Narrative Rules For Constructing Bulleted Comments

When — and When Not — to Insert Punctuation at the End of a Bullet Point

Even commonly ignored details can make a difference when you're writing to impress — and succeed

Loupe view of the word grammar written in all caps — Image by PDPics from Pixabay

Regardless of the type of writing you do, refreshing your grammatical skills on a regular basis can contribute to your ability to impress your readers. Learning the ins and outs of grammar can truly help you write — and revise — with more confidence and strengthen any writing you do, making it more clear, consistent, and compelling.

Many readers and writers assume all bullet p oints should end with a punctuation mark (usually a period, comma, or semicolon), but I argue that's not always the case. Let me first say that if you write for an entity that insists you use commas or semicolons at the end of each bullet point in a series until the last, which ends in a period, I feel for you. While this practice is common in legal documents, it's unnecessary and looks old-fashioned and clunky. If you are not under the constraints of outdated style limitations when it comes to formatting bullet points, I suggest following two easy-to-remember rules. Keep in mind that both can be applied in a single document.

Rule 1

Use a period at the end of a bullet point when the bullet point:

Completes a sentence based on its stem.
Is a complete sentence on its own.

The "stem" is made up of the words that end with a colon in the introduction to the bullet points. In the above statement, "Use a period at the end of a bullet point when the bullet point:" is the stem. Since each bullet point in the series that follows the stem completes the sentence begun by the stem, each ends with a period.

Rule 2

Do not use a period at the end of a bullet point when the bullet point:

Does not complete a sentence based on its stem.
Is not a complete sentence on its own.

Usually this applies when a series of bullet points includes a list that's not introduced by a term like "including" or "such as." Below is an example from the exciting world of commercial banking. Since each bullet point in this series does not complete a sentence based on the stem and is not a sentence, there is no need to add a period at the end of each bullet point.

Your new account features:

No minimum balance
No fees
ATM access

Of course, if you work with creative types who like to use exclamation points, it would be fine to end each of the above bullet points with an exclamation point. But it's unnecessary and, I believe, would look silly. I always defer to the person managing the job at hand, though. They're the one who knows what the client wants. At the same time, I always recommend what I think is the best option, with the goal of making the writing at hand clear, consistent, and compelling.

But what if some bullet points in a series are full sentences or complete the sentence begun by the stem while others aren't full sentences and don't complete the sentence begun by the stem? This is when you spend a few minutes revising those mismatched bullet points into a series of bullet points that work well together because they are constructed in a similar way. Check first to make sure they all start with the same type of word, like a verb or a noun. Then revise until each of them needs — or doesn't need — to end with a punctuation mark. Then go to the next series of bullet points in your document and do the same thing.