Can you format a bullet list as a paragraph (so to speak)?

Question

I have no objection to using a bullet list, but to save space I'd like to make the list inline. I know it's not strictly correct grammar, but I know with numbered lists like:

A good article is made up of three things:

1. An appropriate title
2. Interesting body text
3. Humour

they can be written thusly (excuse the fact that the list easily works without numbers; it's just an example):

A good article is made up of three things: 1) an appropriate title, 2) interesting body text and 3) humour.

How could you do the same for a bullet list? The particular instance comes from a textbook. I want to repeat the bullet points, but in "paragraph" form, while it still being clear that it is a list and not a case of listing (i.e. semantic patterning).

Adjacency pairs create a recognisable structural pattern. They:

• follow one another
• are produced by different speakers
• have a logical connection
• conform to a pattern

Answer 1

(This is based on my comments, one of which followed on from 1006a's comment).

I sometimes do this. I introduce the list with a colon; separate the items with a semicolon; quite possibly start the final item with "and", which is presumably an Oxford semicolon; and terminate the list with a full stop. It's not as clear as it might be, and it's often better to reformulate such inline lists as real flowing text -- or enumerate them, or stick with a bullet list.

Another approach is useful if you want to expand on each item -- emphasis. Heree's an example based on the quote in the question, with some nonsense added: "Adjacency pairs create a recognisable structural pattern. They: follow one another, forming a sequence; are produced by different speakers who aren't the same; have a logical connection which connects them; conform to a pattern but not a knitting pattern." I chose to highlight the keywords rather than the whole item from the original quote, that's a judgement call. Making the call the way I did makes it slightly easier to separate the emphasised text. You need some normal text in between otherwise you just get a wall of italics which is no better than a wall of upright type. I've deliberatly buried the example in this paragraph, to show the limitations of this approach. For longer descriptions of each item, I have been known to construct a short paragraph per point, starting with the key aspect in italics. That's only really suited to quite long form writing.