Usage of the colon in this sentence (and alternatives) [duplicate]

I've seen a few questions on this site relating to semi-colons, which I believe I correctly understand, but what I'm not as clear about is colons. For example:

The man ate the apple; it tasted good.

Is this not correctly also written as:

The man ate the apple: it tasted good.

In this case, what is the difference between the two sentences?

Solution 1:

In your example, the first one is correct but the second one is incorrect.

Use a semi-colon to connect two related independent clauses.

They took the money from the vault; they took it quickly.

The ideas are related, the clauses stand on their own, semi-colon is OK here.

Use a colon to separate equal things (like an '=' sign).

Just remember three things: be on time, bring the money, and come alone.

The things here = those three items.

Solution 2:

Colon is a punctuation mark indicating

• that a writer is introducing a quotation or a list of items.
• that a writer is separating two clauses of which the second expands or illustrates the first.
• a statement of proportion between two numbers: a ratio of 10:1.
• the separation of hours from minutes (and minutes from seconds) in a statement of time given in numbers: 4:30 p.m.
• the number of the chapter and verse respectively in biblical references: Exodus 3:2.

Semicolon is a punctuation mark indicating a pause, typically between two main clauses, that is more pronounced than that indicated by a comma.

In your example, the colon is not what I would use.