Grammatically Correct: The writer's essential guide to punctuation ...

GRAMMATICALLY CORRECT
Implied question: What was desperate about the situation?
Answer: low supplies and imminent winter.
One aspect struck him as particularly odd: It was midafternoon on a clear,
mild day, yet the streets were totally deserted.
Implied question: What was odd? Answer: unaccountably deserted
streets.
There's an issue that we absolutely must address: Will our current level
of funding be enough?
Implied question: What's this issue? Answer: whether funding is
sufficient.
The text preceding a colon should be a complete independent
clause. Do not put a colon after a sentence fragment-a phrase or
a dependent clause-that would dangle awkwardly on its own. The
colons in the following examples are incorrect, and should be
removed:
In a word, the plan was: ridiculous.
When they looked at the design more closely: the flaws became evident.
From the top of the hill: the entire scene could be surveyed.
You can sometimes get away with putting a colon after a sentence
fragment, provided it's one that wouldn't sound unreasonable standing
on its own. (Experienced writers have a sense of when sentence
fragments would be acceptable, and will occasionally use them for
effect. See page 59.)
A word of caution: Testing has not yet been completed, so any results
must be considered preliminary.
Implied question: What's there to be cautious about? Answer:
preliminary results.
So far so good: As we had hoped, the results supported our hypothesis.
Implied question: What was good? Answer: affirming results.
The text following the colon does not have to be an independent
clause.
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