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The Paragraph

A paragraph 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. As a linguistic category 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, etc. It has already been stated elsewhere that the logical aspect of an utterance will always be backed up by purely linguistic means causing, as it were, an indivisible unity of extralinguistic and intralinguistic approach.

Bearing this in mind, we shall not draw a mark of demarcation between the logical and the linguistic analysis of an utterance, because

the paragraph is a linguistic expression of a logical, pragmatic and aesthetic arrangement of thought.

Paragraph structure is not always built on logical principles alone, as is generally the case in the style of scientific prose. In the building of paragraphs in newspaper style, other requirements are taken into consideration, for instance, psychological principles, in particular the sensational effect of the communication and the grasping capacity of the reader for quick reading. Considerations of space also play an important part. This latter consideration sometimes overrules the necessity for logical arrangement and results in breaking the main rule of paragraph building, i.e. the unity of idea. Thus, a brief note containing information about an oil treaty is crammed into one sentence, it being, in its turn, a paragraph:

"The revised version of an international oil treaty is to-day before the Senate Relation Committee, which recently made it clear that the Anglo-American oil treaty negotiated last August would not reach the Senate floor for ratification, because of objections by the American oil industry to it."

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. (See examples in the chapter on official style, p. 312.)

Paragraph structure in the belles-lettres and publicistic styles is strongly affected by the purport of the author. To secure the desired impact, a writer finds it necessary to give details and illustrations, to introduce comparisons and contrasts, to give additional reasons and, finally, to expand the topic by looking at it from different angles and paraphrasing the idea. He may, especially in the publicistic style, introduce the testimony of some authority on the subject and even deviate from the main topic by recounting an anecdote or even a short story to ease mental effort and facilitate understanding of the communication.

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, however, most paragraphs consist of one or perhaps two or three sentences.

Paragraphs of a purely logical type may be analysed from the way the thought of the writer develops. Attempts have been made to classify paragraphs from the point of view of the logical sequence of the sentences. Thus, in manuals on the art of composition 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 comparison.

So the paragraph is a compositional device aimed either at facilitating the process of apprehending what is written, or inducing a certain reaction on the part of the reader. This reaction is generally achieved by intentionally grouping the ideas so as to show their interdependence or interrelation. That is why the paragraph, from a mere compositional device, turns into a stylistic one. It discloses the writer's manner of depicting the features of the object or phenomenon described. It is in the paragraph that the main function of the belles-lettres style becomes most apparent, the main function, as will be shown below, being aesthetico-cognitive and pragmatic.

In the paragraph from the "Death of a Hero", as we saw, there are three SPUs which together constitute one paragraph. If we were to convert the passage into one of the matter-of-fact styles it would be necessary to split it into three paragraphs. But Aldington found it necessary to combine all the sentences into one paragraph, evidently seeing closer connections between the parts than there would be in a mere impersonal, less emotional account of the events described.

The paragraph in some styles, such as scientific, publicistic and some others, generally has a topic sentence, i. e. a sentence which embodies the main idea of the paragraph or which may be interpreted as a key-sentence disclosing the chief thought of the writer. In logical prose the topic sentence is, as a rule, placed either at the beginning or at the end of the paragraph, depending on the logical pattern on which the paragraph is built. In the belles-lettres style the topic sentence may be placed in any part of the paragraph. It will depend on how the writer seeks to achieve his effect.

Thus in the paragraph we have been referring to, the topic sentence ('The party dropped the subject of a possible great war, after deciding that there wouldn't be one, there couldn't') is placed in the middle of the paragraph. The parts that precede and follow the topic sentence correspondingly lead to it ('the placards...') and develop it ('George, who...'). The topic sentence itself, being based on uttered represented speech, is stylistically a very effective device to show that the conclusion (no war) was not based on sound logical argument, but merely on the small talk of the party ('there wouldn't', 'there couldn't').

However, paragraph building in belles-lettres prose generally lacks unity, inasmuch as it is governed by other than logical principles, two of the requirements being emotiveness and a natural representation of the situation depicted. Hence it is sometimes impossible to decide which sentence should be regarded as the topic one. Each SPU of several combined into one paragraph may have its own topic sentence or be a topic sentence. In other words, there are no topic sentences in emotive prose as a rule, though there may be some paragraphs with one due to the prevalence of the logical element over the emotional or the aesthetic.

In publicistic style paragraphs are built on more apparent logical principles, this style being intermediate between the belles-lettres and the scientific style. Let us subject to stylistic analysis the following paragraph from Macaulay's essay on Oliver Goldsmith:

"While Goldsmith was writing "The Deserted Village" and "She Stoops to Conquer," he was employed in works of a very different kind, works from which he derived little reputation but much profit. He compiled for the use of schools a "History of Rome," by which he made £ 300; a "History of England," by which he made £ 600; a "History of Greece," for which he received £250; a "Natural History," for which the book-sellers covenanted to pay him 800 guineas. These works he produced without any elaborate research, by merely selecting, abridging and translating into his own clear, pure, and flowing language what he found in books well known to the world, but too bulky or too dry for boys and girls. He committed some strange blunders; for he knew nothing with accuracy. Thus in his "History of England" he tells us that Naseby is in Yorkshire; nor did he correct this mistake when the book was reprinted. He was nearly hoaxed into putting into the "History of Greece" an account of a battle between Alexander the Great and Montezuma. In his "Animated Nature" he relates, with faith and with perfect gravity, all the most absurd lies which he could find in books of travels about gigantic Patagonians, monkeys that preach sermons, nightingales that repeat long conversations. "If he can tell a horse from a cow," said Johnson, "that is the extent of his knowledge of zoology." How little Goldsmith was qualified to write about the physical sciences is sufficiently proved by two anecdotes. He on one occasion denied that the sun is longer in the northern than in the southern signs. It was vain to cite the authority of Maupertuis. "Maupertuis!" he cried; "I understand those matters better than Maupertuis." On another occasion he, in defiance of the evidence of his own senses maintained obstinately, and even angrily, that he chewed his dinner by moving his upper jaw.

Yet, ignorant as Goldsmith was, few writers have done more to make the first steps in the laborious road to knowledge easy and pleasant..."

The topic sentence of this paragraph is placed at the beginning. It consists of two ideas presented in a complex sentence with a subordinate clause of time. The idea of the topic sentence is embodied in the main clause which states that Goldsmith derived 'little reputation but much profit' out of some of his works. The subordinate clause of time is used here as a linking sentence between the preceding paragraph which deals with "The Deserted Village" and "She Stoops to Conquer" and the one under scrutiny.

The next paragraph of the passage, as the reader has undoubtedly observed, begins with a new topic sentence and is built on the same structural model: the subordinate clause sums up the idea of the preceding paragraph ('Yet, ignorant as Goldsmith was'), and the main clause introduces a new idea. This pattern is maintained throughout the essay and, by the way, in most of Macaulay's essays. This easy, flowing manner of exposition has a high degree of predictability. The

reader, having read the first sentence and being conscious of the author's manner of building paragraphs, will not fail to grasp the gist of the passage at once.

It is interesting to point out how Macaulay develops the idea expressed in the topic sentence. He wished to show why Goldsmith derived 1) 'little reputation' and 2) 'much profit' from certain of his works. Of the two, Macaulay considers the former to be undoubtedly more significant than the latter. That is why he begins with insignificant details— enumerating Goldsmith's profits, and then devotes all the rest of the paragraph to instances of Goldsmith's ignorance.

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 in matter-of-fact styles, as in scientific prose, official documents and so on, 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, as is the paragraph from "A Christmas Carol" by Dickens, quoted on p. 220.

The paragraph as a unit of utterance, is so far entirely the domain of stylistics. Yet there are obvious features of a purely syntactical character in the paragraph which must not be overlooked. That is why there is every reason to study the paragraph in syntax of the language where not only the sentence but also larger units of communication should be under observation. This would come under what we may call the 'macro-syntax' of the language.

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