Two weeks ago we talked about writing lists: how to make the items in the list parallel and how to punctuate a horizontal list. Today we 
will talk about punctuating vertical lists.
Let’s start with the introduction to the list. Sometimes the introduction is a sentence; other times it isn’t. Here are a few possible intros for the same list:
- Here are the ingredients for the chocolate cake:
- The following ingredients are needed for make the chocolate cake:
- The ingredients for the chocolate cake are as follows:
- The ingredients for the chocolate cake are
- The ingredients for the chocolate cake:
- The following are needed for the chocolate cake:
Those introductions are all fine. Well, almost all. In #6, we used to say not to use the word following without it describing something as in #2. Following here is an adjective, so it really needs a noun. And #1 is okay, but it is never best to begin a sentence with there is or here is, although it is not grammatically incorrect to do so.
The punctuation for those introductions is also correct. Since the word following isn’t used in #1, you could technically use a period instead of a colon, but why would you? A colon tells you to expect a list. Notice that there is no colon in #4, which resembles the horizontal list in the first post in this series (The ingredients for the chocolate care are flour sugar, eggs, milk, and cocoa.). Could you put a colon in #4? Since it stands by itself, it would be okay to use a colon, but you certainly don’t need to. The rule, when we talked about the horizontal lists, was not to use the colon after a verb. Now look at #5. This intro is not a complete sentence like all the others (except #4). However, it doesn’t end in a verb either. It definitely needs a colon, but it sounds kind of wonky to me anyway.
Moving on . . . how do you punctuate the items in the list?
If the items are each complete sentences, they need a period. Or, if they happen to be questions (it could happen), they need question marks. Single-word list items and phrases should not get periods after them.
The following ingredients are needed for the chocolate cake:
- flour
- sugar
- eggs
- milk
- baking powder
Perform the following steps to change the batteries:
- Open the battery door with a screwdriver.
- Remove the used batteries.
- Insert two new AA batteries following the guidelines for plus and minus ends.
- Close the battery door with the screwdriver.
Should you use bullets or numbers? If you are listing steps and the order is important, use numbers. Also, if you are saying how many items you are presenting, you might also want to use numbers (Here are the five ingredients you need for the pie:) Otherwise, you can just use bullets. But you don’t even need bullets. Usually items are indented for ease of reading and to show off the items as being in a list.
If you want, you can do a vertical list much as you do a horizontal list:
The ingredients for the cake are
flour,
sugar,
eggs,
milk,
baking powder, and
cocoa.
That list is perfectly fine. It would probably also be fine with no punctuation at all, but I think it would look a little bare.
Grammar Diva News
I did it! I wrote a 50K-word book in 24 days, winning NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) with six days to spare. I printed out my certificate and already have my winner’s tee shirt (which you do have to pay for). Now the hard work begins: making the book into something decent and readable. It is a very rough draft.
However, I plan to make it a good read, and I have put it up for preorder with a tentative release date of May 1, 2019 (maybe sooner??) It is not yet available as a Kindle preorder because they accept preorders only 90 days in advance. However, it is available so far on Nook, Kobo, and iBooks.
Books Make Great Holiday Gifts and Stocking Stuffers!
If you would like to order a personally signed copy of any of my books, please e-mail me at info@bigwords101.com. Free shipping!
Okay, I referred back to this post this morning while working on an editing project. Here’s something that always trips me up: punctuation at the end of each list item when when it completes the sentence, or not. For example:
Some ways to prevent exhaustion include
– getting enough sleep
– drinking a lot of water
Should each list item have a period after it? I usually don’t include it because it looks weird, but technically it seems it should be there. I’ve also seen the entire list punctuated with commas between items and a period after the last one. That’s super odd looking!
Audrey – Great question. I think you could go either way in your example. I would leave out the periods. I think I put in an example where the items complete the sentence, but where they each have a comma after them, and and “and” before the last one. However, in your example, I agree it looks better without the periods. Are there more than two items in that list? With just two, I think I would just make it a sentence and not a list. I assume there are more items.
This week’s post, which I will be writing today, is related to this issue!
Love the blog. But quick question.
Above you have written:
– Today we will talk about punctuating vertical lists.
No comma after the word ‘today’. But in other blogs of yours I’ve seen ‘today’, when at start of the sentence, have a comma. What’s correct?
Keep up the good work.
You raise a good point. I don’t think there really is a “correct” way in this case. Comma usage has many shades of grey. You will be interested in this coming weekend’s blog post! I will, however, continue to research your question.
OK – here is one opinion: http://victoryediting.com/introductory-words-such-as-now-today-etc/