Playground Rhyme Grammar Error: Correcting the Use of Colon

The sentence 'If, therefore, a playground rhyme can be shown to have been current for a hundred years, or even just for fifty, it follows that it has been retransmitted over and over:' contains a grammatical error due to the incorrect use of a colon. Colons are typically used to introduce a list or an explanation, not after a declarative sentence.

The correct way to write the sentence is:

'If, therefore, a playground rhyme can be shown to have been current for a hundred years, or even just for fifty, it follows that it has been retransmitted over and over.'

By removing the colon, the sentence flows naturally and avoids the grammatical error.