L - Lists
Issue date: 5/15/08 Section: Newswriting
From time to time you run across a story that requires your to include a long list of titles or names in the same paragraph.
If all you are doing is including names, there is no problem with punctuation. Simply use commas to separate each name as you would in a simple series. Consider the list of names presented in Workbook Exercise 31
A common identification device, though it is sometimes controversial, is to identify a person by using his or her address. "Oh yeah, it is the Marshall Reeves who lives on the next block. I thought so."
When you use an identification along with the name in a series you usually separate the name and title with a comma. But commas are supposed to add clarity, not cause confusion. See how confusing the following is:
If all you are doing is including names, there is no problem with punctuation. Simply use commas to separate each name as you would in a simple series. Consider the list of names presented in Workbook Exercise 31
The new officers are Dr. Marshall Reeves, Mary Henderson, Stuart MacDonald, Harriet Howe and the Rev. Harrison L. Nightingale.But in news stories you usually want to include some kind of identification with the name, too. Who is Marshall Reeves? Is it the Marshall Reeves I know?
A common identification device, though it is sometimes controversial, is to identify a person by using his or her address. "Oh yeah, it is the Marshall Reeves who lives on the next block. I thought so."
When you use an identification along with the name in a series you usually separate the name and title with a comma. But commas are supposed to add clarity, not cause confusion. See how confusing the following is:
The new officers are Dr. Marshall Reeves, 487 N. Grant Road, Mary Henderson, 462 W. Florida Ave., Stewart MacDonald, 345 N. Sherman, Harriet Howe, 616 E. Wisconsin Blvd; and the Rev. Harrison L. Nightingale, 715 N. Scott Lane.Another reason for running a list of names is to identify who has been elected or selected to a position. This exercise, for instance, asks you to include their new titles. We COULD place the title before the name to keep from confusing things even more. Note all the commas if you continue to put all identification after the name.
The new officers are Dr. Marshall Reeves, 487 N. Grant Road, president, Mary Henderson, 462 W. Florida Ave, vice president, Stuart MacDonald, 345 N. Sherman Circle, secretary, Harriet Howe, 616 E. Wisconsin Blvd., treasurer and the Rev. Harrison L. Nightengale, 715 N. Scott Lane, trustee.The reader MIGHT muddle through that list and understand it. At least we've been consistent in the order in which we present things. But punctuation can be our friend, not our enemy. There is another punctuation mark in the English language we can use to help us delineate sets in this sentence. What we want is for each set to look like this:
Dr. Marshall Reeves, 487 N. Grant, presidentTo separate each set we can use a semi-colon, thusly:
The new officers are Dr. Marshall Reeves, 487 N. Grant Road, president; Mary Henderson, 462 W. Florida Ave., vice president; Stuart MacDonald, 345 N. Sherman Circle, secretary; Harriet Howe, 616 E. Wisconsin Blvd., treasurer; and the Rev. Harrison L. Nightengale, 715 N. Scott Lane, trustee.Okay, that is pretty basic. But no one said the tools we gather for writing have to be difficult. There ARE a couple of things about this paragraph to look out for, though.
