{"id":13577,"date":"2016-02-05T07:58:25","date_gmt":"2016-02-05T11:58:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.wyliecomm.com\/?page_id=13577"},"modified":"2023-12-27T12:11:54","modified_gmt":"2023-12-27T16:11:54","slug":"good-paragraph-length","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.wyliecomm.com\/writing-tips\/what-is-readability\/length-of-a-paragraph\/good-paragraph-length\/","title":{"rendered":"Quotes on good paragraph length"},"content":{"rendered":"

What writers and others say<\/h2>\n

\"Good

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\u201cA four-word paragraph after one of 64 words can pack a punch.\u201d<\/h5>\n
\u2014 Roy Peter Clark, senior scholar, The Poynter Institute, in Writing Tools<\/em><\/h6>\n
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“The paragraph is essentially a unit of thought, not of length. \u2026 A succession of very short ones is as irritating as very long ones are wearisome.”<\/h5>\n
\u2014 H.W. Fowler, British grammarian, in Modern English Usage<\/em><\/h6>\n
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“The purpose of paragraphing is to give the reader a rest. The writer is saying to him: ‘Have you got that? If so, I’ll go on to the next point.’”<\/h5>\n
\u2014 H.W. Fowler, British grammarian, in Modern English Usage<\/em><\/h6>\n
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“Paragraphing is also a matter of the eye. A reader will address himself more readily to his task if he sees from the start that he will have breathing-spaces from time to time than if what is before him looks like a marathon course.”<\/h5>\n
\u2014 H.W. Fowler, British grammarian, in Modern English Usage<\/em><\/h6>\n
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\u201cThree-bowler: number of bowls of oatmeal your readers fall asleep in while reading your lead.\u201d<\/h5>\n
\u2014 Cynthia Gorney, former Washington Post<\/em> reporter<\/h6>\n
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“Automatically hitting the return at every period is a sad substitute for purposeful story organization.”<\/h5>\n
\u2014 Paula LaRocque, author of Championship Writing<\/em><\/h6>\n
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“An effective lead paragraph is usually either one or two sentences. Once you get to three or more, it just looks like you don’t know where the Enter key is.”<\/h5>\n
\u2014 Chris Smith, senior lead communications specialist, Entergy Communications<\/h6>\n
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“Don’t get carried away with super-short paragraphs. The secret to one-sentence paragraphs is to use them like a spice: A pinch of cumin can make a meal more savory, but I don’t want to eat a plateful of the stuff.”<\/h5>\n
\u2014 Ann Wylie, writing coach and author of RevUpReadership.com<\/h6>\n
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“If your paragraph is too long, you might as well stamp it with red ink: ‘Don’t bother reading this paragraph.’”<\/h5>\n
\u2014 Ann Wylie, writing coach and author of RevUpReadership.com<\/h6>\n
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“Long paragraphs are a visual predictor that a story won’t work. You must cut the meat into little pieces.”<\/h5>\n
\u2014 Jon Ziomek, professor at the Medill School of Journalism<\/h6>\n
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