Colons are used prior to lists of things in sentences, rather than semi-colons; therefore, the semi-colon in the sentence above is erroneous. The sentence should read, "To complete their final projects, all students must prepare the following: a presentation, a posterboard, and a paper."

Colons may be used prior to lists of things in sentences; however, this is only the case if there are three or more items in the list. As the list in the sentence above has only two items (the movies and the park), the colon above is erroneous. The sentence should read, "I'd like to take you to the movies or the park today."

Colons serve primarily two purposes. The first is to precede a list in a sentence, and the second is to join two independent clauses of a sentence, as long as the second clause explains or expands on the first clause. For the second purpose, however, you may only use a colon where a period might otherwise be used, after an independent clause, and before a second independent clause that explains, or directly expands on the first clause. The colon in the above sentence is incorrectly placed. The best way to correct the sentence above is:

"Stop being to rude to Tommy: he is a very nice young man."

Colons serve primarily two purposes. The first is to precede a list of items a sentence, and the second is to join two clauses of a sentence, where the second clause explains, expands on, or clarifies the first clause. Colons cannot be used to introduce a list when the last word of the first clause is a verb, rather a comma is required. In the sentence above, however, the last word of the first clause is a noun, so a colon is the best way to introduce the list.

The corrected sentence reads: "There are only three things that my wife hates more than snakes, birds, bears, and her mother."

Colons serve two primary purposes. The first is to precede a list of three or more things in a sentence, and the second is to join two clauses, where the first clause is an independent, and the second clause is a dependent clause that explains the main clause. If being used to connect two clauses, the first clause must always be a independent clause.

The sentence above is correct as written. 

Colons serve two main purposes. The first is to precede a list of three or more things in a sentence, and the second is to join two clauses of a sentence. For the first purpose, however, you should avoid using a colon after a verb or a preposition. The best way to correct the sentence above is to delete the colon. 

Colons serve primarily two purposes. The first is to precede a list of three or more things in a sentence, and the second is to join two clauses of a sentence. For the first purpose, however, you should avoid using a colon after a verb or a preposition. The best way to correct the sentence above is to delete the first colon; the second one is correct and necessary, but the first is both redundant, and directly follows a verb.

Colons serve two main purposes. The first is to precede a list of three or more things in a sentence, and the second is to join two clauses of a sentence. For the second purpose, however, you may only use a colon where a period might otherwise be used. Because the first clause in the sentence above could easily stand on its own, and could terminate in a period, the use of the colon above is correct and proper. The sentence contains no error and is correct as it is written. 

Be watchful of possessive plural nouns: here, the correct apostrophe will be at the end of the word: "boys'" is correct because the subject is plural.

The correct possessive form for "children" is "children's," not "childrens." "Children" is a noun that changes form in plural, from "child" to "children" instead of "childs." In irregular plural nouns that do not end in "s," you need to add an apostrophe followed by an "s" to form the possessive form of the word. For plural nouns ending in "s" such as "girls," you need to add the apostrophe at the end, but not an "s." For example, the possessive of "girls" is "girls'."