Monday, October 12, 2009

RULE NO. 6: SHORTEN YOUR PARAGRAPHS


Short paragraphs are better for three reasons.

Visually, they are easy on the eye. A long paragraph gives an impression of a gray forbidding mass. Tests have shown that readers skip a heavy block of text. Once you lose a reader, you rarely get him back. Short paragraphs act as a brake on the writer who strings too many ideas or facts together. It also signals the reader that a new step in the development of the subject will begin. Short paragraphs make for easy reference.

As a rule, begin each paragraph with a sentence that suggests the topic or a transition sentence. This aids the reader. Each paragraph should complete a single thought. After the paragraph has been written, see whether you can further break into two.

41 comments:

Cedydan Salen said...

This connected to rule #5 since when you shortened your sentences then your paragraph will also shortened. This also will make readers more attracted to your work since it is looks like easy to read.

Marielle Gaminde said...

Most of us, even if we don't admit it, skip the long space-consuming paragraphs during our exams. We tend to lose interest upon seeing the big mass of letters. So, in order for our articles to be reader-friendly, we must keep in mind that shortening our paragraphs and stating only the things that are really necessary for the article.

Johannes Kristoff R. Vito said...

Short paragraphs means short articles. When readers see that your article is only short, they will pursue on reading your article. No one will ignore your articles.

Leonell Elimanco Banaag said...

I can say that it is similar to that of Rule No. 5. It mainly focuses on shortening your paragraphs so that your readers won't get bored. If the reader looks at the layout of your work and find that there are too many paragraphs, the reader would just look for another article that is shorter, and apparently, more interesting to read.

Ryll Regine Punio Santos said...

I've have had times where I experience running into long paragraphs. Even though I love reading, I get bored at times when I read such long paragraphs. When you have a long paragraph, you tend to mix-up your ideas in one paragraph so sometimes, the readers get confused and stop reading your article. Each paragraph should contain just one idea as to execute a good article. So, I recommend that you always follow this rule when writing an article or even an essay.

Anonymous said...

To show maximum coherence and input without losing the attention of your readers, you must take into perspective and perfect options the use of simple sentences to be reprieved of lenthier sentences in the paragraph. The paragraphs being short brings attention to scanning your work and then if they get impressed on how you EXPRESSED, they may take a second glance at your article.

Anonymous said...

This rule is connected to the previous rule: keep your sentnces short. If you will follow rule no. 5, a chain reaction will happen and you will come up with short paragraphs. You can have the full substance with short paragraphs with five to six sentences. There is no harm in shortening your paragraphs, only benefits.

:D said...

Rule no. 5 states that we have to keep our sentence short and in relation with this one is rule no. 6, if you have more and longer sentences, you would also have a long paragraph. So don’t waste your time prolonging your paragraph if you could put things up in a short one.

dhalaine :) said...

I personally don't like long paragraphs. Just like in exams that have reading comprehension, students like me, tend to not read the texts because it's a bore. Short paragraphs, in my opinion, invite readers more.

Unknown said...

Less is more. Long paragraphs tend to provoke boredom. So by shortening a paragraphs you're actually doing the world a huge favor. Your fingers from work, your readers from wasting time, and the trees from being cut down.

Kishi said...

Just like the 5th rule, we should try our best to make our work shorter. We could do this by shortening our sentences which leads to shortening our paragraphs. Journalistic writing doesn't have to be as long as a novel. As long as it contains important information that the readers need, it is considered good writing. We could absolutely help the readers if we make our woek shorter but clearer.

Annicalou TaƱaquin said...

I agree on the 6th rule. In my observation, I also tend to get bored when tons of sentences are bulked up into one,. I tend to lose interest on the script or sometimes, I just leave the paper on one side and do another thing.

This goes with a lot of writers, we tend to bulk up our ideas in one paragraph thinking it is of one topic. It is, but the ideas can be chopped up into smaller pieces.

If we do this, our readers will gain interest in your writing because it is reader friendly and they easily catch up on your thoughts because they would not get mixed up.

Nolan Redji Duka Domingo said...

Short sentences would lead to shorter paragraphs. Shorter paragraphs are much more appealing to the eyes compared to long ones. Shorter paragraphs would also encourage readers to continue on reading your articles instead of discouraging them. An article with shorter paragraphs could be easily used as a reference material.

Precious Irish Pasia Genosa said...

Most of our readers are picky. They tend to read articles that are catchy and good in their sight. Some find it tiring to read articles that have long paragraphs. So follow this rule and you will have many readers.

Unknown said...

Very long paragraphs will only bore our readers. We can use of long paragraphs but we need to be sure that these long paragraphs will provide much information. But, to solve these, we could spli these paragraphs into two to have to short paragraphs. Long paragraphs that has a single andd simple thought can be shorten to avoid confusion and complexity in our work.

Hanna Carlos said...

Long paragraphs give the impression of boredom. Have you ever taken a test where you have this really long paragraph. What happens? You get bored and after reading, you didn’t even understand the whole point. It is the same in writing an article, you should keep your paragraphs short, and make the its content as informative as a long one could be.

Lorgiebert D Aguelo said...

The readers will not read you article if he sees that your paragraphs are long. Readers prefer shorter paragraphs than the longer ones. Short paragraphs are less confusing and is easier to understand.

Sean Ephraim Ligon Paulino said...

Our sentences make up our paragraphs. In accordance with rule no.5 (shorten your sentences) we would follow rule no. 6 which is shorten your paragraphs. In journalistic writing our paragraphs must be concise yet informative. Good compositions are composed of short paragraphs.

Mark Ephraim Gonzales Acyatan said...

This rule is still in relation to the 5th rule. A short paragraph follows after a group of short sentences that have the same idea are put together. Short paragraphs, as said on the original post, are eye-catching. So if you want you readers glued to their seats and eyes fixed on your article, shorten your paragraphs.

Marla Villa said...

People hate reading long articles. I, myself, hate it. Also, long articles don’t necessarily means that it’s good. Sometimes, it can be boring. And the longer your article is, the shorter are the chances of readers reading them.

Mark Brian Ordillo Dastas said...

I believe that this rule is very much important in writing. It is because if writers will write very long articles with long paragraphs, sometimes readers will lose interest in reading it. Some will just scan the page which results to the idea being not conveyed to the readers. So it's better to write shorter paragraphs than to lose readers, right?

Cristy Carino Calipay said...

Shortening your sentences means shortening your pragraphs which for many people, will be an ease to the eye. I, personally hate paragraphs with very massive content. We should always remember that we are informing others and not impressing them with our long articles which means nothing.

Unknown said...

Once you have gotten to the point, used familiar words, omitted verbal deadwood, and kept your sentences short, your paragraphs should be consequently shorter, too. Keeping the ideas contained and related was an additional bit of advice.

Gerald Ramos Caalam said...

We should compose short paragraphs so that the readers would not get lazy and we must only include information that are essential to our main topic. Addition of unnecessary ideas would make our article very long and very boring.

Maylene Librando Manzano said...

This rule is connected with the fifth rule. If we shorten our sentences, then we shorten our paragraphs as well. But make sure that these paragraphs still have sense though it is short.

Unknown said...

Everyone loves white space on paper. And, people see a gray mass looming over a page; they tend to drown in it. And you did not exactly write to kill. So, if you can divide a paragraph, do it. The tip: if you are already writing another topic, you need a new paragraph.

Jed Berenguer said...

When we read long paragraphs in tests or articles, we usually skip these and tend to read the questions. The rule says to keep your paragraphs short, and this applies to the long articles we see in tests. So if you want your readers to continue reading your work and keep them interested, give them a break by shortening your paragraphs.

Leo Amadeus Gerella Ruiz said...

Leo Amadeus Gerella Ruiz

As I commented on rule number 5, keeping paragraphs short will make articles short, saving money and ink for printing. Also, a very long paragraph is very boring to read for most readers so use short paragraphs. Short paragraphs will make the reader interested and not scared on reading the writings.

Unknown said...

Short paragraphs are signals to the readers that the article that they are going to read will not eat up much of their time. It is also a signal that it can easily be read and understood. This way, a writer creates a sort of communication with his readers because he is able to voice out his ideas through writing.

Maria Ericka Tan Duran said...

I agree with Cedy. This is like an extension of rule number five or maybe the other way around. We shorten our paragraphs as much as possible to be precise on out ideas. The shorter the paragraph the more juicy concrete facts, in my opinion. Besides, who wants to read a 1000-word paragraph that you can shorten into a hundred words?

John Kenneth Laureto Mariano said...

Short paragraphs like short sentences are not hard to understand. Long sentences that only have one or two ideas can be cut to shorter ones. It can bore our readers if our paragraphs are long yet does have few thoughts. They would probably prefer short ones but has many thoughts rather than long but has few thoughts being conveyed. Some readers need quick information. They need short but filled with information paragraphs.

Miss Maria Paulina said...

Ma Inna Paulina Egamino Palana
IV - Enrico Fermi
Fe-15

Just like the fifth rule, everything in writing that is short makes the reader interested to read because they will get what it is all about instantly. It makes everything clear. Though sometimes we really cannot avoid making long sentences or paragraphs, it is better to place the exact message in the first part then the following information about it.

kramark said...

We must keep our paragraphs short so that it will lend a light feeling to the readers' eyes. People tend to get bored while reading long paragraphs that is why we need to somehow shorten our paragraphs. However, we must always remember to keep lots of thought within the paragraph no matter how short it is.

Anonymous said...

This is connected with the previous rule. When I see an article that is too long, I get bored. I don't want to read something that is too long. I think tos goes out for other readers as well.

Francis Justine Mariano Malban said...

Short paragraphs look so inviting to us students. That also applies to simple readers. If our paragraphs are too long, readers will end to get bored. So, instead of finishing, they will end up quitting due to long texts. Short paragraphs are easier to understand and save time and space.

Unknown said...

Think about this : What do readers of our busy and fast lifestyle find in newspaper? Is it not QUICK information? Is it not the main point of a text? What writers need to think about is the right of a reader to use the information that the writers bring up. If they can't find the information quickly by your long, winding sentences and paragraphs. Where would the use of your information go? In the garbage pile in the streets? or in your editor's recycle bin?

Alen Auric Subang Santos said...

If you think about it, if you keep your sentences short as suggested by Rule # 5, you'll also make your paragraphs short. It will also make your work more pleasing to the eyes if you would arrange it in simple paragraphs.

Cristina Albert Abaloyan said...

This rule is very much like the rule "Shorten your sentences." This will also prevent readers from getting bored. Short paragraphs are more pleasing to read than those very long paragraphs.

Ma. Antonette Furo Furio said...

Nowadays, people have got a lot more things to do than convince himself/herself to r ead something with tons of long paragraphs that look insanely boring. You can rarely find an extremely bored person who would want to read an article which just looks like a boring group of words all stuffed into a one boring paragraph. Aside from giving the readers an interesting starting sentence, you must make the paragraph look like an eyecandy too. The idea that writing longer paragraphs make you more intellectual is so old-school.

Mark Vincent Sarmiento Valmadrid said...

When you shorten your sentences, this rule follows. You have to make sure that every paragraph has only one idea. Remember, space and time are gold in journalistic writing. Readers will be bored if you consume much space in explaining your idea.

Unknown said...

Rule # 6
When we read long paragraphs in tests or articles, we usually skip these and tend to read the questions. The rule says to keep your paragraphs short, and this applies to the long articles we see in tests. Also those readers in a hurry tend not to read the article anymore because it is long. So this is rule is very important to keep our reader interested.