Q. Our marketing department puts a boilerplate on all advertising. It lists the different facilities in our system and each is followed by the city where it is located. I believe that after each city there should be a semicolon. Now it reads, City Hospital, Boston, Regional Hospital, Brookline, Community Hospital, Newton, Union Hospital, Braintree, etc. The boilerplate is five lines long and lists lots of facilities.
A. Yes, you are right—such a list quickly becomes indecipherable. If your department doesn’t like semicolons, there are many design solutions, such as putting a slash or bullet or ornament between pairs or alternating colors or styles of type.