What Is a Paragraph? Really, Teachers and Students Want to Know!

So, What Is a Paragraph? A Little Review

Let’s start with a quick review of various paragraph concepts I’ve discussed elsewhere on my website. All of these concepts are essential for understanding paragraphs.

Do you want to understand paragraphs? Go to the library and collect 20 books, magazines, and newspapers from different sections of the library. Now, open them up and look at the paragraphs. What do you see? The truth is that there is a paragraph logic behind everything you see.

Hopefully, you have gathered at least a few different types of books for various audiences and examined the paragraphs. Keep what you saw in mind as you move forward. Now, let’s begin exploring the true nature of paragraphs.

Paragraph as Verb vs. Paragraph as Noun

For at least one hundred years, dictionaries have defined “paragraph” as both a noun and a verb. Here is how Webster’s Dictionary defined paragraph in 1913. Oxford Dictionary (2016) defines it pretty much the same way.

♦ Noun: Any section or subdivision of a writing or chapter which relates to a particular point, whether consisting of one or many sentences. (Webster’s Dictionary – 1913)

♦ Verb: To divide into paragraphs.

Paragraphing Styles

In The Ten Stages of Paragraph and Multi-Paragraph Mastery, I discuss paragraphing styles in depth as they relate to student writers. When thinking about professional writing, two of the following styles will jump out at you as extremely common. Keep these styles in mind moving forward.

1. Short and Lively Paragraph Style
2. Formulaic Paragraph Style
3. Natural and Organized Paragraph Style

Paragraphing Styles in Different Genres

Genre is one of the most important concepts in writing. Once again, I suggest analyzing 20 different books from 20 different sections of the library because you will find 20 different genres. To be clear, I look at genres the way Netflix and Rotten Tomatoes look at genres. Things like audience and format are often a part of specific genres.

It’s difficult to understand paragraphing in the real world without understanding genre. In short, if writers don’t paragraph in line with their genre’s requirements, the genre audience may not like it and may even have a gut reaction against it and refuse to read it. Writers must paragraph (verb) for their readers. Consider the different lengths and styles of paragraphing in these various genres:

»  popular fiction vs. encyclopedias vs. legal briefs vs. emails vs. journal articles vs. children’s chapter books vs. college textbooks vs. elementary textbooks vs. magazine articles vs. classic novels from the 18th century vs. internet writing

1. The Paragraph as Punctuation

The paragraph mark began its life as punctuation. In fact, it’s regarded as the very first punctuation mark. Take a look!

»  The paragraph is the oldest mark of punctuation in Greek manuscripts. It first occurs as a horizontal stroke (sometimes with a dot over it), placed at the beginning of a line, just beneath the first two or three letters. It indicated that a sentence, or some longer division of the text, was ended in the underscored line. The mark thus distinguished the close of one section rather than the beginning of another. – The History of the English Paragraph (1894) by Edwin Herbert Lewis

The Six Traits of Writing model lists punctuation and paragraphing as parts of Conventions. In other words, even today, paragraphing is often viewed as punctuation.

The only other trait paragraphing could be associated with is Organization. However, paragraphing in real writing is more complicated and does not simply reflect an organizational structure. Different genres require different paragraphing strategies, and different writers paragraph differently across different genres. The Six Traits of Writing was created by examining what real writers do, and real writers use paragraphs as a form of punctuation. Writers use paragraphing as a way of creating clearness and emphasis or simply as a way of indicating a pause in thought.

The following two quotes effectively explain paragraphing as punctuation. Please note that the bold headings are parts of the quotes.

»  Paragraph a Mark of Punctuation: Discussion of the paragraph really belongs under the head of punctuation, since its purpose is to set off the larger divisions of the story in the same way that the period and the comma mark sentences and phrases. The indention of the first line catches the eye of the reader and notifies him silently to stop for a summary of his impressions before starting a somewhat different phase of the story. Its purpose, like that of the other marks of punctuation, is clearness and emphasis. — News Writing: The Gathering , Handling and Writing of News Stories (1917) by M. Lyle Spencer

»  Indentation: In written and printed matter, the beginning of a paragraph is indicated by an indentation. Indentation does not make a paragraph, but we indent because we are beginning a new paragraph. Indentation thus serves the same purpose as punctuation. It helps the reader to determine when we have finished one main thought and are about to begin another. — Composition-Rhetoric (1905) by Stratton D. Brooks

2. The Paragraph as an Expanded or Extended Sentence

A while back, as an experiment and to prove it to myself, I rewrote several fully developed paragraphs as single, grammatically correct sentences. I discovered that it’s not that hard. Extremely long sentences have a main clause, along with some coordinate clauses, subordinate clauses, and modifiers. What makes a long sentence a well-written sentence is that it has unity, coherence, and emphasis. That’s exactly what a well-written, fully-developed paragraph must have.

In short, we can break up long sentences into multiple sentences and, in the process, create a paragraph. In one sense, a paragraph is simply an expanded or extended sentence, with the main clause clearly expressed as a topic sentence. Take a look!

»  Sometimes an author makes his paragraphs little else than expanded sentences. This is a common style of Jeremy Taylor. — Handbook of the English Tongue (1861) by Joseph Angus, M.A.

»  In essence the paragraph today is just what it has been since the beginning, an “expanded sentence” – logically, structurally, semantically. — A Discourse-centered Rhetoric of the Paragraph (1966) by Paul C. Rodgers, Jr.

»  Another [way to think of the paragraph] is to think of the paragraph as a group of logically related sentences, composed of unified parts, based on a single idea. It is possible to view the paragraph as an extended sentence. — Process and Thought in Composition (1980) by Frank J. D’Angelo

»  Just as it is possible to view the paragraph as an extended sentence, it is also possible to view the essay as an extended paragraph, or conversely to view the paragraph as a miniature essay. In this view, the same compositional principles of coordination and subordination apply. — Process and Thought in Composition (1975) by Frank J. D’Angelo

3. The Paragraph as a Mini-Essay

This is the most damaging interpretation of the paragraph for teaching students to write. Although there is truth in it, it is not true. Understanding the paragraph as a whole and not as a part of a whole creates a distorted view of what a paragraph is.

Alexander Bain’s original definition of a paragraph is both excellent and problematic. This is the definition that led to the mini-essay theory.

»  The division of discourse next higher than the sentence is the Paragraph: which is a collection of sentences with unity of purpose. Like every division of discourse, a paragraph handles and exhausts a distinct topic. — English Composition and Rhetoric (1866) by Alexander Bain

I agree with the “collection of sentences with unity of purpose” aspect. In fact, I believe that this is all that a paragraph is—and has ever been. I suppose the “paragraph handles and exhausts a distinct topic” causes the problem. It is not a problem if the writer also understands that Bain says that is also what a sentence does. To paraphrase Bain, “like every division of discourse,” a sentence handles and exhausts a distinct topic.

As you can see in the following quotes, this mini-essay theory has persisted.

»  A Paragraph is in fact a whole composition in miniature, and sometimes constitutes a whole composition. — The Structure of English Prose: A Manual of Composition and Rhetoric (1885) by John G. R. McElroy

»  In this chapter we shall study each paragraph as if it were a separate and complete composition in miniature, and shall use the term isolated paragraph to indicate that fact. — Paragraph Writing: A Rhetoric For Colleges (1909) by Fred Newton Scott and Joseph Villiers Denny

»  They [English teachers] believed that a well-developed paragraph is “a composition in miniature.” They believed, accordingly, that good English teachers should concentrate on teaching their students to write good paragraphs, because good paragraphs are really good essays writ small. — When Is a Paragraph? (1976) by Arthur A. Stern

4. The Paragraph as a Hierarchy of Ideas

Organized writing is always a hierarchy of ideas. This hierarchy includes superordinate, coordinate, and subordinate ideas. And yes, in case you are wondering, an outline is the classic example of this hierarchy of ideas. However, in the real world of paragraph writing, the main ideas (superordinate ideas) are implied around 50% of the time. Even when main ideas are implied, these superordinate ideas are still a part of the hierarchy.

The reality of writing in the real world is that some paragraphs are a continuation of the preceding paragraph. In short, sometimes two or more paragraphs are built around a single main idea, forming a paragraph bloc.

Although all organized writing forms a hierarchy of ideas, a perfect and consistent hierarchy of ideas looks somewhat formulaic. That’s not how most writers write. The following two quotes point out that this hierarchy of ideas is critical at all levels of composition.

»  Just as it is possible to view the paragraph as an extended sentence, it is also possible to view the essay as an extended paragraph, or conversely to view the paragraph as a miniature essay. In this view, the same compositional principles of coordination and subordination apply. — Process and Thought in Composition (1980) by Frank J. D’Angelo

»  Beyond the sentence, the analyses of paragraphs by Francis Christensen illustrate the fundamental grammatical principles of coordination and subordination in the structure of discourse. — A Conceptual Theory of Rhetoric (1975) by Frank J. D’Angelo

5. The Paragraph as a Logical Division with Unity of Purpose

This section covers how I primarily view a paragraph. Why? As I write, I frequently use two keyboard clicks to turn 2 paragraphs into 1 or 1 paragraph into 2. Every paragraph is a logical division, and the only requirement is that it must have unity. This aligns with Bain’s original definition: A paragraph is a “collection of sentences with unity of purpose.”

Teaching division is one of the most critical aspects of teaching writing. To be clear, I primarily teach division as I teach prewriting. As students write across the curriculum, division is more of a feeling. You begin a point, and when you feel you have finished the point—you indent. However, I also teach division in rewriting for students who don’t create effective paragraphs.

One of the most valuable skills a writing teacher can have is being able to identify the divisions in unparagraphed or poorly paragraphed text. (I expand on this below in “A Final Note: Understanding Reparagraphing.”)

Every division must be a logical division. Even in the “Short and Lively” paragraph style, the point made in each paragraph must be logically different from the paragraph before and after it, even though they may be addressing the same main point. The following quotes address the paragraph as a logical division.

»  Writers paragraph for a variety of reasons—for example, to change tone, to shift rhythm, or to emphasize a point. The most important reason, however, is for logical considerations. Understanding the logical basis of paragraphing is of primary importance in developing in the writer a sense of “form consciousness.” — Process and Thought in Composition (1980) by Frank J. D’Angelo

»  Surely the truth lies somewhere between. We invent paragraphs, and we discover paragraphs. At times we are highly conscious of the reasons for indenting a particular group of words as a paragraph; at times we are not. — A Conceptual Theory of Rhetoric (1975) by Frank J. D’Angelo

»  So soon as an essay is developed beyond a certain length, it falls naturally into paragraphs corresponding more or less to some division of the subject into parts. A paragraph is a part which, during the process of composition, has defined itself as one distinct stage in the progress of the essay. — A College Manual of Rhetoric (1905) by Charles Sears Baldwin A.M., Ph.D.

»  One way is to see the paragraph as a division of a longer piece of writing… Paragraphing is the process of differentiating the parts within the whole to achieve the writer’s purpose. — Process and Thought in Composition (1980) by Frank J. D’Angelo

In a moment, we will look at an experiment Arthur A. Stern used to do where English teachers disagreed on how a text should be paragraphed. Ironically, I also agree with this quote from D’Angelo, which presents a different side of the issue. This quote reveals that most experienced writers can identify logical changes that create logical divisions—or paragraphs.

»  Give an experienced writer a completed piece of writing, one that has been written without traditional paragraph divisions, and he or she can invariably divide that piece of writing into thought units that make sense. Although some writers may disagree slightly as to where some of the paragraph divisions should be, the extent to which they will agree is amazing. — Process and Thought in Composition (1980) by Frank J. D’Angelo

6. The Paragraph as Style and Voice

Paragraphing creates voice and style. I fully accepted this as accurate when I noticed that many high-scoring student essays on state writing assessments used a short and lively paragraph style. Evidently, these students knew how to create writing that people enjoyed reading. That’s style and voice. Skilled writers create a rhythm and feeling of beginning, middle, and ending using emphasis, climax, and even ellipses. Let’s look at some quotes!

»  Paragraph structure is part and parcel of the structure of the discourse as a Whole; a given stadium becomes a paragraph not by virtue of its structure but because the writer elects to indent, his indentation functioning, as does all punctuation, as a gloss upon the overall literary process under way at that point. Paragraphs are not composed; they are discovered. To compose is to create; to indent is to interpret. — A Discourse-centered Rhetoric of the Paragraph (1966) by Paul C. Rodgers, Jr.

»  Surely the truth lies somewhere between. We invent paragraphs, and we discover paragraphs. At times we are highly conscious of the reasons for indenting a particular group of words as a paragraph; at times we are not. — A Conceptual Theory of Rhetoric (1975) by Frank J. D’Angelo

»  Rhetoric’s proper task is to understand why indentations occur when they do, rather than to devise some Procrustean [enforcing conformity against what’s natural] formula for governing the behavior of sentences between breaks, and to insist upon applying it over and over again throughout all written discourse. What we need is a philosophy of paragraph punctuation, a flexible, open-ended discourse-centered rhetoric of the paragraph. — A Discourse-centered Rhetoric of the Paragraph (1966) by Paul C. Rodgers, Jr.

Arthur Stern did one of my favorite experiments. In short, he removed the paragraphing from a text and asked groups of English teachers to reparagraph it. Here are the results. You will never understand paragraphs if you don’t understand this section.

»  We discover that some students have divided the passage into two paragraphs, others into three, still others into four or five. What is more, nearly all of these possible divisions seem justifiable—they “feel right.” Most surprisingly of all is the fact that only five students out of the more than 100 who have tried the experiment have paragraphed the passage precisely as Brooks and Warren originally did.

These results are hardly earthshaking, I realize. They prove, if they prove anything, only that different students have different intuitions about paragraphing and that many of these intuitions turn out to be equally acceptable, equally “correct.” But perhaps a few facts I have so far neglected to mention will make this discovery less trivial than it may at first appear.

First of all, the students who took part in the exercise were not college freshmen; they were teachers of English. Secondly, most of them were committed to the theory, promulgated by many handbooks, that the paragraph is a purely “logical” unit of discourse. They believed, that is to say, that a paragraph is a group of sentences developing one central idea. They believed that good paragraphs always (or usually) contain identifiable topic sentences which always (or usually) occur toward the beginning of the paragraphs. They believed that a well-developed paragraph is “a composition in miniature.” They believed, accordingly, that good English teachers should concentrate on teaching their students to write good paragraphs, because good paragraphs are really good essays writ small. — When Is a Paragraph? (1976) by Arthur A. Stern

»  As every experienced writer knows, paragraphing helps establish a tone or “voice.” (Editors know this, too. That is why they frequently re-paragraph a writer’s prose to bring it into conformity with their publication’s image.) Short paragraphs appear to move more swiftly than long ones; short paragraphs lighten up the appearance of a page, whereas long ones, containing the identical information, give the page a heavier, more scholarly look. — When Is a Paragraph? (1976) by Arthur A. Stern

This next quote is a response to Stern’s work.

»  What we learn from this [Stern’s paragraph experiment] is that paragraph breaks are a rhetorical choice the writer makes. Rhetorical choices convey meaning, because they’re not just about following rules or adhering to conventions. When you end one paragraph and start the next one, you’re telling your reader something about your ideas. Paragraphs, topic sentences, and closing sentences are all examples of signposting—telling your reader something about how your ideas fit together. — Paragraph Focus as Signposting (2016) by Dr. Kathryn Tucker