Using Paragraphs

A friend commented that I did not indent for paragraphs. Weren’t paragraphs supposed to be indented? My answer, as it often is: it depends. It depends on custom, on format, on personal preference. Perhaps it might help to examine the history of paragraphing. 

Separating ideas has always been recognized as an important technique in writing, but punctuation and paragraphing were an afterthought. In a (very) abbreviated history, symbols became a way of separating ideas, first into sentences, and then as paragraphs. The paragraph symbol ¶ (called a pilcrow in case you need a Scrabble word that will confuse everyone) was first used between sentences. It was anyone’s guess, however, as to why the writer inserted it or what it meant. 

Moreover, the expense of paper, the time and expense involved in making parchment from sheepskins, meant that space was important, often too important to waste indenting for paragraphs, much less starting a new paragraph on a different line. Instead of separating paragraphs with space, writers and copiers often used the symbol and then kept going on the same line. They also used indenting, new lines, outdenting, and other ways of indicating a new paragraph. In the picture* here, you can see the outdenting (the oversized letter) as well as a pilcrow a few lines further on.

It wasn’t until the printing press came into common use that space and indents became standard for indicating a new paragraph. The invention of printing, and ultimately the invention of the typewriter, changed how people used space for paragraphing. Gregg’s Typing Manual, especially the older versions, would be a good reference if you want more information.

Now for the rules**: I’ve heard a lot of rules about paragraphing over the years. You have my permission to ignore these rules. Ultimately, none of them are much more than guidelines, if that. As with many so called rules, the rules about paragraphs seem to be made up out of whole cloth. I’m not even sure where most of these rules came from.

In my classes, I often asked students how long a paragraph should be. The answers varied from 3 to 5 to 7 sentences with a good number of outliers. Sometimes students would provide a number of words, say, 150 words long. That kind of variation is enough to make a thoughtful writer question any of the rules about paragraph length. We’re also told that paragraphs must have a topic sentence, a certain number of support sentences, and a concluding sentence. 

Topic sentences, of course, come first. Or maybe not. I’ve seen plenty of paragraphs with the focal statement in the middle or at the end. Sometimes you have to lead up to the point (the topic sentence) and then offer additional evidence afterward. On occasion, the focus needs to come after the evidence is presented, so you get a topic sentence at the end of a paragraph.

Can a paragraph exist without a topic sentence? Consider this situation: you have a sub topic within a paper that will take several paragraphs to discuss. The first paragraph in the sub topic may very well have a focus sentence, or topic sentence, but subsequent paragraphs have no topic sentence. They simply expand on the first paragraph. Putting in a topic sentence for each of these paragraphs would be redundant and annoying. Such a set of paragraphs would not have concluding sentences for each paragraph either. What would be the point? The next paragraph simply continues where the previous one left off. If there is a concluding sentence at all, it will come near the end of the final paragraph on the sub topic.

And how many of us have seen one sentence paragraphs (which obviously not only have no topic sentence, but no support or concluding sentences)? Have we actually questioned whether that was correct? I suspect most of us have simply accepted it and moved on.

We’ve also been told that writers insert a paragraph when they shift ideas, time, or person. If we strictly followed that rule, every sentence would be a paragraph. What then is the point of a sentence? Logically, this rule makes very little sense either. 

If we have no set rules then, where do we insert a paragraph? As a guideline, we can use the shift in person, idea, or time, but it is a guideline only. We must keep other things in mind as well.

For instance, adding emphasis in writing is not easy. Italics can’t be used for that—we reserve italics for titles these days. (The internet has forced some changes. Underlining used to be the way we distinguished titles of books or journals. Now underlining indicates a hyperlink.) Nor can we use quotation marks. Those are reserved for quotations.

We can emphasize an important point by giving it a paragraph to itself.

See what I did there? Another guideline involves formatting, which was introduced about the time typewriters were invented. According to the old typing manuals, you have several choices for formatting a paper. One is full block: single spaced with a double space between paragraphs. Another common format is semi-block, or what passes for semi-block these days: double spaced with paragraphs indented. If we double spaced between paragraphs in a double spaced document—I think you get the point. 

Most journals want article drafts submitted in double space, so indenting for paragraphs makes sense. Letters, memos, and emails are frequently single spaced with a double space between paragraphs. In full block, indenting is not considered strictly necessary, although some people choose to do so. Part of the reason is word processing itself. We don’t have to physically return a typewriter carriage at the end of a line. The word processor does word wrap for us. When we do hit a hard return, we get an extra vertical space. Not so long ago, any extra letters or spaces took up memory in a computer, and memory was a precious commodity. Indenting in addition to a hard return required additional memory, memory the computer might not have. (Spacing after periods and colons also changed with the advent of word processing, and now we most frequently single space after each. Some people still hold out, continuing to double space after periods and colon.)

Still another guideline involves what I call TLDR, which is the internet forum abbreviation for “too long; didn’t read”. Which is easier to read: A short paragraph or a long one? Breaking up a long paragraph makes the reader’s job easier, so break it up. 

The internet has also had an influence on paragraph length, interestingly enough. Scrolling down in a long paragraph is irritating. I lose my place and often end up having to backtrack, which wastes time. Shorter paragraphs that fit into a single window are much easier to read.

If you want the TLDR, here it is. Make sure a paragraph is focused and unified, and make sure the reader won’t give up on reading it before getting to the end.

Thanks for the inspiration, Rogue Bolo!

*I borrowed the picture more or less at random from an article on the history of punctuation and paragraphing.

**If you want a full discussion of paragraphing and all the intricacies thereof, check out any good grammar handbook. My favorite is still “The Little, Brown Handbook”.