Paragraphing

7 Key excerpts on "Paragraphing"

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  eBook - ePub

  French theories on text and discourse

  • Driss Ablali, Guy Achard-Bayle, Driss Ablali, Guy Achard-Bayle(Authors)
  • 2023(Publication Date)
  • De Gruyter

    (Publisher)

  At this level, the contribution of linguistic and psycholinguistic analyses is invaluable. But this contribution is no less crucial for recording the activation of scholarly interpretation; a point which will not, however, be addressed in what follows. It is at a relatively basic level of understanding that the different systems of linguistic solidarity contribute in the first instance to the cohesion, and therefore the coherence of verbal productions, from the word right up to the text (cf. Conte/Petöfi/Sözer 1989). Words are the most cohesive linguistic units insofar as they blend complex semantic-conceptual components in an impenetrable form, as may be seen above with homme-sandwich. The sentence, as a predicative unit, enables already sophisticated micro-situations to be expressed in a compact structural format. This system offers wide-ranging integration possibilities, notably through the different forms of subordination. These possibilities range from the most integrative structures, such as complement clauses, to the least integrative, such as dislocated constructions and paratactic adverbials which are increasingly free; indeed, some of them end up floating between their host sentence and the one preceding it. Since this system of structural integration is limited, languages offer a whole range of relational lexical markers that allow semantic and pragmatic links between successive clauses or their components to be indicated

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  The Second 'R'

  Writing Development in the Junior School

  • William Sydney Harpin(Author)
  • 2017(Publication Date)
  • Taylor & Francis

    (Publisher)

  grammar of the language we are dealing with.

  The number of patterns and structures in the language we produce is very large indeed. To describe them all is to write a complete grammar of that language, something not yet achieved for any natural language. Making a selection of features for study is, then, essential, but which are likely to prove most significant in showing how children move towards mastery of their native language?

  In print and writing, certain conventions direct us to major units of structure, notably paragraph (signalled by indentation) and sentence (with its opening capital letter and concluding full-stop). So little is known about the grammar of the paragraph that it makes sense to ignore it for the purposes of analysis. The idea of sentence, too, is not without its difficulties, particularly when the work of novice writers is under scrutiny; the punctuation of 8-year-olds is rarely a reflection of linguistic propriety. For our work, a supplementary definition was added, borrowed from the American linguist Leonard Bloomfield. For him a sentence was ‘a linguistic form, not included by virtue of any grammatical construction in any larger linguistic form’. Even this does not solve all problems. Children use one grammatical construction with a freedom that teachers often equate with wild abandon – the conjunction ‘and’. Thus, Mark: ‘One day two boys went fishing and they had some jam-jars and they caught some stiklebats and they saw a mill and they explod it and one brother got lost.’ One sentence or several? By punctuation and by definition, only one, but most adult readers would suggest dividing it into at least three sections; some, conservatively, would argue for six.

  Other rules usually working in combination may be added in an attempt to deal with this uncertainty. Teachers who would like to use the figures, given later, for the purposes of comparison, should note the three that we implemented. These were to assume the need for a sentence division where

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  eBook - ePub

  Text Linguistics of Qur'anic Discourse

  An Analysis

  • Hussein Abdul-Raof(Author)
  • 2018(Publication Date)
  • Routledge

    (Publisher)

  Text linguistics emerged during the 1970s as a new discipline but has remained a branch of mainstream linguistics. It is concerned with the description and analysis of macro spoken and written texts. In other words, the text is the major and largest linguistic sign/unit which is worthy of analysis rather than its constituent single words, phrases, or sentences. Text linguistics studies the communicative relationship through texts between the text producer (writer/speaker) and the text receiver (reader/hearer). It studies the communicative employment of cohesive devices in the construction of a given text. Text linguistics is concerned with the flow of information intra-sententially (within the same sentence) and inter-sententially (among different sentences) by looking at text linguistic features of the text like coherence, cohesion, the organization of old/given/known (unmarked) information and new/unknown (marked) information which are constituents of the text structure. In text linguistics, we focus on the linguistic processes of text cohesion and text coherence.

  In text linguistics, the text is a communication system and has a communication function. In the view of Dirven and Vespoor (2004:180), text linguistics is concerned with the study of how a writer/speaker and a reader/hearer manage to communicate through texts. In other words, how the text producer and the text receiver can go beyond the text, i.e., how they effectively employ cohesive devices (adawāt al-rabṭ), such as (wa – and), (bisabab – because), (thumma – then), and (walākin – but), in order to construct sentential and paragraph relations within a given text.

  Text linguistics is different from traditional structural linguistics. The latter focuses on sentence grammar, i.e., sentence structure, and is concerned primarily with the sentence as the largest linguistic unit in linguistic analysis. However, text linguistics views the sentence as a micro unit of language and is concerned with the text structure and textuality. Linguistic analysis should be carried out at the macro level, the text, and the sentence is only a part of the macro text.

  For more details, see Dressler (1978:21); Trask (1997:219); Beaugrande and Dressler (1981:ii, 3); Crystal (2003:234–235, 462); and Hatim and Munday (2004:350).

  1.3 Major notions in text linguistics

  The major notions in text linguistics include: text, subtext, context of situation, texture, cohesive ties, standards of textuality, and macro functions of text (field, tenor, and mode), and text types. These are discussed in what follows.

  1.3.1 Text

  The word ‘text’ is derived from the Latin verb (texere) meaning to weave, to compose, or to contrive. In other words, the words are woven together in a text. A text enjoys inherent lexicogrammatical and stylistic hallmarks which reflect the social and cultural context in which a specific text occurs. A text should constitute a congruent discourse (kalām mutalā’im). A text should be well formed (faṣīḥ) and be free from rhetorical deficiency (c uyūb balāghiyyah) and sluggish sentences (jumal mutanāfirah). A text should also enjoy continuity and progression. On the lexical, grammatical, and stylistic levels, the text is influenced by its social event. Thus, the context of situation is the womb of the text. On the stylistic level, the text should avoid distasteful style and unnaturalness (c

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  The Brief Cengage Handbook with APA 7e Updates

  • Laurie Kirszner, Stephen Mandell(Authors)
  • 2016(Publication Date)
  • Cengage Learning EMEA

    (Publisher)

  All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. WCN 02-300 Writing Effective Paragraphs A paragraph is a group of related sentences. It may be complete in itself or part of a longer piece of writing. ❑ Begin a new paragraph whenever you move from one major point to another. ❑ Begin a new paragraph whenever you move from one time period or location to another. ❑ Begin a new paragraph whenever you introduce a new step in a process. ❑ Begin a new paragraph when you want to emphasize an important idea. ❑ Begin a new paragraph every time a new person speaks. ❑ Begin a new paragraph to signal the end of your introduction and the beginning of your conclusion. CHECKLIST When to Begin a New Paragraph C H A P T E R 34 34a Writing Unified Paragraphs A paragraph is unified when it develops a single main idea. The topic sen-tence states the main idea of the paragraph, and the other sentences in the paragraph support that idea. 1 Using Topic Sentences A topic sentence often comes at the beginning of a paragraph. Occasionally, however, a topic sentence may occur at the end of a paragraph, particularly if a writer wants to lead up to an unexpected conclusion. Topic Sentence at the Beginning A topic sentence at the beginning of a paragraph tells readers what to expect and helps them to understand your paragraph’s main idea immediately. I was a listening child, careful to hear the very different sounds of Spanish and English. Wide-eyed with hearing, I’d listen to sounds more than words. First, there were English ( gringo ) sounds. So many words were still unknown that when the butcher or the lady at the drugstore said something to me, 431 Copyright 2017 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. WCN 02-300 exotic polysyllabic sounds would bloom in the midst of their sentences. Often the speech of people in public seemed to me very loud, booming with con-fidence.

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  eBook - ePub

  The Writer’s Handbook for Sociology

  • Dona Young, Dona J Young(Authors)
  • 2019(Publication Date)
  • Routledge

    (Publisher)

  Part 2 Editing for Clarity Passage contains an image

  Chapter 7 Cohesive Paragraphs and Transitions

  The paragraph is the basic unit of academic writing. Once you know how to write a good paragraph, you are much closer to being able to write a good paper. All types of writing depend on well-written paragraphs: readers are confused when writers present ideas haphazardly, jumping from one idea to another without developing a line of thought. Readers also assimilate information in chunks, and reading long narratives with no breaks can become wearing. Thus, whether you are writing an e-mail or a research paper, making good Paragraphing decisions is an essential part of the process.

  While you cannot depend on a recipe to write a paragraph, you can rely on a few guidelines. By applying principles of information flow , you can develop paragraphs that are cohesive and coherent . By constructing a topic sentence that builds into a topic string , you develop a logical flow. By breaking your writing into manageable chunks, you make your ideas accessible. To further enhance the flow of your writing, use transitions to bridge ideas and highlight connections for the reader.

  The principles in this chapter assist you in constructing paragraphs that are reader friendly and that present your content in a substantial style. In the process, you analyze your writing, probing deeper into the content: while shaping your writing for your reader, you gain insight into which ideas are key, which provide support, and which merit cutting. If you have not yet focused on how you create paragraph breaks, now you can.

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  Linguistic Perspectives on Language and Education

  • Anita K. Barry(Author)
  • 2002(Publication Date)
  • Praeger

    (Publisher)

  As we all know, this is a skill that must be learned, not one that develops naturally from ordinary languge use. In the next section, we will ex- Linguistics and Literacy 245 plore some of the requirements of discourse construction as a component of literacy. CONSTRUCTION OF DISCOURSE Needless to say, we cannot do more here than touch on some of the elements of discourse that connect linguistics to education. Discourse itself is widely studied across many disciplines besides linguistics, including anthropology, rhet- oric and writing, and literary studies. In linguistics, discourse is a natural exten- sion of the organization of language at several different levels. Just as morphemes combine to make words, words combine to make phrases, phrases combine to make clauses, clauses combine to make sentences, sentences com- bine to make connected discourse. Decontextualized discourse has a beginning, a middle, and an end. It has principles of organization that guide the reader from one thought to the next, and it employs linguistic devices to signal the relationships among thoughts. Certain words indicate temporal relationships and are used to organize events in chronological order: then, after, before, subse- quently; others indicate causal relationships: because, consequently, thus, therefore. Some words indicate that something is contrary to expectations: but, however, nevertheless, although, on the other hand. Some indicate simultaneity of occurrence: meanwhile, at the same time, concurrently. One important aspect of literacy training throughout all levels of education involves teaching students acceptable ways to organize discourse: how to begin, how to organize the thoughts that make up the discourse, how to signal the relationships among those thoughts, how to end.

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  The Pocket Cengage Handbook with 2019 APA Updates

  • Laurie Kirszner, Stephen Mandell(Authors)
  • 2017(Publication Date)
  • Cengage Learning EMEA

    (Publisher)

  5 P A R T 20 Writing Effective Paragraphs 264 20a Writing Unified Paragraphs 264 20b Writing Coherent Paragraphs 265 20c Writing Well-Developed Paragraphs 266 20d Writing Introductory and Concluding Paragraphs 267 21 Writing Varied Sentences 269 21a Varying Sentence Structure 269 21b Varying Sentence Length 271 21c Varying Sentence Openings 272 22 Writing Concise Sentences 273 22a Eliminating Wordiness 274 22b Eliminating Unnecessary R epetition 275 22c T ightening R ambling Sentences 276 23 Revising Awkward or Confusing Sentences 277 23a R evising Unnecessary Shifts 278 23b R evising Mixed Constructions 279 23c R evising Faulty Predication 279 24 Using Parallelism 280 24a Using Parallelism Effectively 280 24b R evising Faulty Parallelism 281 25 Placing Modifiers Carefully 282 25a R evising Misplaced Modifiers 282 25b R evising Intrusive Modifiers 284 25c R evising Dangling Modifiers 284 26 Choosing Words 285 26a Choosing the R ight Word 285 26b A voiding Inappropriate Language 287 26c A voiding Offensive Language Language 288 288 Writing Effective Paragraphs and Sentences ight 2017 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. WCN 0 Writing Effective Paragraphs 20 C H A P T E R 264 A paragraph of related sentences. A paragraph is a group or part of a longer piece of may be complete in itself writing. CHECKLIST When to Begin a New Paragraph uni2751 Begin a new par agraph whenever you move from one major point to another. uni2751 Begin a new par agraph whenever you move your readers from one time period or location to another. uni2751 Begin a new par agraph whenever you introduce a major new step in a process. uni2751 Begin a new par agraph when you want to emphasize an important idea. uni2751 Begin a new par agraph every time a new person speaks. uni2751 Begin a new par agraph to signal the end of your introduction and also the beginning of your conclusion.

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