 As late as the 18th century, the appropriateness of a colon was still being related to the length of the pause taken when reading the text aloud, but silent reading eventually replaced this with other considerations.In British English, it was once common for a colon to be followed by a hyphen or dash to indicate a restful pause, in a typographical construction known as the "dog's bollocks", though this usage is now discouraged.In modern English usage, a complete sentence precedes a colon, while a list, description, explanation, or definition follows it.