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Not exactly a life-or-death situation here, it's just a YouTube comment I'm in the process of typing in a discussion on movies, the MCU, and the MCU's version of Spider-Man. Sometimes, I write a sentence and immediately question the syntax, but this time I have four distinct questions about one silly sentence, and I figure I may as well ask so I'll have that information in the future.

It's the same reason I don't really care for any of the other "spiders": A huge reason for Spidey's success was that he was unique, and he was a loner; there was no one else like him in comics.

  1. The primary question that has me going as far as to ask for clarification: Is this the proper usage of capitalization after a colon? But then, I immediately have other questions.

  2. Does the colon belong in or out of the quotation mark? If it matters, this is a case of quotes being used to denote what people are unofficially calling other characters with the same power set, not a direct quote from someone.

  3. Is double-spacing after a colon still correct? I know that it's no longer encouraged to double-space after every sentence as I was taught back in typing class (though I still do it out of habit and preference), and I could swear we were taught the same for colons, but I don't know if it's the current, proper syntax.

  4. Should there be a comma after "unique"? <-- (And does that question mark belong in or out of the quotation marks?)

  5. Is the usage of a semicolon toward the end of the sentence correct? I think I've started to overuse semicolons the way my English professor once told me I overuse parenthetical phrases, but is it grammatically correct? I'm especially concerned considering everything else going on in the sentence, but it is important to me (for...whatever reason) to keep closely-related thoughts connected in this sort of way. But is too much?

Goldenfoxx
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  • Double-spacing fell by the wayside with the advent of word processors and computers. Programs will adjust the spacing properly if you type just one space. – DjinTonic Dec 09 '21 at 17:09
  • With regard to your first question above, see Should the first word after a colon be capitalized? – Sven Yargs Dec 09 '21 at 17:10
  • There should not be a capital letter after a colon unless the colon introduces a list. The quotation marks round a single word count as part of that word and do not affect other punctuation. – Kate Bunting Dec 09 '21 at 17:10
  • Welcome! This is a well-communicated question, but note that Stack Exchange works best when individual questions are posted and get focused answers. In this case we could consider questions 1-3 to count as "one question" about colon usage, but it might be nice to pull the comma and semicolon questions out into their own posts. ... – Andy Bonner Dec 09 '21 at 17:18
  • ... Also, note that general proofreading requests are not on-topic. This is not one—you very clearly identify your points of concern—but just saying that a "here's one post to generally fix everything with this passage" approach isn't really applicable. – Andy Bonner Dec 09 '21 at 17:18
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    With regard to your second question, see "Using the Chicago Manual of Style, do colons go inside or outside quotes?](https://english.stackexchange.com/questions/439067/using-the-chicago-manual-of-style-do-colons-go-inside-or-outside-quotes/439088#439088) (I will add that I haven't seen any style that recommends adding a colon inside a close quotation mark unless it is there in the original text being quoted.) – Sven Yargs Dec 09 '21 at 17:20
  • Re double-spacing: "Just as with the period, it used to be common to put two spaces after a colon, but now most style guides that address the matter (e.g., The Chicago Manual of Style) recommend using only one space after a colon." – Andy Bonner Dec 09 '21 at 17:26
  • Re semicolons: incorrect usage and overuse are two different concerns. And stylistic writing advice is off-topic here, but your usage is valid, and IMO is appropriate. Hemingway might enjoy breaking the sentence there, but that casts doubt on the preceding use of the colon. (Well, I guess he'd break there too.) – Andy Bonner Dec 09 '21 at 17:31
  • And if we did give subjective, stylistic advice... I'd say this is in no way an over-complicated or over-structured sentence, and the colon and semicolon are doing exactly what they were made for, and I would have written the exact same sentence (though maybe without the comma). I'd love to hear somebody tackle the question mark, but last I heard, you can get both answers on that one. – Andy Bonner Dec 09 '21 at 17:34
  • I don't have access to the CMOS, but the snippets shown by a search seem to show that section 6.70 puts the question mark outside: "... mark should be placed inside quotation marks, parentheses, or brackets only when it is part of..." ... which surely concludes, "the quoted material." – Andy Bonner Dec 09 '21 at 17:40

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