Monday, October 27th, 2008
MM: Important Bulletin!
Bullet lists are all the rage these days, so let’s give a very quick overview about correct usage, shall we?
- Each bullet should begin a new idea, or a new item
- Unless every bullet is a complete sentence, you do not need periods at the end of each item
- If at all possible, the bullets should be “parallel.”
- That is, the grammatical structure should match:
- Orange ball (Adjective noun)
- Yellow sun (Adjective noun)
- Blue sky (Adjective noun)
- Not random, unparallel construction:
- Clear sky (Adjective noun)
- Happily running (Adverb verb)
- He laughs (Noun verb)
What obvious things did I miss? Thoughts? Questions? (I’m kind of tired, so really, anything is possible.)
Like what you see? Spread the word!
I recently blogged about avoiding tautology when introducing bulleted lists (see http://www.daccreative.co.uk/goodcopybadcopy/?p=37).
But as you’ll see from the comments, the post set off a rather abstruse discussion about the use of the colon. Perhaps you can tell us your thoughts!
I love bullet lists not just because they are Google-icious, but also because they help keep ideas organized and accessible. Numbered lists are good too, but usually used in a very different way
Melissa Donovan’s last blog post..Rhetoric 101
And, isn’t it interesting, about the numbered list and bullet list thing? They’re so similar, really, and often could be used interchangeably, and yet … they’re different!
Hi Deb
I recently blogged on the topic of “How to avoid inflation when introducing a bulleted list” as part of my “Tautology Tuesday” series.
Tautology aside, the post elicited commentary about the use of the colon when introducing a list, specifically Strunk & White’s rule that a colon “should not separate a verb from its complement or a preposition from its object”.
I think this is a rule that US writers get more worked up about than we do in the UK, but I’d be grateful for your thoughts on the matter!
Clare
As I understand it, you should never put a colon directly after a verb. (“The list follows:”) Primarily, that is because a colon’s main function is to introduce, so putting it after the verb is redundant, since the verb is already introducing the list.
http://punctualityrules.com/2008/06/02/mm-colon-punctuation/
So to adhere strictly to the “no colon after a verb” rule, shouldn’t you remove the first colon, following “match” in your above post? Personally, I’m not offended by it, but I get the impression a lot of Strunk & White devotees would be!