Paragraphs Versus Sentence Breaks.

[Abrasky]

I've noticed on the forum that moderators often correct people on their grammar by asking for paragraphs. However when they explain a paragraph, they actually explain what a sentence break/paragraph break is, not what a paragraph is. Sometimes moderators explain that a paragraph is bunch of sentences with a capital with a dot at the end. I would like to point out that that explaining a paragraph as a bunch of sentences with capital and a dot at the end is really ambigious and not concise and bad grammar. A paragraph is not a bunch of sentences with a capital and a dot at the end.

A paragraph has has a structure and builds on information and has different parts.

This is some basic principles of clear paragraph writing that I had in my other thread are:

Learning how to write paragraphs.
Learning to link paragraphs with a subject word
Not repeating ideas, once is enough
Not being ambigious
Using the same tense
Editing work for these tips
Paragraphs start with a subject in the first sentence and build apon this subject with further sentences. A subject could be a haircut. So the first sentence has the subject word of haircut in it.The second and subsequent sentences has ideas about the haircut and build apon the first sentence.

Writers use linking to build paragraphs. A link is a word that is in one paragraph that is in the first paragraph or previous paragraph. Linking makes the writing flow.

When using linking you can also use different words for the link. For example in one paragraph you might say The Logies presented awards for best picture. In the next paragraph you might say, The best awards show has seen a lot of competition shown this year. The linking idea for Logies has been replaced by best awards show.

Same tense is about writing the whole paragraph in one of the three tenses. You can write the paragraph either in the past tense, present tense or future tense. Past tense is "I went to the soccor match". Present tense is "I am at the soccer match". Future tense is "I am going to the soccer match". It is very hard to understand writing if it switches tense throughout a paragraph.

A bad tense paragraph sounds like this:
"I am going to get a pizza from the pizza shop. The pizza was a supreme pizza. The supreme pizza's at the pizza shop have a variety of toppings, some of the toppings were onion, capsicum. I will get cheese." A bad tense paragraph is very hard to write (requires more brainpower) and hard to understand.

Not being ambigious is about checking to see there are no double meanings in a sentence. For eg. I am going to bake a cake in the kitchen for grandma to eat on her birthday is clear, but I am going to bake a cake for a birthday and grandma is going to eat it might be a little less clear. It is less clear as grandma could be eating her birthday.

This is an example of a paragraph broken down;
First Sentence: Your haircut is nice.
Second Sentence, third sentence, 4th sentence, ect. My haircut(link word is haircut) was cut by the hairdresser at Just Cuts. The hairdresser (link word is hairdresser) at Just cuts gave me a bob haircut. The hairdresser was an experienced hairdresser and chatted a lot about her holiday to Bali.

Next paragraph new subject. The hairdresser said her holiday to Bail was wonderful. She (link word is she) enjoyed going to Bail because of the opportunity to do snorkelling.

Conclusion don't worry about that not important at this stage. It usually sums up the main body of the paragraph by drawing a conclusion such; "I learn a lot of things while getting a great haircut."

Another writing lesson for another day is about would be being concise. This sentence is less concise "It helped them a lot" is not as concise as "It helped them communicate clearly." In this sentence I've elaborates a bit more on the basic helped them a lot. But don't worry about that at this stage.

I hope that is helpful. I did writing tutoring for people with non english speaking backgrounds once. And it helped them communicate more clearly. I think clear communication helps in councelling too to get ideas across clearly so the therapist doesn't have to work so hard to understand what I am am trying to say.

This post not really a guide to writing, just a few tips for writing clearly that some might be interested in if they want to learn how. I am not trying to say what should be the rules of the forum. I'm just trying to report that some people may find that moderators trying to fix bad grammar by using bad grammar is a bit annoying.

Being good at grammar does not mean that people are good communicators. There are a lot of people who can spell and use capital letters in the right places but are terrible at commicating ideas across.

The concept of sentence breaks/ paragraph breaks rather than paragraphs would be much easier to understand. But that is jsut my opinon. Anyone can add to this if they want. I do feel moderators are good communicators other than this.

 

[sea]

That is why the rules state that they only expect basic grammar, not good grammar. The rules state that one must paragraph their posts as to reduce block text. They do not state that these paragraphs require to conform to what is subjectively "good" writing. Within the structure of the posting format, a paragraph is indeed a collection of related sentences. In writing, this is actually referred to as paragraphing.

From Wikipedia: A paragraph (from the Greek paragraphos, "to write beside" or "written beside") is a self-contained unit of a discourse in writing dealing with a particular point or idea. A paragraph consists of one or more sentences.The start of a paragraph is indicated by beginning on a new line. Sometimes the first line is indented. 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.

Whether or not one wants to write a good paragraph is up to subjective ability. The rules about grammar are pretty much accurate and understandable to the average layperson. A line break is just another way of saying "press enter twice to create a new paragraph".