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For instance + "colon".
Take Bartlett pears, for instance: unless they are treated with exactly the right amount of 1-MCP at exactly the right time, they will remain hard and green until they rot, and consumers who experience this will be unlikely to purchase them again.
I remember being told that we typically don't use a colon after for example or for instance, instead we use a comma. I am more familiar with "Take Bartlett pears, for instance, unless they are... Why is using a colon correct?
You use a colon to introduce a series of items, or expand on your point, and it actually effectively means "for instance" or "for example" already in this style of usage, so saying "for instance:" is actually redundant. Similarly you've already said that "Bartlett pears" are an example of something with your usage of the word "take", so it's arguable doubly redundant to say "Take X, for instance:".
You would more properly write
"Take Bartlett pears: unless they are treated ..."
Read more about colon usage here: it's something that a lot of people get wrong.
In this case "for instance" is about "Take Bartlett pears" not about the rest of the sentence beginning with "unless......". Put the "for instance" at the beginning of the sentence and it will be clear to you. Like that: "For instance,take Barlett pears:unless they are treated....".So, if you going to change the place of "for instance", it doesn't mean that you have to remove colon.The reason why I haven't mentioned redundancy of "for instance" is that, the question asked by author is the SAT question and there is not any option without "for instance".
