A paragraph

A paragraph

In summary, a paragraph is: a unit of writing used in non-fiction and fictional prose a part of writing that expresses a certain topic The use of transition words to start a paragraph will make your text more engaging. These transition phrases will tell the reader that you know what you are doing. Using the right keywords and phrases to start a new paragraph will link it to what you had said in the previous ones. We refer to these link phrases and words to as signposts/10() Definition of paragraph. (Entry 1 of 2) 1 a: a subdivision of a written composition that consists of one or more sentences, deals with one point or gives the words of one speaker, and begins on a new usually indented line The introductory paragraphs were written by the editor. b: a short composition or note that is complete in one paragraph

Paragraph | Definition of Paragraph by Merriam-Webster

A paragraph from the Ancient Greek παράγραφοςparágraphos" to write beside " is a self-contained unit of discourse in writing dealing with a particular point or idea. A paragraph consists of one or more sentences. The oldest classical Greek and Latin writing had little or no space between words and could be written in boustrophedon alternating directions.

Over time, text direction left to right became standardized, and word dividers and terminal punctuation became common. The first way to divide sentences into groups was the original paragraphssimilar to an underscore at the beginning of the new group. The hedera leaf e. In ancient manuscripts, another means to divide sentences into paragraphs was a line break newline followed by an initial at the beginning of a paragraph next paragraph.

An initial is an oversized capital letter, sometimes outdented beyond the margin of the text. This style can be seen, a paragraph, for example, in the original Old English manuscript of Beowulf. Outdenting is still used in English typography, though not commonly. This style can be seen in the handwritten United States Constitution from For additional ornamentation, a hedera leaf or other symbol can be added to the inter-paragraph white space, or put in the indentation space.

A second common modern English style is to use no indenting, but add vertical white space to create "block paragraphs. This style is very common in electronic formats, such as on the World Wide Web and email. Wikipedia itself employs this format. Widows and orphans occur when the first line of a paragraph is the last in a column or page, or when the last line of a paragraph is the first line of a new column or page. Professionally printed material in English typically does not indent the first paragraph, a paragraph, but indents those that follow, a paragraph.

For example, Robert Bringhurst states that we should "Set opening paragraphs flush left. The function of a paragraph is to mark a pause, setting the paragraph apart from what precedes it.

If a paragraph is preceded by a title or subhead, the indent is superfluous and can therefore be omitted. The Elements of Typographic Style states that "at least one en [space] " should be used to indent paragraphs after the first, [3] noting that that is the "practical minimum". In word processing and desktop publishinga hard return or paragraph break indicates a paragraph new paragraph, to be distinguished from the soft return at the end of a line internal to a paragraph paragraph.

A paragraph distinction allows word wrap to automatically re-flow text as it is edited, without losing paragraph breaks. The software may apply vertical white space or indenting at paragraph breaks, depending on the selected style. How such documents are actually stored depends on the file format, a paragraph. In plaintext files, there are two common formats.

The pre-formatted text will have a newline at the end of every physical line, and two newlines at the end of a paragraph, creating a blank line. An alternative is to only put newlines at the end of each paragraph, and leave word wrapping up to the application that displays or processes the text. A line break that is inserted manually, and preserved when a paragraph, may still be distinct from a paragraph break, although this is typically not done in prose.

Paragraphs are commonly numbered using the decimal system, where in books the integral part of the decimal represents the number of a paragraph chapter and the fractional parts are arranged in each chapter in order of magnitude. Thus in Whittaker and A paragraph A Course of Modern Analysischapter 9 is devoted to Fourier Series; within that chapter §9. Whittaker and Watson a paragraph this system of numbering to Giuseppe Peano on their "Contents" page, although this attribution does not seem to be widely credited elsewhere, a paragraph.

Many published books use a device to separate certain paragraphs further when there is a change of scene or time. This extra space, especially when a paragraph at a page or section break, may contain an asteriskthree asterisks, a special stylistic dingbator a special symbol known as an asterism. The crafting of clear, coherent paragraphs is the subject of considerable stylistic debate. The form varies among different types of writing. For example, newspapers, scientific journals, and fictional essays have somewhat different conventions for the placement of paragraph breaks.

A common English usage misconception is that a paragraph has three to five sentences; single-word paragraphs can be seen in some professional writing, and journalists often a paragraph single-sentence paragraphs. English students are sometimes taught that a paragraph should have a topic sentence or "main idea", preferably first, and multiple "supporting" or "detail" sentences that explain or supply evidence. One technique of this type, intended for a paragraph writing, is known as the Schaffer paragraph.

This advice differs from a paragraph advice for the construction of paragraphs in A paragraph translated as danraku 段落. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. The examples and perspective in this article may not represent a worldwide view of the subject. You may improve this articlediscuss the issue on the a paragraph pageor create a new articleas appropriate. June Learn a paragraph and when to remove this template message.

See also: Newline. Main article: Section typography. The Writing Center. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Retrieved 20 June The History of the Paragraph.

University of Chicago Press. The Elements of Typographic Style. Vancouver: Hartley and Marks, a paragraph. ISBN Legibility of Print, a paragraph.

Iowa: Iowa State University Press. A paragraph Web Docs. Retrieved 15 March Canons of page construction Column Even working Margin Page numbering Pagination Pull quote Recto and verso, a paragraph.

Alignment Leading River Sentence spacing Widows and orphans, a paragraph. Counter Diacritics Dingbat A paragraph Initial Kerning Letter-spacing Ligature Rotation Subscript and superscript Swash Text figures Tittle. All caps Camel case Letter case Small caps, a paragraph.

Italics Oblique Bold Color printing Underline Blackboard bold Blackletter, a paragraph. Ascender Baseline Cap height Descender Median Overshoot a paragraph. Serif Antiquaa paragraph, Didoneslab serif Sans-serif.

Fraktur Rotunda Schwabacher. Insular Uncial. Record type Outline typeface Display typeface scriptfat facereverse-contrast. Dashes Hanging punctuation Hyphen-minus Hyphenation Prime mark Quotation mark. A paragraph shrdlu A paragraph computer monospaced Font catalog For position only Letterpress Lorem ipsum Microprinting Microtypography Movable type Pangram Phototypesetting Punchcutting Type color Type design Typeface list.

Agate Cicero Em En Figure space Measure Paren space Pica Point traditional point-size names Proposed metric units Thin space Twip. Character encoding Hinting Rasterization Typographic features Web typography Bézier curves. Calligraphy Intentionally blank page Style guide Type foundry History Intellectual property protection of typefaces Technical lettering.

Punctuation a paragraph other typographic symbols, a paragraph. Categories : Typography Writing. Hidden categories: Articles with limited geographic scope from June Articles containing Ancient Greek to -language text All articles with unsourced statements Articles with unsourced statements from January Navigation menu Personal tools Not logged in Talk Contributions Create account Log in.

Namespaces Article Talk, a paragraph. Views Read Edit View history. Main page Contents Current events Random article About Wikipedia Contact us Donate. Help Learn to edit Community portal Recent changes Upload file, a paragraph. What links here Related changes Upload file Special pages Permanent link Page information Cite this page Wikidata item. Download as PDF Printable version. Typeface anatomy Counter Diacritics Dingbat Glyph Initial Kerning Letter-spacing Ligature Rotation Subscript and superscript Swash Text figures Tittle.

Roman type Serif Antiquaa paragraph, Didoneslab serif Sans-serif.

Paragraphs (Part I) - What is a Paragraph

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What is a Paragraph? Definition, Examples of Paragraphs - Writing Explained

A paragraph is a distinct section of writing covering one topic. A paragraph will usually contain more than one sentence. A paragraph starts on a new line. Sometimes, paragraphs are indented or numbered. (Whatever format you use, be consistent.) The "perfect paragraph" will start with a topic sentence The use of transition words to start a paragraph will make your text more engaging. These transition phrases will tell the reader that you know what you are doing. Using the right keywords and phrases to start a new paragraph will link it to what you had said in the previous ones. We refer to these link phrases and words to as signposts/10() In summary, a paragraph is: a unit of writing used in non-fiction and fictional prose a part of writing that expresses a certain topic