Vocabulary For Dummies
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How did we live without presentation slides and bulleted lists? They're everywhere, but their grammar may be confusing. Follow this guide to keep your bulleted lists looking good:

  • If the introduction ends in a form of the verb to be, don't place a colon at the end of the introduction.

  • If the introduction is a complete thought or if it concludes with the following, a colon should appear at the end of the introduction.

  • Items in a list should have the same grammatical structure — all nouns, all sentences, all adjectives, and so forth. Don't mix and match.

  • If the items in a list are complete sentences, each item needs an endmark.

  • If the items in a list aren't complete sentences, no endmarks appear.

  • Always capitalize proper names. Also capitalize the first word of a bullet if the item is a complete sentence.

  • If the items in a list aren't complete sentences, you may capitalize them or use lowercase (your choice!) unless they combine with the introduction to create a complete sentence. In that situation, don't capitalize the first word in the bullet item.

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