Lesson video

Hi, I'm Mister Buckingham and I'm really pleased that you've decided to join me for today's lesson on bullet points.

I think you're gonna find this one really useful and I'm really looking forward to working with you today.

Let's make a start.

Lesson is called Bullet Points and it comes from our unit called Punctuation.

By the end of today's lesson we'll be able to use bullet points to lay out key information clearly in a non-fiction text.

Now I'm sure you've seen bullet points used many times before, perhaps in non-fiction text you've read or even in newspaper articles.

They're really useful piece of punctuation for setting out information really clearly.

And today we're going to be looking at some different ways that can be used and writing some bullet point lists of our own.

Let's get to work.

Here are our keywords for today's lesson.

My turn, your turn.

Bullet points.

Colon and subheading.

Well done.

So bullet points are punctuation marks that lay out key information in a non-fiction text.

A colon is a piece of punctuation placed after a main clause that can introduce a list or a question.

It can do other things as well.

But we're gonna focus on that use of a colon today.

And a subheading is a word, a phrase or a sentence used to introduce parts of a text.

Here's our lesson outline for today's lesson.

We're going to start off by looking at bullet points made with words and phrases and then we'll move on to bullet point lists made with clauses and sentences.

So bullet points are a useful way of presenting information in a nonfiction text.

Here's an example.

We've got a subheading, types of human teeth and then four bullet points, incisors, canines, molars and premolars to tell us the four key types of human teeth.

So putting information in bullet points like this helps the reader the information quickly.

We can instantly see what those types of human teeth are.

Here's another example.

"For this recipe, you will need the following: 200 grammes of butter, 200 grammes of sugar, 200 grammes of flour, and two eggs." So this is a list of bullet points with a new item in the list on each line.

And as we'll see, bullet points can be used in lots of different ways, but they're always found in non-fiction text and very rarely in fiction text unless the author has made a very particular choice to use them.

So look out for them whenever you're reading a non-fiction text.

So a list of bullet points is often a good way of replacing a list, which would otherwise be in a paragraph.

Here's a list in a paragraph.

Humans have several different types of teeth.

Eight sharp incisors at the front, four pointy canines, eight wide premolars in the middle, and 12 molars at the back.

Now notice how without the bullet points here, this list is quite difficult to read and the items in the list are quite hard to find and compare.

It's quite hard to see what those different types of teeth are and to compare the information about them.

So instead we could write them as a bullet point list.

Humans have several different types of teeth, colon, eight sharp incisors, four pointy canines, eight white premolars, and 12 ridged molars.

Look at the difference there.

It's so much easier to access that information.

So we can see the list items clearly and we can compare the different numbers of the different types of teeth.

I can see instantly there are eight incisors and there are 12 molars.

It's very much easier to compare that information between the list items when they're presented like this.

So can you explain how using bullet points for this list has improved the reader's experience? Why is it somewhat easier for the reader now that we've presented these in bullet points? Pause the video and decide how the reader's experience has been improved.

Well done.

Love those answers.

You might have said something like this.

It's now easier to see the separate list items as they're each on a different line.

And we can also compare between the list items much more easily when they're presented in this way.

Great job.

So bullet points can be used quite flexibly for different purposes.

'Cause we can see two very different examples here.

This list starts with a subheading and that's fine.

We've placed a subheading, "Types of human teeth", at the top of the bullet point list, but here we've got a complete sentence.

"Humans have several different types of teeth", could be its own sentence.

If we use a complete sentence like this, then we start the list with a colon as we can see here.

And we can see that the items themselves can be single words, like on the left, or phrases like on the right, and they can actually also be clauses or complete sentences.

And we'll turn to that in the second part of our lesson.

Let's say we've decided not to use a subheading.

In that case, the words before the colon need to be a complete sentence with at least one main clause and not an incomplete sentence.

If we look at this example, it doesn't work properly because before the colon we've got the human digestive system includes.

Now that's not a complete sentence, so we can't use that before the colon.

This is another bad example, "The human digestive system is made up of".

Again, that wouldn't be a complete sentence.

That one doesn't work.

Here's a good example.

"The human digestive system includes the following organs: the mouth, the oesophagus, the stomach." So notice how before the colon we've got a complete sentence in this case.

Now if you decide to use a subheading, then you don't need a colon at all.

You could just have a title like this, digestive organs, and then list your items. So if we're using a colon, we need a complete sentence before it.

If we want to use a subheading, we don't use a colon after it.

So what features have been used in this bullet point list? Pause the video and decide which features you can see used here.

Well done, fantastic effort.

So yes, you're right.

It does include a colon before the list of bullet points.

It doesn't have a subheading, it does have a complete sentence before the colon.

If I read this, "For this recipe you'll need the following." That could be a sentence on its own, couldn't it? But we've placed a colon after it to begin our bullet point list.

It doesn't have list items that are complete sentences.

Instead it has list items that are phrases.

"200 grammes of butter" is a phrase.

It doesn't contain a verb, it's not a clause, it's not a complete sentence.

Really good job if you got those three.

Let's try another one.

Let's imagine we are writing a list of bullet points about orangutans.

Which of these could be used to start that list of bullet points? And how do you know? Pause the video and have a think.

Well done, good job.

You've probably spotted that A would work.

That would be fine because it's a subheading and we can have a subheading.

And notice how we don't have a colon at the end of that subheading.

It's just underlined.

B would also work because this is a complete sentence.

Orangutans live in many locations around the world and we followed it with a colon and we need a complete sentence before that colon.

C does have a colon, but what comes before the colon is not a complete sentence.

So this doesn't work and it's not a subheading either.

And D is the same.

We don't have a complete sentence and it's not a subheading.

So remember, if you want to use a complete sentence, it must be followed by a colon.

If you don't want a complete sentence, use a subheading and don't use a colon after it.

So we can convert a list of items to a bullet point list by simply separating out the items and putting them on separate lines, starting with bullet points.

So let's imagine we start with this list.

"Manchester is home to several museums, the People's History Museum, the National Football Museum, and the Manchester Art Gallery." So notice how there, we've got a complete sentence before our colon.

We've got a comma after the first list item an and between the last two list items, and we've finished with a full stop.

Now we've got the three items here, the People's History Museum, the National Football Museum, and the Manchester Art Gallery.

So those would be gonna be the three different lines of our bullet point list.

So it's going to look something like this.

We're gonna keep that complete sentence before the colon.

Then we're going to put the items on three different lines, starting with bullet points.

But you might notice some other changes here.

Notice how we haven't used the word and before that last item in the list when we use bullet points.

And notice also that if these list items are words or phrases as they are here, we don't use capital letters at the start of them, unless of course they're already proper nouns, which would always have a capital letter.

So none of these three items starts with a capital letter.

They all start with the with a small T, a lowercase T at the start.

And notice how we haven't used punctuation at the end of each of these items either.

And we don't have a full stop at the end of the list with bullet points either in this case.

Now in the example we just saw, there was a colon in the list already.

But if there's no colon in the list to start with, we can still make it into a bullet point list.

Let's start with this list about a Christingle.

If you've not seen one, make sure you look it up.

To make a Christingle, it says, you will need a red ribbon, a candle and orange, cocktail sticks and some sweets.

Now we could take that list and make a complete sentence before a colon like this, "To make a Christingle, you will need to gather several items:" That could be a sentence on its own.

So it's a good way to start a list of bullet points.

Then I'm just going to put the different items on separate lines, no capital letters and no full stop to finish and no and between those last two items. But remember we could also use a subheading to start that list as well without a colon.

So we could just say components of a Christingle.

There's no colon at the end.

It's not a complete sentence, it's a subheading instead.

So what areas need to be fixed in this bullet point list? We've got the body of an insect is split into the head, the thorax and the abdomen.

Pause the video and see if you can spot three or four errors in this list.

Well done, fantastic job.

I'm sure you found them all.

Let's have a look.

So the first mistake is this list doesn't begin with a complete sentence before that colon.

We've got the body of an insect is split into, we couldn't write that as a complete sentence with a full stop.

It wouldn't work.

So something's wrong there.

We've also got no colon before the items are listed here, so that won't work either.

We've got an and before that last item, which we don't need.

And we've got two of the items starting with capital letters, which they also don't need because these are just phrases, they're not complete sentences, so we don't need capital letters at the start, unless they're proper nouns.

So let's see what it should look like.

It should look like something like this.

"The body of an inset is split into three parts: the head, the thorax, the abdomen." Now we've got lowercase letters starting each of those items. We've removed that and before the last item.

And we've got a complete sentence before that colon, which we've used.

So hopefully you are thinking of something similar to that.

Really good job.

Let's try another one.

I've got some ideas here for lists of items we might want to make into bullet point lists.

I wonder if you can think of an appropriate opening sentence or a subheading for each of these ideas for a list.

And remember, you need, if you're using a colon, you'll need a complete sentence before that colon and a subheading, you won't need a colon afterwards.

So pause the video and think of an appropriate opening sentence or a subheading for each of these lists.

Have a go.

Well done, great job.

So for A I came up with, "To make the perfect sandwich, you will need the following:" That could be a complete sentence that works.

For B, I decided on a subheading, I could go for the key allies in World War II.

And for C I'm gonna do another colon with a complete sentence before it.

So I'm going for "Lions live in four main countries:" So that could be a complete sentence.

So it works with my colon.

Really well done if you've got something similar.

Let's try our first task for this lesson.

I'm going to show you these three lists.

Now they're written as sentences at the minute.

I want you to rewrite each sentence of a list with bullet points like we've just seen.

So you'll need to think of an appropriate opening sentence followed by a colon or a subheading for each one.

And hopefully you've already got those in your head from the last little task we just tried.

So take each list sentence, make it a list using bullet points with an opening sentence followed by a colon or a subheading without a colon.

That works.

So remember, if the list items are words and phrases like these will be, then we don't use capital letters for them, unless they are proper nouns.

And we do have some proper nouns in these lists.

So look carefully for those.

Pause the video and see what you can do.

Well done.

Let's take a look at how these could look.

Now remember you might have used a different opening sentence or perhaps a subheading compared to mine, but hopefully you've got the list items that look the same.

So I said, "To make the perfect sandwich, you'll need the following: Some white bread, ham cheese, butter pepper." Haven't used and between the last two items. And I don't have capital letters 'cause these aren't proper nouns.

Here's my World War II example.

The key allies in World War II is a subheading.

So I haven't used a colon there.

And then I've written the UK, the USA, the Soviet Union.

Or you could have written a complete sentence.

You could have said "There were three key allied powers in World War II", followed by the list of bullet points instead.

I haven't used capital letters here at the start of each point because I've said the in front of each.

And that would be appropriate here because we'd usually say the UK, the USA, instead of just UK.

But if you just read UK, you would've then used a capital letter.

For the lions, I've done a complete sentence before my colon.

I've said, "Lions live in four main countries:" Now these countries don't usually have a verb before them.

So instead I've just put the list of countries with capital letters because they're proper noun.

Tanzania, South Africa, Botswana, Kenya, again, no and between those last two items and look in all three of my bullet point lists, I haven't put commas or full stops or semicolons after each item because these are just words and phrases.

They're nouns or noun phrases and they don't need that punctuation at the end of each line.

Really good job if you've managed to make some bullet point lists that look similar to these, great work.

Okay, we've talked about bullet point lists that use words and phrases and we've written some of our own.

So we're now going to turn to looking at bullet point lists that use clauses and complete sentences because we use slightly different rules when we make those lists.

So a list using bullet points may use more than just words and phrases in the list items. For instance, we might write the same list we saw before in this way.

"Manchester is home to several important museums:" That is a complete sentence followed by a colon, but I can change my list items slightly.

The National Football Museum, which moved there in 2012.

The People's History Museum, which looks at the history of working people in the UK, the Manchester Art Gallery located in the city centre.

Now you might have spotted some differences here in how we punctuate this list Here.

The list items are clauses.

They contain verbs like moved and looks, but they're not complete sentences.

So we still use a complete sentence followed by a colon to start the list.

But you might have noticed that we may now choose, and this is optional, but we may now choose to use semicolons after each item and a full stop at the end.

So if you choose to use semicolons between these items, we put the full stop at the end.

We'll see you in a minute, but this isn't always something we have to do.

But notice how after the National Football Museum item, I've got my semicolon after the people whose history museum item, I've got my semicolon.

And at the end of the list I've got a full step there.

So there's a slightly different punctuation we can use in this case.

And one of the reasons I've done that is you might just spot it within each list item, I've included a comma which adds some more detail with a clause that follows the comma.

So that's a good reason to include that semicolon there.

So that might be a choice you wish to make.

So using semicolons at the end of clauses in a list of bullet points is optional, but we have to be consistent.

So if you look at this example for types of human teeth, I've got a subheading there.

I've said "Incisors, which are used for biting; canines used for ripping and tearing premolars which are used for crushing; and molars used for grinding." Now we haven't been consistent here in this list, so this isn't correct.

We've missed out a semicolon and we've missed out a full stop at the end.

So we should either remove all the semicolons and not use any at all, or we should use them after each item with a full stop at the end of the list.

And notice that we still don't use capital letters to use this item because they're still not complete sentences.

They are clauses containing verbs, but they're not complete sentences on their own just yet.

So what could be added to this list of bullet points to make the punctuation consistent? What do we need to add in to make this list correctly punctuated? Pause the video and decide.

So hopefully spotted that we need to add a full stop at the end of the list and we need to add a semicolon after that item about the canines in order to be consistent because we already have two semicolons.

So we need a semicolon after each item and a full stop at the end.

And that would look something like this.

So notice how consistent it now looks.

Great work.

So true or false, we must always use semicolons at the end of clauses in a list of bullet points? Pause the video and decide.

Well done.

You're right, that is false.

Now can you explain why? Pause the video and choose the best justification for that.

Well done, you're right, it's A.

Like we said, it's a personal choice whether you use semicolons after each clause, but we need to be consistent throughout the list.

So if you choose to put a semicolon at the end of the first item, you must continue all the way through to the end where you put your full step.

Well done.

So as we did with words and phrases, we can convert a list of clauses into a list of bullet points.

So if I start off with this list, it's quite tricky to read.

Let me read it.

"The UK has many important rivers: The Thames, which flow through London, the Severn, our longest river, the Mersey which flows past Liverpool and the Tay, which is Scotland's longest at 193 kilometres." Now it's quite hard to see those separate items, isn't it? So that's a great reason to use bullet points for this kind of list.

So we might come up with this, "The UK has many important rivers:" That works 'cause it's complete sentence before the colon.

Then I'm going to say my separate list items and notice how I've separated each of them with semicolons.

And then I've put a full stop at the end.

Much easier to read now, much easier to compare the information about those different rivers.

So this is a great use of a bullet point list in order to separate items out, which are quite long in this list, which make it much easier to understand.

So how would the list of clauses below look as a list of bullet points? Read the list through as it is, and then think about how do we present this differently as a bullet point list.

Pause the video and have a think.

Well, that's that great effort there.

So it might look something like this.

"The UK has produced many famous authors: Jane Austen, who wrote Pride and Prejudice; Charles Dickens, who wrote Christmas Carol; Roald Dahl, who wrote many children's classics; and then Beatrix Potter, who wrote Peter Rabbit." Now, another good reason to use this punctuation in this list is that we have commas in each list item, "Jane Austen, who wrote Pride and Prejudice." So using the semicolons here is helpful to help us understand where these list items are separated.

So it's a useful idea to use semicolons, but as we said, it is optional.

We could choose to remove them and then we would remove that full stop at the end as well.

Great job with that one.

So a list of bullet points can also be made of complete sentences.

So let's imagine we are using our human teeth idea, but we're gonna write complete sentences now about each list item.

So I've got my complete sentence before my colon.

Then I'm going to say.

Oh, and notice that capital letter, "Eight sharp incisors are used for biting food.

Four sharp tipped canines rip food into smaller pieces.

Eight wide premolars in the middle of the mouth are used for crushing food." And "12 molars at the back of the mouth grind the food so it can be easily digested." Now I said an and before that last item, but we never write that in our bullet point list.

Notice how here, because each item is a complete sentence, it starts with a capital letter and ends with a full stop.

Each of those sentences could be a sentence on its own.

We've just arranged them in a list and notice that each item starts in a similar way.

I started with the number of each type of teeth.

Again, we are being consistent and that's really useful when we're writing bullet point lists because again, it helps us to compare these different items we're listing.

So which of following would we always find in a list of bullet points made up of complete sentences? Pause the video and decide,.

Well done, great effort.

So this one has some sneaky answers in.

Would we always have a colon? Not necessarily because we might want to use a subheading, wouldn't we? Will we have semi semicolons? Not in this case, because remember we used semicolons when we had clauses in our bullet point list.

Now we've got complete sentences and a complete sentence must end with a full stop.

You're right.

And a complete sentence must also start with capital letters.

So we will have capital letters and we will have full stops, but not necessarily a colon and not a semicolon.

Great job.

So we might end up with a subheading at the start of our list, like this, "Types of human teeth".

And then we've got our complete sentences below that.

So remember, we have no colon if we use a subheading.

So we can use notes to create a list of bullet points.

And we might choose to use clauses in our bullet point list, or we might choose to use complete sentences now.

So let's imagine we've got these notes about cities in Scotland.

We know that Glasgow has a population of 640,000, Inverness is on the River Ness in the north of Scotland.

Stirling is famous for its castle and Dundee is a coastal city.

But we could make a bullet point list like this, and I could use clauses this time.

So I could say, "Scotland has many important cities, including the following:" complete sentence before their colon, "Glasgow, which has a population of 640,000; Inverness, which is located on the River Ness in the north of Scotland;" and "Stirling, which is famous for its castle; Dundee, which is a coastal city." And notice how, because Dundee is that last item, I've put my full stop.

So notice here I've used lots of relative clauses starting with which to give this information about each city.

I chose to use semicolons.

That's a personal choice.

And because I use semicolons, I must put the full stop at the end.

So I wonder if you can do the same thing now.

I've given you some information about cities in Wales.

I wonder if you can use these notes to create a list of clauses using bullet points about cities in Wales.

You might choose to use semicolons at the end of each of your clauses, or you might make the personal choice not to do so, but you must be consistent.

So pause the video and see if you can have a go.

Let's take a look at your list.

I bet you came up with something similar to mine.

I started off with a subheading this time, I said, "Important cities in Wales." You could say, "Wales has many important cities:" and with a colon after that, both would be fine.

I started with St Davids, which is the UK's smallest city; Cardiff, which is the Welsh capital; Swansea, which is located by the Bristol Channel; and "Bangor, which is close to Snowdonia." Now again, I said the and but we don't write the and in the bullet point list.

So I chose to use semicolons on my list.

But remember, this is optional.

And because I used semicolons, I needed that full stop at the end.

Really well done if you've got something similar.

So we can do the same thing with complete sentences as we just did with clauses.

So here are some notes about endangered species.

The hedgehog in Britain has fallen in population from 53 million to 1 million between 1950 and 2013.

That's shocking, isn't it? The red squirrel has lost its habitats to grey squirrels, you probably know about that.

And water voles have had a 94% drop in population in 30 years.

Some really interesting information there, which we can make into complete sentences.

So I could start with a complete sentence before a colon.

The UK has a number of seriously endangered animal species.

They're gonna make a complete sentence using of these pieces of information.

I could say "Hedgehog numbers have dropped from 53 million in 1950 to 1 million in 2013." Capital lettered the hedgehog there.

I could say "Red squirrels have become endangered as their habitats have been destroyed by grey squirrels." It's a complete sentence.

I could say water voles have experienced a 94% drop in their population over the last 30 years." So we've used capital letters and full stops because these are complete sentences.

I'd like you to try and do the same thing now.

Can you take these notes about mountains in the UK to create a list of complete sentences using bullet points, capital letters, and full stops? Now, you don't have a personal choice this time because you're going to be making complete sentences.

So they must begin with a capital and they must end with a full stop.

Pause the video and see if you can have a go.

Well done, great job.

So I started off this time with a complete sentence before my colon.

"The UK has several important mountains:" I've written a full sentence about Ben Nevis.

"Ben Nevis, the UK's highest mountain measures 1,345 metres and it is located in Scotland.

Scafell Pike, which is England's highest mountain, is found in the Lake District." And then "Yr Wyddfa, which was fully known as Snowden, is the highest mountain in Wales." Each of them is a complete sentence so they start with a capital and then with a full stop.

Now each of these would always start with a capital because I've used the proper noun at the start of my sentence, but you might not have chosen to do that.

So always a capital and always a full stop when these items are complete sentences.

Great job.

So let's do our final task for this lesson.

I'm going to give you a set of notes and I'd like you to create a list using bullet points.

You can choose whether that is a list of clauses or complete sentences.

Here's your first list of notes about cities in England.

We've got Bristol, York, Brighton, and Liverpool.

So you might choose to make those notes into sentences or clauses.

Here's a list of notes about insect body parts, the head, the thorax, and the abdomen.

Again, you might choose to make complete sentences or clauses from these items. And remember, if you choose to do clauses, then you can choose to add semicolons and a full stop, or you might choose not to do that.

And remember, you might choose to have a subheading at the start, or you might choose a complete sentence followed by a colon.

It's up to you.

So pause the video and see what you can come up with.

Let's have a look at some examples you could have written.

I've done a first one using sentences and I've used a subheading for this "Cities in England".

I've said, "Bristol, with a population of 430,000 is in the southwest.

York, in the north of England, was important to both the Romans and the Vikings.

Brighton, which is located on the south coast, is famous for its peers." And "Liverpool, with a population of 500,000 is known for its two famous football teams." They were complete sentences so I've used capital letters and full stops.

This time I'm doing clauses, but I'm going to start with a complete sentence this time.

"The body of an insect has three parts: the head, which has the antennae, eyes and mouth parts; the thorax, which is the middle part, and has the wings and legs attached; and the abdomen, which is the end part, contain the digestive and reproductive systems." Now, because I chose to use clauses and not complete sentences, my items don't start with capital letters.

And I've also chosen to use semicolons at the end of my first two and a full stop at the end.

Remember, that was my personal choice.

You might have chosen to do something different.

You might also have chosen to put a subheading instead of a complete sentence.

Really well done for getting those bullet point lists correctly written.

Good job.

So let's summarise our learning in today's lesson.

We've learned that bullet points are used in nonfiction writing as a way of making lists of items easier to understand.

We've learned that the list starts with either a complete sentence or a subheading.

And if it's a complete sentence, we use a colon.

The items in the list can be words, phrases, clauses, or complete sentences.

And we only use capital letters in full stops when they are complete sentences.

And bullet points can be used quite flexibly as we've seen, but we must make sure we're consistent throughout the list.

Really well done for all your amazing work in this lesson, and I really hope you've enjoyed it.

I'd love to see you again in a future lesson as well.

Goodbye.