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Subject:Re: Line spacing in bulleted lists From:mpriestley -at- VNET -dot- IBM -dot- COM Date:Tue, 6 Dec 1994 13:46:19 EST
Jay Mead writes:
>--A period at the end if the item is itself a sentence
>--No period if the item is not a sentence (even if it completes
>a sentence implied by the lead-in)
>--A period for each item if any one of the other items is a sentence
>(or contains a sentence) and thus requires a period
>--A period at the end of the final item in EVERY case.
>Have I got it right? Was that the rule? And what is the rule now?
>Always periods? Sometimes? Never? And does anyone else use the unusual
>fourth rule (period always at the end of the last item)? I'm trying
>to figure this out for a style guide I'm compiling. Opinions appreciated!
I think these are all still correct, except for the last one. You no longer
need to put a period at the end of the final item, if none of the other
items have periods. The guidelines here do say you can include the period,
though, if you need to be consistent with other lists in the book/library,
and you aren't doing a substantial edit that would allow you to update them
all.
I always thought that fourth rule was pretty weird, myself.
Michael Priestley
mpriestley -at- vnet -dot- ibm -dot- com
Disclaimer: speaking on my own behalf, not IBM's.