Why Do Paragraphs Matter?

After reading so many posts that consist of one paragraph with run on sentences... I thought I'd share some reasons why paragraphs do really matter. If you learn it here on the FFN, it sure may help you in the real world. This is no different than learning fireground tactics or ems skills. It's all building blocks.

Conveying your thoughts clearly has many ramifications in both your personal and career worlds. Most importantly, if you don't have kids, you may some day. And that means that you get to help them on their homework assignments. Just another reason to not blow off this post and make the effort to do what you want your kids to do; strive for perfection!

Stay safe, train often and remember that spelling and grammar are important. BZ

Reason #1. Focus.
A paragraph is a handy way to develop a thesis. Every paragraph must have a thesis, or a main idea; sometimes, but not always, with a topic sentence. Contrary to what you may have
learned in high school English, a topic sentence doesn’t have to occur at the beginning of the paragraph; it may occur at the end of the paragraph, or somewhere in the middle.

Reason #2. Design.
Paragraphs break up the page and comfort the reader’s eyes. No one wants to look at a full page of type. So break up your text. Feed oxygen to your reader’s eyes. The white space on a page is air for the eyeballs and the mind.

Reason #3. Momentum.
Paragraphs, if placed in proper sequence, build your argument’s momentum. Some writers make an outline that builds momentum.

Reason #4. Paragraphs create unity.
As stated above, a paragraph must focus on a central idea.

There are two kinds of paragraphs: the chain-link paragraph and the list paragraph.

The Chain-link paragraph.
In the chain link paragraph, every sentence is linked—through a word, a phrase, or an idea—to the sentence that comes before, and the sentence that follows. Good writers pay attention to how sentences link. Below is “The Gettysburg Address,” perhaps the greatest political speech in American history. The sentences are separated and numbered so that you can more easily examine the links. In parentheses, following each sentence, are words that link the sentences.

1. Fourscore and seven years ago, our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.
2. Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. (nation, conceived, dedicated)
3. We are met on a great battlefield of that war. (we, war)
4. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field as a final resting-place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. (we, field, nation)
5. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this. (“this” refers to the previously stated idea)
6. But in a larger sense we cannot dedicate, we cannot consecrate, we cannot hallow this ground. (dedicate)
7. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here have consecrated it far above our poor power to add or detract. (consecrated, it)
8. The world will little note, nor long remember, what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. (here, they)
9. It is for us, the living, rather to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. (dedicated, they)
10. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us—that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion—that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain—that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom—and that the government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth. (dedicated, dead, they, nation)

In his great speech, a single paragraph, Lincoln hit all the marks: unity, cadence, momentum, political acumen. The paragraph is unified because it focuses on a single, albeit complex, idea (honoring the dead for preserving the nation’s founding ideals). It achieves cadence by repeating certain words. It achieves momentum by starting out with a simple idea, gradually becoming more complex; ending with a stupendous display of prosaic fireworks.

The List Paragraph.

To convey a single idea, a paragraph can also be a list. The sentences are put together, forming a list of ideas supporting a single idea.

The Exemplification Paragraph
An exemplification paragraph explains a general idea by offering specific examples.

Once you have written your paragraph(s), provide revision
through clarity and organization, you are leading your reader by the hand. After you have written your paragraph, examine each sentence to make sure it logically follows the sentence before it, and logically precedes the sentence after it.

If you take the time to do this, your thoughts will be conveyed a lot more clearly and you will find yourself being more productive. Keep this in mind if you are looking toward getting things for your department when it comes time for writing grants or providing a good narrative for incident reports.

You are what you write. Write On!