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There's probably more than one feasible answer to this. We close the
stem introducing the list with a colon and then put appropriate terminal
punctuation that depends upon whether the list is, say, a series of
items or a series of independent clauses. For instances:
In November our sales will feature:
* pumpkins,
* cranberries,
* turkey, and
* eggnog.
The Whoville Village Board adopted a series of resolutions Monday that:
* raised the mill rate 20 cents for the general-fund tax levy.
* committed the village to seeking a referendum to exceed revenue caps.
* implemented a stormwater utility and created a user-fee system -- a
measure to further ease the general-fund levy impact.
Some might maintain that the commas are not really necessary in a list
so small as the first. Others might argue for semi-colons after the
first two clauses in the second series, perhaps followed by an "and"
after the second bullet and then the period at the end of the third
bullet.
Some style guides or house styles may speak to this directly. Otherwise,
the two watchwords to seek in whatever approach you settle upon are
clarity and consistency.
-----Original Message-----
From: techwr-l-bounces+jim -dot- pinkham=voith -dot- com -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
[mailto:techwr-l-bounces+jim -dot- pinkham=voith -dot- com -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com] On
Behalf Of Rob Hudson
Sent: Tuesday, October 13, 2009 12:47 PM
To: techwr-l List
Subject: Punctuation lists- an exhaustive scenarios list
Hello Everyone,
I'm teachig my students how to punctuate bulleted and numbered lists,
and I'm looking for a style guide (or your recommendations) on how to
handle the following scenarios:
* how to punctuate items in a list when the items are complete sentences
* how to punctuate items in a list when the items are not complete
sentences
* how to punctuate items in a list that contains internal punctuation
* how to punctuate items in a list that is introduced by a clause, where
each list item completes the sentence
* how to punctuate items in a list that is introduced by a clause, where
all list items complete the sentence (they are in a series)
* how to punctuate items in a list that is introduced by a sentence,
where each list item is a complete sentence
* how to punctuate items in a list that is introduced by a sentence,
where each list item is not a complete sentence
I've consulted the Chicago Manual of Style, but it wasn't exhaustively
prescriptive.
I'd love to see what standards you all follow; I'm going to put together
a consistent guide for my students.
Rob
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Free Software Documentation Project Web Cast: Covers developing Table of
Contents, Context IDs, and Index, as well as Doc-To-Help
2009 tips, tricks, and best practices. http://www.doctohelp.com/SuperPages/Webcasts/
Help & Manual 5: The complete help authoring tool for individual
authors and teams. Professional power, intuitive interface. Write
once, publish to 8 formats. Multi-user authoring and version control! http://www.helpandmanual.com/
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