Bulleted Lists

The following example has several problems.

The following steps will be taken to address the homelessness problem:

• Implement the proposed three-tiered strategy to end homelessness.
• Provide all homeless people with health care.
• Reporting instances of homeless abuse to the police.
• Alcoholism and drug addiction.

When working with bulleted lists, the basic idea is that all of the items should be structured similarly. In this case: a) the first bullet is a broader idea than the others, b) the verb tense is different in the third bullet than it was in the first two bullets, c) there is no verb in the fourth bullet, d) the third and fourth bullets are not sentences, but are punctuated as if they are, and e) the last bullet is much less specific than the others.

Correction:

The City will implement a three-tiered strategy to address homelessness, with particular emphasis placed on:

• Providing all homeless people with health care,
• Taking steps to ensure that instances of homeless abuse are reported to the police, and
• Addressing alcoholism and drug addiction in the homeless population.

Filed under: Bulleted Lists, Lisa's Pet Peeves, Parallelism, Sentence Structure