeing important? And what could people do to prioritise their wellbeing? Resume the video once you're done.

Well done.

Hopefully you've linked back to some of those suggestions that we talked about how we can make sure that we're looking after ourselves, prioritising our own wellbeing, because it is really valuable to look after yourself, even when you're stressed or finding things difficult.

So we agree that wellbeing is a valuable possession and it is just as important as academic attainment or success.

Now, what we're going to do today is to write the opening of a magazine article, advising young people on how to prioritise wellbeing.

So you going to be the person giving the advice, what can people do in order to improve their own wellbeing.

And when you're expressing an opinion or viewpoint, you should think about the form or text type, the audience and the purpose of the text that you're writing.

What is the form, audience and purpose of this task? Who are we writing for? What are we writing? and why are we writing? Well, the form is a magazine article.

The audience is young people and the purpose is to advise young people to prioritise wellbeing.

As part of our planning, we think about how we can meet the form, audience and purpose of our writing by targeting certain things towards them.

So in terms of the form, we've been asked to write a magazine article.

In a magazine article, you should aim to write with a deliberate tone of voice or persona that helps you to get your viewpoint across.

Now that might be formal, informal, serious, comic or sarcastic.

But through the words and phrases that you choose, the personality of the voice that you've chosen to use should come through.

Now, our target audience today is young people.

At the time that your audience or reader, you could try and make reference to their interests or maybe to their experiences that you might share with them.

Finally, the purpose is to advise.

And when you give advice, you might use auxiliary verb like might or could or should to suggest that ways of doing something.

Or you should give reasons or evidence to support your point where you can so that they're more likely to accept your suggestions.

So I'm going to show you an example of paragraph.

And in it, you'll notice I've tried to very much of this subject use colon and think about some of those ideas about form, audience and purpose.

There is one experience that connects all people from all walks of life worry.

Sometimes, stress and anxiety can feel crushing.

Adolescents can be like a minefield for wellbeing: complex social dynamics, turbulent relationships, family tensions, and on top of it, all exams. But don't let stress defeat you: your wellbeing matters just as much as if not more than anything else.

Now, if you ask someone whether this topic is sensitive to you, make sure you've got a trusted adult nearby.

But you might need to discuss or support you through some of your ideas here.

What you'll notice from this paragraph is that I tried to meet the success criteria you can see on the screen.

I've got at least one colon use accurately to either elaborate or emphasise particular ideas.

I've tried to include a range of sentence or just, I've tried to include rhetorical devices, like direct address, emotive language and rhetorical questions.

And my ideas matched to the form, audience and purpose that I'm writing for.

So I'm trying to target the magazine article audience of young people, who we want to persuade and advise about the importance of wellbeing.

Now, I've not included the individual pieces of advice that we've talked about by suggestions that you added colons too, but hopefully you're starting to see how the ideas are beginning to match the audience and purpose.

So I'd like you now to try and write your own paragraph.

Writing a magazine article advising young people on how to prioritise their wellbeing.

You need to make sure you include at least one colon, a range of sentence structures, rhetorical devices, like direct address, emotive language or rhetorical questions.

and trying to focus on making sure that your ideas are matched to the form, audience and purpose of this piece of writing.

A magazine article targeting your people on how to prioritise their wellbeing.

Off you go.

Well done.

I'd like you to self assess your paragraph against these success criteria on your screen.

So have you used a colon accurately.

thinking about your range of sentence structures, think about the rhetorical devices you've used and have you matched your ideas to the form, audience and purpose of the task.

If so really well done.

Thank you for your focus.

I hope you enjoy the rest of your learning today and make sure you complete the quiz at the end of the lesson.