Re: Is a list of one item still a list?

I cannot comment at all on Amharic/Ethiopic. But I think most people can 
agree that a list with just one item isn't much of a list at all, and in 
general should be avoided, very much independent of language or script.

However, I'd like to mention two points:

First, it seems to me that the rule that lists should have more than one 
item is something that is somewhat above the layer of typography and 
text layout that this and other task forces are working on.

Second, I think there is occasionally a use for a list with only one 
item, to keep the layout of parallel structures aligned. As an example, 
assume a lists of officials to be elected, where most offices have more 
than one candidate, but some office may have only one candidate. Then 
you might get something like

* Candidates for President
   - AA AA
   - BB BB
* Candidates for Secretary
   - CC CC
* Candidates for Treasurer
   - DD DD
   - EE EE
   - FF FF

There's only one candidate for secretary, so we end up with a list with 
only one item, but we don't want to change that to inline text because 
that would ruin the structure of the layout.

Regards,   Martin.

On 2018/05/22 18:23, Alemnew Sheferaw Asrese wrote:
> Hi,
> 
> I haven't seen any listing that has only one item. I believe Amharic has
> the same rule as English for lists.
> 
> And it doesn't make sense to have a list for just an item. Right?
> 
> --Alemnew
> 
> On Tue, May 22, 2018 at 12:42 AM, Daniel Yacob <yacob@geez.org> wrote:
> 
>> Greetings All,
>>
>> I was recently reviewing a document and was reminded of a rule I learned
>> in English class when creating a list or sublist.  That is, an ordered list
>> (alphabetic, or numeric) must have more than one item.  We were not allowed
>> to create a list with an item "A." without there also being (at least) a
>> "B." , or a sublist with roman numeral "i" unless there was also an "ii".
>>
>> If we had only one item to discuss, we would have to make it part of the
>> preceding sentence.  I assume the same rule applied for bullet lists as
>> well.
>>
>> Does this rule apply for Amharic writing and in other Ethiopic writing
>> practices?  That is, can a list in Amharic contain only one item?
>>
>> thanks,
>>
>> -Daniel

Received on Tuesday, 22 May 2018 10:45:17 UTC