Comma? colon? full stop? dash?

One punctuation rule that never fails to trip me up is how you end a sentence which is followed by a detail relating to that sentence.

Ex:

With some coaxing he'd agreed to divulge the figure they'd agreed on; ten thousand.
or
With some coaxing he'd agreed to divulge the figure they'd agreed on - ten thousand.
or
With some coaxing he'd agreed to divulge the figure they'd agreed on. Ten thousand.
or
With some coaxing he'd agreed to divulge the figure they'd agreed on: Ten thousand.

It's the same whenever I want to mention the time.

He looked at his watch; three-thirty.
Or
Or
Or

 

Thank you. I always default to the semi-colon in these instances, but it's only ever a guess.

 

Hmm, perhaps this is a stylistic choice, but I'd actually use a full stop for these.

With some coaxing he'd agreed to divulge the figure they'd agreed on. Ten thousand
He looked at his watch. Three-thirty.

In fiction, this feels more punchy than the semi-colon, which feels a bit formal to me. Either is probably technically valid, so it comes down to the tone you want for your writing.

 

I agree, mashers, it does sound punchier, and more often than not I want to use a full stop but always convince myself it's incorrect and opt for the safety of the semi-colon.

 

I don't think a semicolon is correct in this instance.

In fact, it feels the most wrong out of all the choices here. Depending on the tone/style of the narrative, I'd either use a colon or a dash, but I'm also not against using a full stop and leaving the fragment dangling for effect.

Really, the only one of these options I'd probably never use is the semicolon.

 

I don't think a semicolon is right here. Semicolons connect two independent clauses. In the examples you give, neither 'ten-thousand" nor "three-thirty" can stand on their own as independent clauses. A colon might be more appropriate as its expanding on what was previously said, though I think the dash or period are your safest options. I'd personally go for the dash.

 

Personally I'd go with an em dash for the first example.

For the second, I'd be more likely to add some words to make things less choppy.

He looked at his watch and saw that it was three-thirty.

He looked at his watch. Three-thirty? How had it gotten so late?

 

Thanks everyone. I'm going with the full stop as a style choice, now I know it's not strictly incorrect.

 

Long dash— like this.

 

Definitely not the semi-colon; any of the others seem viable to me.