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I doubt what is a proper, and suitable for in an academic text, way to give an enumeration. I used Google to see how other people (mainly in papers) do it, but there is not a consensus.

The reason why I ask this question is because I first gave an enumeration like this:

I group the separate UMP announcements by the Fed into 6 QE programme dummies for two reasons. Firstly, including separate dummies for each UMP announcements by the Fed raises the possibility of multimodality in the likelihood of the GARCH estimation (Doornik and Ooms, 2003). And secondly, because it improves the economic interpretation of the results.

So after I announce that there are two reasons, there is a point (no colon), and then I begin with "Firstly,..." etc. However, someone noticed that due to this method, the sentence after "Secondly, [..] of the results" is not a complete sentence. I think that this is because it is not entirely clear where ''it'' refers to. Would this not a problem if someone gives the enumeration like this:

I group the separate UMP announcements by the Fed into 6 QE programme dummies for two reasons: firstly, because including separate dummies for each UMP announcements by the Fed raises the possibility of multimodality in the likelihood of the GARCH estimation (Doornik and Ooms, 2003), and secondly because it improves the economic interpretation of the results.

Is it true that in this way I can use "it" in the "and secondly" part, because it is now one sentence and clear where I refer to?

There are also people who use a semicolon (;) instead of the comma before secondly. What is preferable to do? And is it advisable to use ''because'' after Firstly and Secondly? Or should one leave it away? Moreover, when using the comma, should one also use the comma before "because" in the part of:

and secondly because it improves the [...]

A lot of questions, but this is really confusing to me.

Jasper
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peter
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    Why are you adverbing the enumeration? That is bad style. Are you going to do Item One in a "firstly" way? What would that be? Use simple *first*, *second*, *third*, etc. "First, I'm going to wake up. Second, get out of bed." Etc. Also note that in short sentences you don't need to worry whether they are "complete" or not, as long as the rest of your writing shows command of the language. – Robusto Jan 14 '17 at 15:34
  • [Related discourse](https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/explore/first-second-firstly-secondly). – J.R. Jan 14 '17 at 15:40
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    Items in a list are conventionally separated by semicolons. *... ; second, ...* – Tᴚoɯɐuo Jan 14 '17 at 15:53
  • instead of "because it" perhaps "because doing so" to parallel "including..." – Tᴚoɯɐuo Jan 14 '17 at 15:54
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    *each announcement* (singular) – Tᴚoɯɐuo Jan 14 '17 at 15:56
  • What does this mean: "...improves the economic interpretation ..." – Tᴚoɯɐuo Jan 14 '17 at 15:58
  • With respect to each announcements: it would otherwise be all announcementS right? – peter Jan 14 '17 at 16:32
  • improves the economic interpretation means that in this way (=the grouping stuff) the results are better economically interpretable. – peter Jan 14 '17 at 16:33
  • Sorry, but I cannot understand your question. Why are you calling this enumeration? I would avoid firstly and secondly. I would say first and second. If you're making points (to make a point), I think first and second are better in formal writing. – Lambie Jan 14 '17 at 18:49
  • EDIT: /I group the Fed's individual UMP announcements into 6 QE programme dummies for two reasons. First, using separate dummies for each of the FED's UMP announcement raises the possibility of multimodality in the likelihood of a GARCH estimation (Doornik and Ooms, 2003). And second, it improves the economic interpretation of the results./ NB: you could use a passive in the first sentence to avoid an I in an academic paper. At times, the I can be used but I am not sure it should be used here. The x are grouped [implied: by me]. Your reader will know that. – Lambie Jan 14 '17 at 19:02
  • The passive would read: The FED's individual UMP announcement are grouped into [etc]. Finally, you have three, short-and-sweet sentences. Using a colon merely makes reading the paragraph more complicated. Simple is best. [I decided to edit it because I do it for a living, so it might help you.] – Lambie Jan 14 '17 at 19:04
  • Not only is there no consensus, it's quite divisive among native speakers and there are certainly vocal proponents for the many variants. One way to solve this is find a good style book which suits your subject material, and follow it. – jonathanjo Apr 24 '19 at 19:26
  • @Lambie it seems to me both you and the OP are using 'announcement' wrong. OP - should be "each announcement" because 'each' refers to every one of a series of things as an individual thing. Lambie - you swap it in your comment for some reason. It should be "The individual announcements are grouped," and any other change would mean changing the whole sentence. – Sam_Butler May 23 '19 at 08:42
  • @Robusto it is not incorrect to use the words 'firstly', 'secondly', or 'thirdly'. The traditional form is "first, secondly, thirdly..." while it would be incorrect to use "firstly, second, third..." and both "first, second, third..." and "firstly, secondly, thirdly..." are acceptable. Even the answers on this question can neither agree nor seem to get it right: https://ell.stackexchange.com/questions/886/firstly-secondly-or-first-second#comment1189_887 – Sam_Butler May 23 '19 at 08:51
  • @Lambie you asked why the OP is calling this an *enumeration*. See https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/enumeration (hint: *the list itself*). That said, linguists and learners often use a plethora of terms the average native English speaker would neither use nor be aware of. – Sam_Butler May 23 '19 at 08:54
  • @Sam: Yeah, no. – Robusto May 23 '19 at 10:42
  • @Sam_Butler Do you seriously think I do not know what an enumeration is? "How to properly write down an enumeration" is wrong. – Lambie May 23 '19 at 15:15
  • @Lambie I think we are all confused - why do you say that "this is not an enumeration" when everyone else seems happy with that term. Why do you say that ' "How to properly write down an enumeration" is wrong' ? – MikeB May 23 '19 at 16:27
  • @MikeBrockington It is not the word enumeration that is wrong. The idiomatic way to say this would be: How to properly enumerate A, B or C. – Lambie May 23 '19 at 16:38
  • @Robusto perhaps you could clarify, or literally anything constructive. – Sam_Butler May 28 '19 at 10:36
  • @Lambie that doesn't really make sense. I'm sure you are knowledgeable but yes, I did seriously think that you did not know that definition of the word 'enumeration'. While uncommon in general use (I am a native British English speaker and polyglot who has also lived in two North American countries) the way the OP has used the word in their question is entirely valid, and communicates just fine what exactly it is they want help with, even if it is imperfect. Neither of you phrase it as a question, but there's no need to split hairs. – Sam_Butler May 28 '19 at 10:41
  • @Sam_Butler I'm interested in providing the most idiomatic way of saying something. "To write down an enumeration" is not as idiomatic as "to enumerate points, clauses or items". One thing that is crucial for learners is to understand that English prefers verbs to cumbersome nouns. You needn't agree but most writing instructors, editors, English professors **et al** would agree with that opinion. It's about individual words, it's about phrasing. And I fail to see the relevance of being a polyglot here (which, for your information I suffer from, too.) [that last comment is a joke] – Lambie May 28 '19 at 13:52
  • @Lambie thanks - I was introducing my credentials for commenting, since being a native speaker does not necessarily give one an appreciation of linguistics, unlike having learnt several languages. You are right about that being a better way to phrase it. I wonder if with all these comments we can now come up with an answer. – Sam_Butler May 29 '19 at 09:55

1 Answers1

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There are several ways to express a series of points which are acceptable. I myself like "Firstly... Secondly ... Thirdly..." and so on. I also like "In the first place... In the second place ..." and so on. Others may prefer "First, second, third" Yet others will prefer not to number the points at all, but when there are several points, and especially when you may wish later t refer back to specific points, some form of numbering can improve clarity. The text after each numbered point can be a s short as a sentence, or even a phrase, or can be multiple paragraphs or pages, depending on the content.

How to express such an enumeration of points is a matter of style, not grammar, as long as one is consistent within a given enumeration. If, for a particular work, there is a specified style book, follow it. (For example, when writing for a particular academic venue, there is often a specified style guide.) If not, choose a style that seems to you to suit the content and the audience -- it need not be the same style for everything that you write. In a particular case, choosing a style guide to follow can be a good idea, and helps one stay consistent, and avoid improper forms. But style is ultimately the author's responsibility and choice.

You ask about the sentence:

And secondly, because it improves the economic interpretation of the results.

and whether the referent of 'it" is unclear, or whether this text should be merged into the previous sentence. In your specific example, I think the referent of "it" is fairly clear, but if you think it might confuse a reader, you can repeat the referent, as in:

And secondly, because the use of separate dummies improves the economic interpretation of the results.

If your first point were several sentences, and your second point started a new paragraph, such repetition would be a very good idea, as in that case the referent of "it" might be quite unclear.

Merging the "secondly" point into the same sentence as the "firstly" one is grammatically acceptable, but makes the sentence longer and more complex, and does not shorten the number of words between "it" and the referent. i don't think it adds to the clarity, in fact I think that form is less clear in this case. Pronouns can and often do refer back into previous sentences; there is no rule against having them do so. But when the distance is too great, the form may confuse the reader, and that is not good (unless the aim is to confuse).

In my view the form "firstly, because ..." usually adds little to meaning or clarity, and should not be used automatically. "Because" should be added only where it in some way adds to the meaning or helps the reader.

David Siegel
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