Dots in lists with mixed-width items
It is common to omit end-dots in lists with very short items:
Shop list:
* Milk
* Bread
* Probably eggs
It is common to use end-dots in lists with long descriptive items:
Things which should be researched for my research:
* Blah blah blah blah blah. Blah blah blah blah blah.
* Blah blah blah blah blah. Blah blah blah blah blah. Blah blah blah.
* Blah blah blah blah blah. Blah blah blah.
But what about 50/50 case?
Some list:
* Blah blah.
* Blah blah blah blah blah. Blah blah blah blah blah. Blah blah blah.
* Blah blah blah blah blah. Blah blah blah blah blah. Blah blah blah.
* Blah blah.
* Blah blah.
* Blah blah.
Some another example for 50/50 case:
Shop list:
* Buy milk and bread.
* Buy eggs. Hmm... Or maybe meat instead. What is better? I need to think about it some more.
* Buy wine.
* Buy cheese. Nota bene: it should have large holes in it. Never buy a cheese with small holes. Never.
* Buy tomatoes.
* Buy bottled water.
Should we use dots here? Should we avoid it? Or should we use them for items 2 and 3 only? What is the common/best practice?
This post was sourced from https://writers.stackexchange.com/q/41312. It is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.
1 answer
If the elements are independent sentences, as in your example, then you should use full stops. An example:
In the present article we prove that:
* our model is correct.
* The model by other authors is not correct. Such model also shows some other issues, discussed below.
* Collecting data is a difficult and laborious task.
In some situations such as having slightly related sentences, you may use semicolons. An example:
In the present article we prove that:
* our model is correct;
* the model outperforms other models;
* small variations to the model do not affect performance.
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