Lists

Lists make items in a series easier to read. You might list the following kinds of information:

Lists are easier to read when they are displayed rather than run into your text. In either case, a list is usually introduced with an independent clause followed by a colon.

List run into text

Movies are rated by the film-rating board of the Classification and Rating Administration (CARA) based on several criteria, including the following: overall theme, language use, presence of violence, presence of nudity and sexual content, and combined use of these elements in one film.

Displayed list

Movies are rated by the film-rating board of the Classification and Rating Administration (CARA) based on several criteria, including the following:

Tips for good lists

Related topics:

Parallel form

Colons with lists

independent clause A word group containing a subject and a verb that can or does stand alone as a sentence.

parallel structure Expression of similar ideas in similar grammatical form.