wunder beta

📘 The paper on the fridge already made a list

You open the fridge. A scrap of paper is stuck under a magnet. Milk. Bread. The thing someone shouted as you left. Nobody drew dots. Nobody wrote a colon. It is still a list: one item per line, stacked so your eye can grab it without readin

4
lessons
~20 min
to learn
Adults
level
Start the course →

What you’ll learn

  1. The list that used to be a sentenceRecognise a bullet list as a Year 6 layout device that stands a Year 2 comma-list on its end, and choose bullets only when the reader might check the items off.A fridge note is already a list. Year 2 taught commas in a line. Year 6 stands the same items up as bullets, which Appendix 2 files with headings, columns and tables. One lonely item is just a sentence.
  2. The colon that opens the doorUse a colon to introduce a list only after a clause that can stand alone, and use semi-colons inside a list when the items already contain commas.Hull’s test: if a full stop would also work, the colon is legal. We need: is a hungry verb. Semi-colons are bigger commas for items such as Selby, Yorkshire. GOV.UK still wants a lead-in line.
  3. What each bullet wearsChoose either the sentence coat or the fragment coat for a whole list, and punctuate every bullet to match that family.Sentence bullets take capitals and full stops. Fragment bullets stay lower case and usually take no end mark. House styles argue about the last bullet. Year 6 does not pick a winner. It asks for one coat.
  4. Same coat on every bulletPunctuate bullet points consistently, keep parallel grammar so every item can hang off the lead-in, and check a list with four questions before leaving it.The statutory word is consistently. Parallel grammar is the coat you cannot see. Four checks: stand-alone stem, family, matching coat, hang-off test. Then go and find a list in the wild.

Questions this course answers

What does England’s Year 6 programme of study actually require you to do with bullet points?

The statutory wording is punctuating bullet points consistently. Appendix 2 only adds punctuation of bullet points to list information. It does not pick one house style.

Hull’s test for a colon.

The University of Hull is plain: the clause before the colon must make sense on its own. If a full stop would also work there, the colon is legal.

Match each mark to the job it usually does in a list.

A colon opens the door after a finished stem. A semi-colon is a bigger comma inside a complicated list. A bullet is layout. A comma still does the Year 2 in-a-line job.

Put these checks in the order you should walk them before leaving a bullet list alone.

Colon first, because it sits on the stem. Family next, because it decides the coat. Matching coats third. Parallel grammar last, because it is the snag you feel after the marks look right.

Which stem is correctly followed by a colon?

The ingredients include is a finished clause — include already has its object, the ingredients. The other three leave a verb still waiting for an object, so a colon is not invited.

In your own words, why does a bullet list that starts with milk and later has Remember to pack the bag! fail Year 6, even if some of the marks look right?

milk is a fragment. Remember to pack the bag! is a sentence with a capital and an end mark. The list changed coats, and the second item cannot hang off a stem built for nouns. That is the consistency the statute asks for.

Grounded in trusted sources

  • Department for Education, English Appendix 2: Vocabulary, grammar and punctuation (Year 2: commas to separate items in a list; Year 6: layout devices including bullets; use of the colon to introduce a list and use of semi-colons within lists; punctuation of bullet points to list information; terminology: colon, semi-colon, bullet points), https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/335190/English_Appendix_2_-_Vocabulary_grammar_and_punctuation.pdf
  • Department for Education, National curriculum in England: English programmes of study (years 5 and 6: using a colon to introduce a list; punctuating bullet points consistently), https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/national-curriculum-in-england-english-programmes-of-study/national-curriculum-in-england-english-programmes-of-study
  • University of Hull Library, Grammar resource: Colons and semi-colons (clause before a colon must make sense on its own; semi-colons in complicated lists: Selby, Yorkshire; Peterborough, Lincolnshire), https://libguides.hull.ac.uk/grammar/colonssemi-colons
  • GOV.UK, A to Z style guide: Bullet points and steps (lead-in line; more than one bullet; lower case; no ‘or’ or ‘and’; no semicolon at the end of a bullet; no full stop after the last bullet), https://www.gov.uk/guidance/style-guide/a-to-z
  • Office for National Statistics, Service manual: Bullet points and numbered lists (lead-in lists vs heading-style sentence lists; no end punctuation on lead-in bullets; numbered lists only for a required order), https://service-manual.ons.gov.uk/content/formatting-and-punctuation/lists
  • Purdue University Online Writing Lab, MLA Formatting Lists (colon after a complete sentence; sentence items take capitals and punctuation; fragment bullets lowercase with no required punctuation; continuing-sentence lists use semi-colons and and; numbered lists only when order matters), https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/research_and_citation/mla_style/mla_formatting_and_style_guide/mla_formatting_lists.html

Every Wunder lesson is built from real, reputable sources — never invented.

Related courses

📘The novel opens with a war that has already made the wilderness political📘The fridge already has cat📘Four words. Then five extra ones walk in.📘You write I wish I was. The teacher writes were.📘You sit. The word under the boat is ship.📘You sit. Someone says your name.📘You sit. The box says kit.📘You sit. The book says sunflower.

Wunder is a personalized learn-anything platform — tell it any topic and it builds a beautiful, fact-checked course in minutes, with narration, a knowledge check, and a college-style University track.

All topics · Home

© 2026 Wunder Learning LLC · Terms & Privacy