3

Sometimes enumerated lists are used to list example sentences which are referred to from the text by their numbers in the list. But as such references are made from far away pages it might be irritating to the reader to have to turn back all those pages to get to the referred sentence. To avoid this one may want to repeat some list items along with their original number. An rough example of how this would look is the following:

 1. Example 1
 2. Example 2

Some text with references to 1. and 2.

 3. Example 3.

Some text across several pages.

 1. Example 1

Some text with references to 1.

The problem in achieving this is to get the repeated list item with its original number without interrupting the sequence of numbers for list items occurring before and after the place where the repeated list item is placed.

Here is an example of a failure to achieve this:

\documentclass{article}

\usepackage{enumitem}

\newcommand\extwo{Example 2}

\begin{document}    
\begin{enumerate}
\item Example 1
\item \extwo
\end{enumerate}
Text
\begin{enumerate}[resume]
\item Example 3
\end{enumerate}
Text
\begin{enumerate}[start=2]
\item \extwo% Example 2 repeated with its original number, i.e. "1."
\end{enumerate}
Text
\begin{enumerate}[resume]
\item Example 4% Is listed as "3." when I want it be listed as "4."
\end{enumerate}
\end{document}

There are mainly two problems with this example:

  1. Example 4 is supposed to resume the list number sequence after Example 3 but it is not.
  2. It is fragile. If the order of Example 1 and Example 2 were to be changed then the third list has to have its argument changed to [start=1].

Can this example be fixed to achieve what I want or is there some more appropriate way to achieve it?

3
  • If you're describing linguistics style example numbering, I don't think repeating examples in this way is actually very good form; it's better to repeat the example with a new number. But the main example numbering packages can deal with these cases if you insist.
    – Alan Munn
    Mar 17, 2012 at 12:37
  • @AlanMunn I do mean such numbering. Both repeating with the same and a new number is confusing in my opinion. Dunno, which is to be preferred. It would be interesting with answers both dealing with the issue and answers arguing for not doing it and doing something else instead.
    – N.N.
    Mar 17, 2012 at 12:40
  • My use case where I wish to repeat numbering is a grant proposal with Aim 1, Aim 2, Aim 3. Repeating the aim with a new number is definitely not an option!
    – Lenna
    Aug 26, 2014 at 18:26

1 Answer 1

4

Personally I don't like this kind of repetition, although it is used by some. I think it's preferable to repeat the example with a new number. But independent of this opinion, the effect is easily achieved with both the gb4e package and the linguex package.

gb4e

It provides an \exr{<label>} command, which formats the example based on reference to a label.

\documentclass{article}

\usepackage{gb4e}

\newcommand\extwo{Example 2}

\begin{document}    
\begin{exe}
\ex Example 1
\ex \extwo \label{ex2}
\end{exe}
Text
\begin{exe}
\ex Example 3
\end{exe}
Text
\begin{exe}
\exr{ex2} \extwo% Example 2 repeated with its original number, i.e. "1."
\end{exe}
Text
\begin{exe}
\item Example 4% Is listed as "3." when I want it be listed as "4."
\end{exe}
\end{document}

linguex

It allows its \ex. command to have an following optional argument to set the label. This argument can contain a \ref{} command.

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{linguex}
\newcommand\extwo{Example 2}
\begin{document}

\ex. Example 1

\ex. \extwo \label{ex2}

Text.

\ex. Example 3

Text.

\ex.[\ref{ex2}] \extwo

Text
\ex. Example 4

\end{document}
4
  • Thanks, this works. The problem with repeating with a new number is that the reader might think that the repeated sentence is not identical to the original since it has another number. Of course, this approach has the problem of being confusing by breaking the sequence of numbers.
    – N.N.
    Mar 17, 2012 at 12:52
  • 1
    You can overcome this problem by being explicit in the text: "As we saw in (2) repeated here as (74) ..."
    – Alan Munn
    Mar 17, 2012 at 13:00
  • Would you recommend gb4e more than linguex or the other way around?
    – N.N.
    Mar 17, 2012 at 15:29
  • 1
    Personally I much prefer gb4e; it's what I use in my own work. I prefer it because it's much better semantic markup. Many people prefer linguex because it's less typing, but that argument holds not water for me, since it's trivial to make any decent editor do most of your typing for you when it comes to markup elements. (We haven't reached the point of editors that can type your content for you :) )
    – Alan Munn
    Mar 17, 2012 at 22:03

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