The Paragraph

A paragraph (2) is a graphical term used to name a group of sen­tences marked off by indentation at the beginning and a break in the line at the end. But this graphical term has come to mean a distinct portion of a written discourse showing an internal unity. The paragraph is a unit of utterance marked off by purely linguistic means: intonation, pauses of various lengths, semantic ties which can be disclosed by scrupulous analysis of the morphological aspect and meaning of the component parts.

The paragraph is a linguistic expre ssion of a logical, pragmatic and aesthet­ic arrangement of thought.

Paragraph structure is not always built on logical principles alone. In the building of paragraphs in newspaper style psychological principles play an important role.

Paragraph building in the style of official documents is mainly governed by the particular conventional forms of documents (charters, pacts, diplomatic documents, business letters, legal documents and the like). Here paragraphs may sometimes embody what are grammati­cally called a number of parallel clauses, which for the sake of the whole­ness of the entire document are made formally subordinate, whereas in reality they are independent items.

Paragraph structure is strongly affected by the purport of the author.

The length of a paragraph normally varies from eight to twelve sentences. The longer the paragraph is, the more difficult it is to fol­low the purport of the writer. In newspaper style most para­graphs consist of one or perhaps two or three sentences.

There are models of paragraphs built on different principles:

1) from the general to the particular, or from the particular to the general;

2) on the inductive or deductive principle;

3) from cause to effect, or from effect to cause;

4) on contrast or composition.

A paragraph in certain styles is a dialogue (with the reader) in the form of a monologue. The breaking-up of a piece of writing into para­graphs can be regarded as an expression of consideration for the reader on the part of the author. It manifests itself in the author's being aware of limits in the reader's capacity for perceiving and absorbing informa­tion. Therefore paragraphs are clear, precise, logically coherent, and possess unity, i.e. express one main thought. Paragraphs in emotive prose are combinations of the logical and the emotional. The aim of the author in breaking up the narrative into paragraphs is not only to facilitate understanding but also for emphasis. That is why paragraphs in the belles-lettres prose are sometimes built on contrast or on climax.

Дата добавления: 2014-01-11