Bullet points are good. But bullet points with correct grammar are better

Bullet points are a useful formatting tool

Bullet points are an incredibly useful formatting tool. They help group similar information together, so the reader can see at a glance where the most relevant content is in a document. 

Bullet points work to draw the eye the same way that other changes in formatting do: By being different from other stuff on the page. See, we imagine that we read left to right and top to bottom. And generally we do.

But we don’t read every word. (I mean, unless it’s a really great novel)

Basically, our eyes take in a page as a pattern of lines. The margin of the page helps to establish a field–white space–that is broken by the lines of text. There’s a whole science of page design. Seriously, that’s a thing I learned as a publishing intern. The way to make text both easy  *and* interesting to read. 

Brains are interested in patterns, but our attention is drawn to places where the pattern changes. You know those “tests” on social media like can you find the A in all the Zs? or can you find the panda in the sea of yinyangs? Sure, those can be challenging because they are small and the shapes are hard to distinguish, but most people can do it. Our eyes go to places where the pattern is different from everything else.

That’s how formatting works to direct the reader’s attention: by disrupting the pattern. You can do that with our old standards of bold, italics, and underline. Though bold works best for making people look.

And bullet points are a disruption in the flow of text on the page. A way to signal to the reader “Look over here! There’s something interesting!”

Of course, bullets work best as a disruption in a pattern. If there’s a whole page of bullets, or multiple sets of bullets, then bullets become the pattern, and the regular text is the disruption. You know?

Ok, so here’s a summary of what we’ve gone over so far:

• Bullet points are useful

• They group similar information together

• They signal to the reader to look

• And they are easy for the reader to see because they disrupt the pattern of text on the page

Theme: Business writing is pro bullet points.

Bullet points should also be grammatically correct for easy of reading and understanding

But using bullet points correctly can be challenging. 

That’s because bullets are essentially a list. 

And items in a list all have to take the same grammatical form. 

So, if the list is nouns, all the bullets have to be nouns.

• Chair

• Table

• Computer

If the list is sentences, all the bullets have to be complete sentences. 

• I have a college degree

• I am currently employed

• I own my home
  
  
  

Usually the bulleted list is part of a longer sentence, and the items in the bullets all have to fit in the sentence in the same way:

Incorrect: 

When you arrive for training, please bring with you

• Pen

• A notebook

• Fully charge your computer

The simple way to check the list is to see if each item in the bullets fits in the sentence in the same way:

Please bring pen.

Please bring a notebook.

Please bring fully charge your computer. 

Only the middle sentence is grammatically correct.

Now, using the complete sentence, we can see that the first item should be “a pen” and the third item should be something like “a computer.”

Here’s the correct version:

When you arrive for training, please bring with you

• A pen

• A notebook

• Your laptop

So, if this example makes sense then which of these two lists below is correct?

• Her

• His

• Them

OR

• It’s

• You’re

• They’re
  
  

If you guessed the second list, you’re right!

Why does the grammar of bullets matter?

Because the goal of bullets is to make it easier for the reader to access important information. 

Grammar errors often cause the brain to stumble and change focus. We start to think about the weirdness in the words or language instead of thinking about the content. 

We also might get confused about the content. As we know, grammar errors can affect clarity, sometimes even changing the meaning of what we have written.

I’m not saying that grammar has to be perfect. But I am saying that correct grammar (or at least logical grammar) makes your writing easier for the reader to read and understand.

When bullet points use the same grammatical structure, they are easier for the reader to read and retain.

And that means that it is more likely the reader will do what you want them to do.

Which makes your work life better!

Now that you’ve learned this (or been reminded of it), take a look at some of the bullet points around you. You might be surprised how many you see violate this grammar rule, which can make people feel uncomfortable or stop reading–not usually the reactions we want to our writing.

Advanced bullet points for elite users

Some of you may be smart enough to have noticed that sometimes bullet points use punctuation and sometimes they don’t. You may even have noticed that my examples above do not use punctuation. And now you are wondering, “Why, Jenny, haven’t you used punctuation with any of your bullets?” And you may also be thinking about the times when you’ve seen bullets end with commas or even semicolons and maybe even periods–or just one lone period at the end of a list. 

Ok, good for you for noticing!

The rule for punctuation in bullet points–like the rule about their grammar–is that they have to match. So, if you use punctuation, you have to use it on all of the bullets. If you don’t, then you can’t use it on any bullets. 

Great! That answers the first part. My examples don’t use any punctuation because it’s easier not to use it than to use it.

But you’ve probably seen bulleted lists that *do* use punctuation. And you might be one of those people who wants to know how to do it correctly.

Remember, bullet points are essentially creating a vertical list. They have a root sentence–usually whatever is right before the bulleted list–and then each item in the bullets has to work with that root sentence in the same way. 

If the bullets contain complete sentences, then each bullet could end with a period, like this:

• I have a college degree.

• I am currently employed.

• I own my home.

But if they are not complete sentences on their own, then sometimes, you’ll see commas at the end of each bullet with a period at the end of the last bullet, like this:

Applicants for this program must have the following:

• A college degree,

• Current employment,

• Ownership of their home.

The reason the bullets are punctuated like this is to imitate the punctuation if they were written horizontally in one sentence:

Applicants for this program must have a college degree, current employment, and ownership of their home.

Which is why you will also sometimes see the word “and” at the end of the second to last bullet:

Applicants for this program must have the following:

• A college degree,

• Current employment, and

• Ownership of their home.

Now, most of you are thinking, “Great! I get it! The punctuation in the bullets imitates the punctuation as it would appear in a regular sentence.” And that’s awesome!

But a small group of you are frowning and wondering where the semicolons come in.

Ok, here’s how that works. And you’re probably only going to see this in complex legal documents. 

Semicolons are used to separate items in a list if one of the items uses commas. Let’s say that in our application example a person can have a college degree OR an associate’s degree with another license or certification OR the equivalent work experience.

Now, bullet one will be a list:

A college degree, an associate’s degree with another license or certification, or the equivalent work experience

And since that list uses commas, then the overall list of three requirements has to use semicolons between the list elements:

Applicants for this program must have a college degree, an associate’s degree with another license or certification, or the equivalent work experience; current employment; and ownership of their home.

So, when we bullet out the requirements, we’re going to use semicolons at the end of the first two bullets instead of commas:

Applicants for this program must have the following:

• A college degree, an associate’s degree with another license or certification, or the equivalent work experience; 

• Current employment; and

• Ownership of their home.

Hopefully, that helps all you advanced bullet point users understand the possibilities for sophisticated punctuation of bullets! And feel free to use no punctuation at all, if you aren’t writing a legal document.