P. 58 of Alcoholics Anonymous

Question

Please settle a debate over the following sentence.

Our stories disclose in a general way what we were like, what happened, and what we're like now.

I feel there needs to be a colon after "way." My colleague told me to disgrace diagram it. I did, but I maintain my position. What do you think?

Answer 1

It is correct without the colon. The part in front of the colon should be able to stand apart from the rest of the sentence. So, let's break the sentence down to see how the front part is not a complete thought:

Our stories disclose in a general way (Here's where you wanted to put the colon, but the part in front is not a complete sentence by itself and needs an object to answer the question what is disclosed?)

what we were like, what happened, and what we're like now. (This part acts as the object and completes the sentence so no colon can be used.)

Here's the correct way a colon might be used:

Our stories disclose in a general way our alcoholic journey: what we were like, what happened, and what we're like now.

Answer 2

This sentence is a little bit odd because of the lack of clarity in each section. The way I see this sentence, without the context of the rest of the paragraph/section, is this: "Our stories disclose, in a general way, what we were like, what happened, and what we are like now." However, I think a list might work better here (once again, this depends on the context of the section):

Our stories disclose three general topics: (1) what we were like, (2) what happened, and (3) what we are like now."

I don't think a colon is needed unless you enumerate your list. Because you are introducing a modifier with "in a general way," which modifies "Our stories disclose," having a colon there prevents the sentence from being elucidated effectively.

Does this make sense?