Reply #4: Given that a "paragraph" is often a "sentence" in articles, I have often [View All]

[lindisfarne]

been mystified by this rule. Some articles consist of 4 sentences, so articles are copied in their entirety. Other articles consist of 400 sentences enclosed in 5 paragraphs, so about 80% of the article gets copied in its entirety. Still other articles consist of 400 sentences enclosed in about 200 paragraphs, so only about 2% of the article gets copied. Since American newspapers are more likely than British newspapers to equate a "sentence" with a "paragraph", fewer "American" sentences are allowed under the rule (however, American articles tend to be shorter and less in depth than British newspapers, so perhaps the percent of the article that gets copied is roughly equivalent).

And we wonder why American kids can't write: they don't have good examples to work off of. "A paragraph is a collection of related sentences dealing with a single topic. To be as effective as possible, a paragraph should contain each of the following: Unity, Coherence, A Topic Sentence, and Adequate Development. (http://owl.english.purdue.edu/handouts/general/gl_pgrph2.html)" In addition to newspaper and magazine articles, high school textbooks don't seem to understand what a paragraph is.

How does the rule apply if the article doesn't seem to understand what a paragraph is? Are we allowed to re-punctuate (in terms of where the paragraph breaks fall) the article, to better recreate what a paragraph should be, and then post 4 of these "improved" paragraphs?