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.
Best Answer
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 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:
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.