Paragraphs and When to Use Them

PARAGRAPHS AND WHEN TO USE THEM

Many people never learned how and when to use paragraphs. Most likely they learned that every paragraph should have a topic sentence, but that's where their knowledge of paragraphing stops. Below are some guidelines on when to create a new paragraph and their uses.

PARAGRAPHS ARE UNITS OF COMPOSITION. They help you organize your ideas so that they flow freely from one to the other.

Change paragraphs:

1. At a change of place.
2. At a change of time.
3. To show a specific case as related to your topic.
4. To change to a more specific time.
5. When the speaker changes.

Different paragraphs do different things.

1. Opening and closing.
2. Find subdivisions in your topic.
3. Provides support for your ideas.

EACH PARAGRAPH MUST HAVE A TOPIC SENTENCE--one that states its purpose.

1. Control the length of each paragraph by making it just long enough to support and develop the controlling idea.

2. Try to limit your paragraph to five lines--not sentences. If it's too long, break it down into a series of paragraphs on subtopics.

3. Vary paragraph length. A series of short paragraphs can emphasize a point.

4. Use one-sentence paragraphs to emphasize a point.

PARAGRAPHS ALLOW YOU TO:

1. Control your ideas.
2. Provide concrete examples, reasons and illustrations.
3. Comment on your ideas--give your opinion.
4. State your main point again in other ways.
5. Summarize for other people by stating what you believe or what you learned.

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