Is this sentence grammatical?

?Decades of research have shown:  that dog won?t hunt.?

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Request for Question Clarification by denco-ga on 28 Aug 2006 14:46 PDT

Howdy jeffwi-ga,

Please look at the following page on "Punctuating Quotations."
http://leo.stcloudstate.edu/research/puncquotes.html

From the above, I would argue that your sentence should read:

Decades of research have shown "that dog won?t hunt."

My wife, a former teacher of English, concurs with this.

Would the above do as the answer to your question?  Thanks!

Looking Forward, denco-ga - Google Answers Researcher

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Clarification of Question by jeffwi-ga on 29 Aug 2006 07:14 PDT

"That dog won't hunt" is a colloquialism for ?it won?t work?.  It is
not a quotation.

I'm interested in knowing whether this is a grammatical use of a
colon.  The original sentence was "Decades of research have shown that
that dog won't hunt".

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Request for Question Clarification by denco-ga on 29 Aug 2006 15:06 PDT

Howdy jeffwi-ga,

The use of the colon is not correct.

It is because "that dog won?t hunt" is a colloquialism that it is
placed in quotation marks.  The sentence in question is quoting a
colloquialism, so it becomes a quotation in that sense.

In my consideration, the proper way to make "Decades of research
have shown that that dog won't hunt," into a less clumsy sentence
would be to use:

Decades of research have shown "that dog won?t hunt."

If you just can't find your way to do that, you still shouldn't
use a colon.

Looking Forward, denco-ga - Google Answers Researcher

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Clarification of Question by jeffwi-ga on 30 Aug 2006 06:18 PDT

Denco-ga, post an answer so I can pay you for your efforts.  I think
the real answer though, is below.  Thanks all for your help.
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The colon one is incorrect.  You can only use a colon under a very
specific set of rules. If you added the word "this" before the colon,
it would be okay.

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Request for Question Clarification by denco-ga on 31 Aug 2006 15:27 PDT

Howdy jeffwi-ga,

If your question was actually answered by a comment of a Google Answers
Researcher (GAR) comments, sublime1-ga for instance, then that person
should answer the question for you, and collect the fee.

Please feel free to indicate that in response to this or as a comment.

Looking Forward, denco-ga - Google Answers Researcher

NO.

It could be:  Decades of research have shown that a dog won't hunt.

OR            Decades of research have shown that dogs won't hunt.

OR            Decades of research have shown:  dogs [or a dog] won't hunt.


If someone complains about using the contraction "won't", use instead  "will not".

And if someone complains that the period should precede the quotation mark, 
that was settled in another question some time ago.  UK usage allows it.

"That dog won't hunt" is a colloquialism for ?it won?t work?.  

Sorry if the context wasn't clear.  The sentence is referring to
something that has been shown to be not effective after decades of
research.

Then, you need to make clear that 'that dog won't hunt' is a metaphor.

I would suggest:

Decades of research have shown, as the saying goes, 'that dog won?t hunt'.

Bryan

The context is clear if the sentence is read in place.  

My question is really around whether this is an acceptable use of a colon.

Fair enough, I didn't know the expression, AND most of the grammar
questions here are at the level of my first comment.

I would use a colon and quotation marks  (also recommended for
Probono's suggestion, but he is from the UK, where maybe a comma would
do).
Then I would include the period before the Q-Mark.

I am sure that some else will straighten us out.

Regards, Myoarin

The grammar is fine.  The punctuation is questionable, but I wouldn't
say it is definitely wrong.

A general guideline for the use of colons is that the colon, when
used correctly, can be replaced by "as follows", as in a sentence
in which there are multiple objects.

For example...

There are three things which make a man successful: yadda, yadda, 
and more yadda.

Replacing the colon with "as follows" in the sentence you provided
would make for an awkward sentence. The colon is unneccessary.