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I am writing a research and I have to describe a process. To do this I have chosen an enumeration as follows:

  1. To include ...

  2. To add ...

  3. To program ...

  4. To write ...

I am not sure about starting each item of the list with the preposition to. I think best practices say that it is the way to do it, but it sounds a bit repetitive for me. Is there a better way to do it?

Glorfindel
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bra_racing
  • 123

1 Answers1

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You might write your enumeration like this, whereby the preposition will apply equally to each word in your list, without the need for repeating it: -

To: -

  1. Add ...,
  2. Program ...,
  3. Write ...,
Gary
  • 9,703
  • Thank you! So in my case it could be something like:

    ... the steps to follow are to:

    1. Include ...
    2. Add ...
     – bra_racing Apr 04 '17 at 07:04
  • Yes exactly. Whether you use a colon, or a colon and a hyphen, is a matter of style, in Britain ':-' is frequently used to introduce lists. See here for example for some more discussion: http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/31060/is-it-proper-to-use-a-colon-followed-immediately-by-a-hyphen - but yes, that 'lead in' works fine, it's good grammar to end each list item with a comma also – Gary Apr 04 '17 at 07:15
  • Very interesting discussion thread! I am going to follow your styling advice. Just a final question: the last item must finish with a full stop instead of a comma, isn't it? – bra_racing Apr 04 '17 at 07:28
  • @bra_racing Yes the last item should end with a full stop. There is a wealth of styling advice here you might find useful, and it discusses how to end a list and much more also, e.g "Use a period after the last item in the list." - http://www.getitwriteonline.com/archive/101406VerticalLists.htm – Gary Apr 04 '17 at 07:30