How to punctuate bullet points

Siân Smith
5 days ago
4 min read

When you think about punctuation, do you ever think this applies to bullet points?

It took me a while to love copyediting bullet points. I used to get easily flustered by the varying options for punctuating them, especially when the style guide for punctuating bullet points is down to me (as I work with self-publishing authors). But I’ve now honed my bullet point punctuation, so punctuating bullet points is something I now look forward to!

Now I’m sharing my perfected punctuation with you. In this blog post, I’ll take you through three options for punctuating bullet points, starting with the easiest rule to adopt, followed by two variations on a similar approach.

If you’re self-publishing, or using this guide to ensure consistency across your blog posts or marketing communication, then just remember the golden rule when it comes to spelling and grammar: be consistent.

Also, before we get started, when I refer to a ‘full stop’, I actually mean the final punctuation point, which can be a full stop (.), an exclamation point (!), or a question mark (?), but I’ll say full stop throughout, just for ease.

Why use bullet points?

Bullet points are especially useful in online text and business or personal development non-fiction.

They are most often used for the following reasons:

To highlight important points for your reader to take note of.
To help break down convoluted or complicated facts into bitesize chunks and plainer English.
They are generally easy to read, so easy to remember.

Introducing bullet points

Most bullet points like to be introduced (think of them as the etiquette leaders), and are usually introduced with a grammatically complete sentence followed by a colon (:).

Bullet points like to be introduced for the following reasons:

They’re extremely polite.
They went to the finest grammar schools.
They love getting to know your points.

Now you know why and when to use bullet points, and how to introduce them, let’s look at our three options for punctuating them.

Option 1: All bullet points end with a full stop

The easiest way to punctuate all bullet points

You can decided that all bullet points will start with capital letters, and all will end in full stops, like the bulleted list above. This can even apply to one-word lists. It’s not the most common or conventional approach, but it will prevent a whole lot of head scratching over deciding between capital letters and full stops.

Example of option 1

Consider the following symptoms of editing:

Querying.
Snacking.
Sitting.
Reading.
Stretching.
Dictionarying.

Option 2: End complete sentences with a full stop. Incomplete sentences do not use full stops.

Bullet points using complete sentences should all start with a capital letter and end with a full stop, exclamation point, or question mark (just as you would in run-on text).

Example of option 2, complete sentences

Editors tend to have the following in common:

They are comfortable having nothing but their computer (and maybe a pet or two) for company.
They love to read.
They can’t get enough of learning about words, language, and grammar.
They actually want book vouchers for Christmas.
They love helping writers improve their book.
They are good with tech.

Bullet points that use incomplete sentences, or single words (like the above) should use lowercase throughout (unless for proper nouns or titles, like the names of countries or trademarks) and do not need any full stops at all. Hurrah!

You still introduce these lists with a colon, but think of them as part of one sentence that has been broken down into points.

Example of option 2, incomplete sentences

Before becoming an editor, you should consider if you are:

happy having nothing but your computer (maybe a pet or two) for company
a bookworm
keen to learn everything about words, language, and grammar
hoping for book vouchers for Christmas
always looking for ways for people to improve their writing

These lists are common for providing a set of directions or specifications, like the below.

Necessary equipment for becoming an editor includes:

a laptop
many books
an online dictionary
an array of snacks
a comfortable chair

Option 3: End complete sentences with a full stop. Incomplete sentences only use a full stop on the final bullet point.

As in option 2, full sentences still start with a capital letter and end with a full stop. But in option 3, bullet points that use incomplete sentences (or one word) use lowercase throughout (except, as always, for proper nouns), but the final point uses a full stop. This is my personal preference as I like how it indicates the end of the list.

Example of option w, incomplete sentences

Before becoming an editor, you should consider if you are:

happy having nothing but your computer (maybe a pet or two) for company
a bookworm
keen to learn everything about words, language, and grammar
hoping for book vouchers for Christmas
always looking for ways for people to improve their writing
good with tech.

Tip for incomplete sentences: if you can pop a comma between each point, that’s an incomplete sentence.

As ever, when it comes to punctuation, grammar, and spelling, what matters most is being consistent. So make a note of which of the following three options you prefer, and stick to it.

Option 1: All bullet points end with a full stop

Option 2: End complete sentences with a full stop. Incomplete sentences do not use full stops.

Option 3: End complete sentences with a full stop. Incomplete sentences only use a full stop on the final bullet point.