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I like paragraphs that are more than one sentence long

Discussion in 'Journalism topics only' started by sirvaliantbrown, Aug 6, 2007.

  1. Does anyone else?

    It frustrates me very much when coherent three-sentence paragraphs are broken into three separate (and disjointed) one-line parargaphs for "readers will quit the article if they see a paragraph that long!" reasons.

    It's funny to me: from, like, the fourth grade, we learn that the paragraph is the unit of composition. But when you become a person who writes things for a living, the paragraph becomes the unit of arbitrary shortness. Sure, an eight-sentence paragraph might kill a reader, but will a tight four-sentence one realllly do so as well?

    (Thanks. I'm done.)
     
  2. buckweaver

    buckweaver Active Member

    We're not writing for academia. I have a problem with one-sentence grafs, unless it's done for effect.

    But I don't have a problem with most two-sentence grafs. You gotta break it up a little.
     
  3. spnited

    spnited Active Member

    "Tight" three or four sentence grafs are fine.
    Three rambling sentences as a lede are lethal.
     
  4. Oh, yeah, for sure. I'm a fan of the super-short/tight lead.
     
  5. PS: I'm talking about non-features - news (or sports news) stories. One of the reasons I love the Washington Post is that they allow paragraphs like this:
    --
    Stohl said insurgents frequently use small-arms fire to force military convoys to move in a particular direction -- often toward roadside bombs. She noted that the Bush administration frequently complains that Iran and Syria are supplying insurgents but has paid little attention to whether U.S. military errors inadvertently play a role. "We know there is seepage and very little is being done to address the problem," she said.
    --
    Not a spectacular paragraph, obviously - just clicked the top story on the site at the moment for an example. But in my paper, it would've read

    Stohl said insurgents frequently use small-arms fire to force military convoys to move in a particular direction.

    Frequently, she said, they try to force the convoys toward roadside bombs.

    She noted that the Bush administration frequently complains that Iran and Syria are supplying insurgents but has paid little attention to whether U.S. military errors inadvertently play a role.

    "We know there is seepage and very little is being done to address the problem," she said.
     
  6. zeke12

    zeke12 Guest

    He was an old man who fished alone in a skiff in the Gulf Stream and he had gone eighty-four days now without taking a fish.

    Good enough for Papa...
     
  7. KG

    KG Active Member

    I love that book.
     
  8. spnited

    spnited Active Member

    Depends on the sentence and the writer, Zeke.

    If you take one of the best writers we've ever known and drop that sentence on us, yeah, one sentence graf is a thing of beauty.
     
  9. imjustagirl2

    imjustagirl2 New Member

    Bullshit. If I wrote that sentence and threw it on here as an example of a good one-sentence graf, people would tell me it was a shitty sentence and needed more.

    We say that BECAUSE of who wrote it, not because the sentence/graf itself is stirring. It's not.


    And for the record, I hate that book. Hate. Hate. Hate. I'm not patient. I need more than one fish and one man and some goddamn twine.
     
  10. If I wrote that sentence, it would be changed to:

    He was an old man who fished alone in a skiff in the Gulf Stream. He had gone eighty-four days now without taking a fish.
     
  11. spnited

    spnited Active Member

    A. Bullshit, IJAG! Becuase you donlt like the book doesn't detract from that sentence.
    B. Your editors suck, W_B.
     
  12. deskslave

    deskslave Active Member

    I know what you're going to say, but I'm going to say it anyway. To me, the quote should be its own graf. There are exceptions to that rule, but I don't think that's one.
     
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