Grammar Guide

"Paragraphs are emotional."
-- Gertrude Stein ("Poetry & Grammar")

Paragraphs serve multiple purposes, according to Richard Marius in A Writer's Companion.They order our thoughts and break down ideas into manageable chunks which permit the reader to follow them easily. They allow readers to see connections and reflect how the writer's mind works. And they create a sense of pace by giving the reader at least the illusion of moving forward.

To be powerful, paragraphs must be unified; that is, they should explore a single controlling idea. Marius argues that the first sentence always determines the direction of a paragraph and that each subsequent sentence "reaches back to pick up a previous word or idea and extends the thought, adding new information" (92).

Some Ways of Organizing Paragraphs:

examples (a generalization followed by one or more illustrations)
narration (relate a story or series of actions or events)
description (can be organized spatially, as the eye would travel)
process (step by step sequence)
comparison / contrast (block method or alternating method)
analogy (comparison between two unlike things)
cause / effect (or effect/cause)
classification (group items by categories according to specific principle)
definition (place concept or word into a larger class and then distinguish it from other members)

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	Constructing Paragraphs "Paragraphs are emotional." -- Gertrude Stein ("Poetry & Grammar") Paragraphs serve multiple purposes, according to Richard Marius in A Writer's Companion.They order our thoughts and break down ideas into manageable chunks which permit the reader to follow them easily. They allow readers to see connections and reflect how the writer's mind works. And they create a sense of pace by giving the reader at least the illusion of moving forward. To be powerful, paragraphs must be unified; that is, they should explore a single controlling idea. Marius argues that the first sentence always determines the direction of a paragraph and that each subsequent sentence "reaches back to pick up a previous word or idea and extends the thought, adding new information" (92). Some Ways of Organizing Paragraphs: examples (a generalization followed by one or more illustrations) narration (relate a story or series of actions or events) description (can be organized spatially, as the eye would travel) process (step by step sequence) comparison / contrast (block method or alternating method) analogy (comparison between two unlike things) cause / effect (or effect/cause) classification (group items by categories according to specific principle) definition (place concept or word into a larger class and then distinguish it from other members) Callaway North 205A \| (404) 727-0886