A paragraph should encompass one thought—that is, it should have some idea guiding it—which is then divided into separate sentences all of which address and advance that idea. So, insert a paragraph break when you are making a transition between ideas, or adding a new line of thought, or when you've finished summing up, as I'll do right now.
So, for instance, journalists tend to write in many short paragraphs. The same is true in some of the sciences. Just know that many short paragraphs are generally to be avoided here. It might describe a place, character, or process; narrate a series of events; compare or contrast two or more things; classify items into categories; or describe causes and effects.
Regardless of the kind of information they contain, all paragraphs share certain characteristics. One of the most important of these is a topic sentence. A well-organized paragraph supports or develops a single controlling idea, which is expressed in a sentence called the topic sentence. Readers generally look to the first few sentences in a paragraph to determine the subject and perspective of the paragraph.
Although most paragraphs should have a topic sentence, there are a few situations when a paragraph might not need a topic sentence. For example, you might be able to omit a topic sentence in a paragraph that narrates a series of events, if a paragraph continues developing an idea that you introduced with a topic sentence in the previous paragraph, or if all the sentences and details in a paragraph clearly refer—perhaps indirectly—to a main point.
The vast majority of your paragraphs, however, should have a topic sentence. Most paragraphs in an essay have a three-part structure—introduction, body, and conclusion. You can see this structure in paragraphs whether they are narrating, describing, comparing, contrasting, or analyzing information.
Each part of the paragraph plays an important role in communicating your meaning to your reader. Introduction : the first section of a paragraph; should include the topic sentence and any other sentences at the beginning of the paragraph that give background information or provide a transition.
For online readers, a long sea of text in a very long paragraph can be difficult to read and follow on a screen. The topic sentence that you so carefully wrote will be lost in a lump of text. It will be almost impossible to digest on a screen. Long paragraphs are difficult to read and understand. A huge number of words tend to merge together in a sea of blocked text.
It makes comprehension difficult. It requires far more concentration to read. S tart a new paragraph and s pace out your text to make it easier for your readers. It might be okay when students write essays.
But for screen reading, you should always avoid using a lot of sentences without adding line breaks. How many sentences you use should be about how readable your text is for a reader and not about old-fashioned rules. You can see the word count warning above. It pops up a warning for me anytime I exceed ninety words. But I am always surprised that it says that it should typically be one to five sentences.
You can measure a good piece of writing for online reading by how many words are in a paragraph and the number of sentences you link together. You can breathe a sigh of relief if you are writing and publishing paperbacks or hardcover versions of your book. Reading on paper is different from online reading. It is the same as it has been for centuries. You can use words in a paragraph, and your readers will love you for it. But when you are publishing an ebook, you might think about changing your formatting to help your readers.
Give your ebook readers plenty of space. Break up your text into smaller and more digestible chunks. Add more line breaks than you would usually do for a paperback. It will make your ebook much easier to read on any screen or device. People read ebooks on many devices, ranging from quite small to medium screens.
Your text will flow to suit the size of a screen. They might need space to scroll down a page with their thumb as they read, or to tap to turn pages. You will certainly have long compound sentences in an ebook manuscript. But try to limit them to only one or two sentences per paragraph. Before publishing an ebook, you should check how your book looks and reads on a small screen. Single or two-sentence paragraphs are now almost the norm for web pages, blog posts, and online news articles.
Popular mainstream newspapers are following the rule. It is unclear what the author is talking about here. Is it about a favorite month, or a favorite day, or the relation between them? Splitting them into two like done in point 1, ensures that the paragraph maintains one topic and smoothly relates to the paragraph that follows.
Use it to your advantage by following simple rules:. What are the struggles you face while deciding the length of a paragraph? Share your thoughts in the comments below. Free online education, online learning sites, online educational platforms, learning platform, learn it online, learn skills online, free online learning. While blogging requires writing as an essential skill, most traditional authors with a literature background have a tricky relationship with.
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So you want to take the leap into freelance writing? Hearty congratulations on making the decision! Additional menu. Featured Best Tools. For Podcast Hosting. For Web Hosting. For Course Creation. It is the question many writers have pondered and tons have failed to answer accurately: How long is a paragraph?
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