Joining two bullet points

Slouch

If you want two bullet points to run into each other, what are the guidelines available?

For example:

• I don't know what formatting to use, which...
• Has me all confused

You get the idea. I'd like to know if any of the manuals of style have their own views on this. Is it even an acceptable practice outside of informal presentations?

pickarooney

That example seems like a paradox. I don't see the logic in bullet points which are actually part of the same sentence.

Slouch

Yes, it was a terrible example, but I don't want to give the list I came across as an example (since it can easily be googled). I'll give a closer example to the original though.

They talk at length about:

• academic papers
• finances
• property rights
• acceptance of unqualified contributors, in contrast to
• applying excessively high standards to actual experts

MathsManiac

There are different styles in different guides, I think, but here's what I use. I'm afraid I can't remember which style guide it's from.

• If the bullets are all fragments, (rather than full sentences or longer,) then each starts with a lower-case letter and there is no punctuation at the end of each, other than the last one, which takes a full stop.
  
• If the bullets are full sentences, or contain two or more sentences, then each starts with an upper-case letter and ends with a full stop.

The above bullets illustrate the second case. The first case is illustrated by your own example, except that I would have put a full stop at the end of the last bullet.

By the way, I'm not crazy about the way the last two bullets link up in your last example. I would not have a break between bullets in a place that wouldn't at least get a comma if the text were in continuous prose.

Slouch

I'm not a huge fan of the practice myself to be perfectly honest. However, I do want to know if it is ever justifiable (if you absolutely have to do it for some reason) according to any manual of style. I've seen it done with semicolons before. If someone insists on doing it, my personal preference would be to use a dash like below.

They talk at length about:

• academic papers
• finances
• property rights
• acceptance of unqualified contributors, in contrast to-
• applying excessively high standards to actual experts

However, that's just a personal preference and not really based on any actual guidelines. It's really just a practice I tolerate in Powerpoint presentations. If I was a tutor and someone handed me an actual paper with two joint bullet points, I would probably mark them down for it. I'd just like to know if I would be wrong to do so.

looksee

Who is the expert who is going to make pronouncements on bullet points? If it reads acceptably then surely your opinion is as good as anyone's. Personally I prefer your first example, the dash just looks odd, whereas the first version reads logically.

By the way, while we are being precise, its 'if I were' not 'if I was'

Slouch

I knew I'd make a mistake on this forum somewhere. At least it was a relatively minor one. Anyway, let's get back to the topic.

Suppose this time around, most of the bullet points are independent rather than fragments. The original list was a combination of both really (Introducing the list with an incomplete sentence, but capitalising the points). Nevertheless, the two last ones are joint together. I'll give what each example I mentioned would look like. It's normally in these lists I come across the semicolon.


They talk at length about the following:

• Academic papers
• Finances
• Property rights
• Acceptance of unqualified contributors, in contrast to
• Applying excessively high standards to genuine experts

They talk at length about the following:

• Academic papers
• Finances
• Property rights
• Acceptance of unqualified contributors, in contrast to-
• Applying excessively high standards to genuine experts

They talk at length about the following:

• Academic papers
• Finances
• Property rights
• Acceptance of unqualified contributors, in contrast to;
• Applying excessively high standards to genuine experts

I really dislike it when bullet points are joined in such a list (regardless of which method they use). They're supposed to be independent points and that's this formatting is chosen. I do, however, (sort of) understand the justification of the semicolon. The writer seems to treat them as they are interdependent but separate statements. My problem here is that I normally expect a semicolon to introduce a subordinate list of bullet points like the example below.

They talk at length about the following:

• Academic papers
• Finances
• Property rights
• Acceptance of unqualified contributors, in contrast to;
  
  2. Applying excessively high standards to genuine experts
  4. Something else relevant to the above point

Some manual of style should really address this problem directly, even if just to expressly forbid the practice of joining two bullet points. That's probably what I'd do if I wrote my own manual of style. Does anyone here have a different opinion?

Earthhorse

Which piece of information is more important to you to convey: that the acceptance of unqualified contributors will be compared in contrast to applying excessively high standards to genuine experts or that there are separate sections on both the acceptance of unquailifed contributors and applying excessively high standards to genuine experts?

If it's the former I suggest putting the last two bullet points in one. If it's the latter then I would remove the words "in contrast to" from the second last bullet point; the reader will see the two contrasted when he reaches the main body.

Slouch

Earthhorse wrote: »

I would remove the words "in contrast to" from the second last bullet point;.

That's what I'd do if they were my bullet points. The real question I'm asking though is this: Is it ever acceptable to join two bullet points,which would technically form a single sentence (similar to how one might start a list with an incomplete sentence followed by a semicolon)?

Earthhorse

As you were saying in your above post this is the kind of thing that would be covered by a style guide (but probably isn't). As such, it would be acceptable in my opinion as it's a stylistic choice, not a matter of grammar.

looksee

I know I am going a little bit off topic, but I am interested in the fact that you seem to feel obliged to have a style guide to tell you what to do. Sometimes there is no 'official ruling'. Styles come and go - how many people still go with the 'two spaces after a full stop' rule that was taught when I learned to type?

Microsoft would have us follow their style rules with busy-body programs like Word, which is why I prefer to use a page layout program when I can, so that I can adjust things to my preference. In fact I am surprised that you don't get those wiggly green lines if it is 'wrong' to put a comma then a phrase in a bullet point!

Bullet points are a relatively recent invention and no-one has, apparently, got around to making up totally comprehensive rules for them. So go with your preference, maybe it might even be eventually accepted as 'the done thing' .

Slouch

looksee wrote: »

I am surprised that you don't get those wiggly green lines if it is 'wrong' to put a comma then a phrase in a bullet point!

Not sure what you mean by that. Could you give an example?

This thread started because I'm surprised I couldn't find anything about it in the Chicago Manual of Style or Associated Press Guide, which I believe are the foremost authorities on bullet points. It's not an uncommon practice where presentations are concerned. It just seems like someone should have something to say about it.

looksee

I am talking about the underlining that Word puts in for misspellings and grammatical errors. I have just tried it and it doesn't seem to be interested in bullet points - though it insists bullet point phrases should start with a capital letter regardless of the end of the previous point.

Slouch

looksee wrote: »

I am talking about the underlining that Word puts in for misspellings and grammatical errors. I have just tried it and it doesn't seem to be interested in bullet points - though it insists bullet point phrases should start with a capital letter regardless of the end of the previous point.

Ah, I see. Grammar girl agrees that it's always safe to capitalize your bullet points too: http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/formatting-vertical-lists.aspx

I was just following the guidelines given above.