English Grammar Rules & Mistakes: Learn All of the Essentials: Writing, Speaking, Literature and Punctuation Rules Complete with 10 Key Skills and Over 200 Common Error Examples

moreover, hence, thereafter, etc. when used in sentences.
Incorrect: I will not pursue him for the money, moreover I still have his car
with me.
He observed for several hours and thereafter began to
dance.

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She’d been smiling at me for about forty-five minutes;
so I approached her to know if we had met before. 
Correct: 
I will not pursue him for the money; moreover, I still have his
car with me.
He observed for several hours, and thereafter, began to
dance.
She’d been smiling at me for about forty-fiveinutes; so,
I approached her to know if we had met before. 
Colon (:)
The colon is another kind of punctuation mark that many learners and writers
leave out when writing in the English language. It is not so uncommon that
some articles have elements of punctuation marks like the colon, and that is
why you need to learn how it functions and also learn the errors to avoid
when using colons in sentences. Technically, the colon is used to explain or
give a list in the same way that “e.g.,” “i.e.,” and namely are used in
sentences. So, pay attention to the illustrations in the rules below.
For official letter writing, use a colon following the salutation even if you are
addressing the letter to the person by their first name. This is in contrast to
writing an informal letter where a comma is used because the person being
addressed is familiar. Although many writers are often confused about
making distinctions between using a colon or a comma, that doesn’t mean it
is appropriate to keep the confusion going. Now that you are informed about
the differences, ensure you make use of it.
For example: 
Dear Mr. Matthew:
Distinguished Senator:
Dear Ms. Melissa:
In the absence of introductory words like “for example,” and so on, use
colon.
Correct: 
Three things can make a man happy: good job, good wife, and
amazing children.

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We need a candidate with the qualities of: knowledge of
Microsoft Office Access, programming software, and
critical reasoning skills. 
Do not use a colon if it does not follow a complete statement.
For example:
Incorrect: If you want your readers to understand your content, and ensure
your supervisor awards you a good grade, you should : (1)
write legibly, (2) support your points with facts, and (3) cite
relevant examples.
Correct: 
If you want your readers to understand your content, and ensure
your supervisor awards you a good grade, you should (1) write
legibly, (2) support your points with facts, and (3) cite relevant
examples.
You can use a colon to replace a semicolon when you have two clauses with
one clause explaining the other without the use of the conjunction “and.”
I love vacations: traveling to Paris in France is my favorite.
In a sentence, if just a clause follows the colon, do not capitalize the first
letter immediately after the colon. But if there are more than two sentences
still explaining the same point and not joined with a conjunction, you should
capitalize the first letter immediately after the colon and also capitalize the
sentence next. Check the examples below;
He just realized after a decade, how bad he is at
mathematics: he doesn’t know what one plus one is
equal to.
He just realized after a decade, how bad his spoken
English had been: He doesn’t understand why “give
him him book” is wrong and “give her her book” is
right. He also doesn’t know the rules guiding the use of
a period in English grammar.

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