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Pilcrows and paragraphs

by Jacob on Aug.05, 2008, under Insights

Ready for my next micro-rant?

Some people think run-on sentences are bad. I agree. But I think that a increasingly worse problem is the run-on paragraph. Frequently seen in blog posts, emails, and love notes to those special someones, the paragraph is an endangered species in many literary forms.

Answers.com’s definition of a paragraph is:

A distinct division of written or printed matter that begins on a new, usually indented line, consists of one or more sentences, and typically deals with a single thought or topic or quotes one speaker’s continuous words.

Too often we find people who write pages about their life, the universe, and everything else, as a single, run-on paragraph. Paragraphs are meant to help separate different thoughts or topics into chunks small enough for the reader’s comprehension.

Unwieldy paragraphs are a great danger to the modern human race. One of humanities major advantages over other earth-animal species is its ability to communicate effectively. As run-on paragraphs limit this ability to communicate, we are all in danger of reverting back to caveman methods of communicating which included the popular hit-someone-with-a-club-to-steal-a-wife. Downfalls of economies, government, and television series such as The Office could all be products of the increasing use of run-on paragraphs.

Save the human race! Save our dignity and the nobility that makes us better than the weeds of planet earth. Keep your paragraphs short! Write them more distinctly. Communicate more effectively. Share your ideas so that they can be understood. From the bottom of my heart, and in memory of my dead VCR, I thank you for your efforts.

2 Comments :complaining, english more...

Little did he know…

by Jacob on Dec.04, 2006, under Reviews

Stranger than Fiction was a funny, original, and somewhat intelligent film that was mostly refreshing in these days where it seems just about every new film is the same old same old.  The movie stars Will Ferrell as the IRS auditing main character, Maggie Gyllenhaal as the cookie baking Ana Pascal, Dustin Hoffman as an English professor, and Emma Thompson as the narrator.  The premise of the movie is that that a novel writer is unknowingly narrating Harold Crick’s life, from work, to love, and even to death.

The movie is one of the most intelligent films I’ve seen, with many subtleties to be picked up on by intellectuals and smart people.  If you want to see a movie with stupid humor, go see Borat or something, but if you enjoy finding humor in hidden subplots, then you might enjoy this movie.

This film is for the nerdy: math nerds, environmental nerds,  space nerds, and literary nerds can all connect with some of the character traits presented.  This provides for a lot of the humor as you can laugh at just how nerdy we all are as presented by the characters.

This movie, while rated PG-13, is not as uncomfortable as walking across a liberal college campus.  It makes a great date movie, especially if you are going out with a that girl or guy from your English class who knows how to laugh.

Leave a Comment :english, movies more...

Who sez that?

by Jacob on Jun.26, 2006, under General

I know my vocabulary isn’t very large, but I came across a new word today that I don’t think I’ve ever read: sez.

The word comes from a title of a New York Daily News article, “Terror suspect was good kid, sez dad.”

Can someone explain to me what this word means and why Google didn’t provide me a nice little link to its definition? Thanks.

Leave a Comment :english, news more...

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