Sometimes it’s easier and clearer to convey important information in the form of a vertical list, sometimes also known as a bullet list. There are several forms, and the form you choose is up to you. Be consistent, though, and follow the general guidelines here.
It is best to introduce a vertical list with a complete grammatical sentence ended with a colon. We’ll discuss an exception later in this article. The list elements need not always be bulleted. Only end list items with punctuation if they form complete sentences. All items in your list should be of similar format, i.e., complete sentences all, or complete sentences none.
We visited several lakes over the summer:
Long Lake
Horsetooth Reservoir
Great Salt Lake
Lake Powell
Lake of the Ozarks
Lake Poinsett
You might choose to avoid a long, skinny list by making your list into two columns.
We included several items on our grocery list:
cream cheese | salad dressing |
soap | bacon |
garbage bags | crackers |
soda | beer |
If you choose to number the items in your list, follow each number with a period and begin each list element in uppercase letters.
We’re thinking of raising backyard chickens for several reasons:
As hinted earlier, you need not use numbers in your list.
The chickens must have the following characteristics:
If list elements run longer than a line, the second and subsequent lines are generally indented. If your list is numbered or bulleted, the runover lines are aligned with the first word following the number or the bullet.
We made a list of the five things we need to do to prepare for our new chicks:
You can also form a vertical list as one long, punctuated sentence.
Following her visit to the local farmers market, Sassafras reported that
The important considerations regarding lists are as follows: