Thank you very much macropod for helping me, I know I am one of the worlds most difficult students, and I applaud your perseverance with me.

I have found the answer now. Here is how I did it for anyone who has the same problem.

First go to the toolbar ribbon thing, and select show or hide toolbox.

Go to the little toolbox window, and click the paragraph tab so you can see what you have been using so far.
Then:
View - Toolbars - formatting

Go up to the new formatting ribbon (make sure you are using the same paragraph style in the toolbox, in my case it is list) Click the numbering icon and a little lightning bolt appears by your cursor on the page, click this, and you have a choice of continuous numbering or starting again.

I hope this helps.

Again, 4 hours of formatting, 2 hours of grade A degree worthy work.

total 8 hours of format in word, 4 hours research and essay writing.

Thanks microsoft, a little format off button would really help.

Kind regards

Jonny