Notice the following two lists are both properly constructed, although
they’re different from one another. Both lists explain the updates currently
being installed on a company’s website.
Option One
Once the update is completed, visitors to our website will be able to:
• search for past articles from the newsletters
• contact any employee by E-mail
• consult frequently asked questions
• link to other sites
Option Two
Once the update is completed, visitors to our website will be able to
access information in new ways:
• Customers will be able to search through the archive of past
newsletter issues to find articles of specific or immediate interest.
• Prospects will be able to directly contact any employee by name,
department, or activity.
• Users of our products will be able to consult frequently asked
questions twenty-four hours a day.
• Interested surfers can link directly to other sites.
Note that in option one, each bullet point started with a verb, whereas
option two used complete sentences. They’re both effective. Pick one,
or create your own style, then be consistent.
Duane, executive director of a museum, needed to write a list of
goals to present to the board of directors. He wrote:
• to attract more volunteers
• ask for an increase in member dues
• considering adding exhibitions
• to increase the number of grants we receive
• interview new artists and publishing the interviews in the newsletter
Duane said, “As soon as I read through the list, I knew I had a problem.
Not just with parallel construction. Some of my writing was unclear