How long should a paragraph be?
My friend Delanie in Atlanta checked out my blog and emailed me. After we bonded over the original 1959 series of Nancy Drew books (Delanie still has the entire set in hardback), she asked me a great question.
"How long should a paragraph be?" she questioned.
I'm glad she asked. Because this is another area where academia has steered you wrong. The nuns taught me, and I'm sure your teachers taught you, that paragraphs were long. The longer the better. Cover an entire subject in a paragraph and don't start a new paragraph until you change topics. Hence, the topic sentence. (To learn of the appropriateness of topic sentences in business writing today, see my post called "English gathers no moss.")
Well, pack this up with all the other useless, antiquated writing practices you've learned in your life.
The new paragraph looks much leaner and trimmer than its predecessor. So much so that the return key should be your new best friend.
The rule for today's business reader (and I hesitate to use the word rule, because so much changes so fast) is four lines maximum. Maybe you have to go to five or six if you're not at the end of a sentence after four lines.
But one-sentence paragraphs, two-line paragraphs, three and four-line paragraphs are the way you should go. Even if you wouldn't normally put a paragraph there.
You could say the new rule is anywhere you put a period you could put a paragraph.
Why?
White space. It is your friend. You should use it and over use it. White space is the most valuable tool reader-friendly communication can have.
Why?
Ever get an e-mail from someone who starts typing in the upper left hand corner and keeps typing and typing and typing through the entire screen until there is an endless list of words from sea to shining sea?
What's your impression of that email? Of the writer? Do you really want to read all that stuff? Do you feel overwhelmed? Do you think the writer spent any time at all thinking about what was being written? Or is the writer just rambling?
That's how everyone else feels, too.
Short paragraphs are essential in email because reading text on a computer screen is such a strain on the eye. White space breaks it up and invites the eye in. Short paragraphs are valuable in any other printed material, too. Because paragraph breaks give the reader a chance to stop, pause, take in the information, and then move on. It aids in understanding and absorption of the information.
So give that return key a hit, or two--to create white space between the paragraphs. Giving your text a break will give your reader a break, which will put you on a break-neck pace to reader-friendly print communication.
"How long should a paragraph be?" she questioned.
I'm glad she asked. Because this is another area where academia has steered you wrong. The nuns taught me, and I'm sure your teachers taught you, that paragraphs were long. The longer the better. Cover an entire subject in a paragraph and don't start a new paragraph until you change topics. Hence, the topic sentence. (To learn of the appropriateness of topic sentences in business writing today, see my post called "English gathers no moss.")
Well, pack this up with all the other useless, antiquated writing practices you've learned in your life.
The new paragraph looks much leaner and trimmer than its predecessor. So much so that the return key should be your new best friend.
The rule for today's business reader (and I hesitate to use the word rule, because so much changes so fast) is four lines maximum. Maybe you have to go to five or six if you're not at the end of a sentence after four lines.
But one-sentence paragraphs, two-line paragraphs, three and four-line paragraphs are the way you should go. Even if you wouldn't normally put a paragraph there.
You could say the new rule is anywhere you put a period you could put a paragraph.
Why?
White space. It is your friend. You should use it and over use it. White space is the most valuable tool reader-friendly communication can have.
Why?
Ever get an e-mail from someone who starts typing in the upper left hand corner and keeps typing and typing and typing through the entire screen until there is an endless list of words from sea to shining sea?
What's your impression of that email? Of the writer? Do you really want to read all that stuff? Do you feel overwhelmed? Do you think the writer spent any time at all thinking about what was being written? Or is the writer just rambling?
That's how everyone else feels, too.
Short paragraphs are essential in email because reading text on a computer screen is such a strain on the eye. White space breaks it up and invites the eye in. Short paragraphs are valuable in any other printed material, too. Because paragraph breaks give the reader a chance to stop, pause, take in the information, and then move on. It aids in understanding and absorption of the information.
So give that return key a hit, or two--to create white space between the paragraphs. Giving your text a break will give your reader a break, which will put you on a break-neck pace to reader-friendly print communication.
posted by Joan McCain at 7:54 PM
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