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While browsing through an ACT study guide, I have encountered the following sentence (as part of a discussion of old signs seen along the highways):

After all, there they are: advertising products and businesses that no longer exist.

The study guide claims this sentence is grammatically correct. However, most grammar guides seem to insist that the clauses on either side of the colon should be independent in such cases. The post-colon clause in this example is definitely dependent. How is this okay?

Barmar
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Brad
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  • I would probably roll with a simple comma myself. But the colon doesn't strike me as inacceptable. You have to put something in there, and if you happen to have no comma at hand, even an em dash might do. Even a full stop. (As a side note, the sentence stays grammatically correct with or without the colon. All it takes to verify that is read it aloud. Indeed, you can put three colons after every single letter, or string everything together with no punctuation or whitespaces, and all that will accomplish is make it tedious to read. Perfectly grammatical English, merely typed up by a maniac.) – RegDwigнt Jan 08 '20 at 23:12

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