Enough With the Single-Sentence Paragraphs

I get it. Things change in the world, and since the internet has wandered on the scene, things have been changing faster than ever. Clothing styles have come and gone, our beloved English language has become better in many ways but worse in others, and the advancement in technology has gone off the rails. Whether you like it or not, the world today is vastly different from what it was a mere 25 years ago.

I’m not complaining. The world has always changed. There’s nothing anyone can do about it. The only real issue I have with our human evolution is that sometimes, people become somewhat annoying while delving into what they’d like to alter. I guess my sensitivity to, or should I rather say, propensity for, recognizing certain annoying habits can become overwhelming at times. And when I become overwhelmed, I find myself behind my keyboard writing posts such as this one.

If you’d please indulge me for a moment, I’d like to ask that you read the following piece of writing:

Have you ever read a paragraph that consists of only one sentence?

Of course you haven’t.

Have you ever wondered why you haven’t?

Because they’re rare and can be found only on certain types of blogs and platforms.

The problem is this:

This type of writing is becoming more and more popular.

And it’s driving me crazy.

Imagine an entire page of text that utilizes the style of writing shown above. Mostly, each of these types of paragraphs consists of just one sentence, although sometimes two. Either way, the entire piece of writing looks contrived and it makes me question humanity. Why? Because I sometimes wonder why certain types of individuals insist on making things difficult. For hundreds and hundreds of years, we’ve been quite content with writing regular paragraphs. Today, well, let’s just mix it all up. For what reason? No reason at all.

I mentioned to Laura that I’d be writing a post, or perhaps what can be described as more of a rant, on this topic and since I mentioned what the post would entail, she’s already begun unearthing examples of what I’m describing during her own web browsing. It’s the sort of thing you’d see only if you were looking for it. Apparently, I dropped this bit of awareness in the poor girl’s mind and she’s noticing the nonsense all over the place.

After a few minutes of discussion, we both agreed that in some instances, short, concise paragraphs might be called for, but by and large, they’re mostly perceived as fragmented and difficult to follow.

The truth of the matter is this: I’ve been blogging since 2005 and have been reading blog posts with a critical eye far before that. By and large, most paragraphs contained in the posts that I’ve read and have written have been written in what’s referred to as long-form. If you’re unfamiliar with the phrase, long-form paragraphs can be easily explained as extended blocks of text, typically exceeding a single sentence. They delve deeply into a specific topic or idea. They are characterized by their length, often containing multiple sentences that build upon a central theme. Simply put, long-form paragraphs are the types of paragraphs that each and every one of us has been reading since the day we entered the sixth grade. It’s what you just finished reading in this very paragraph. It’s the type of writing that’s normal and acceptable. And it’s the type of writing that flows.

Obviously, much of today’s writing is for the web. It can be technical and sometimes it needs to be broken down into very small chunks, especially when read on mobile devices. No one wants to wade through and possibly get lost in a sea of words. I can get behind this idea. What I can’t get behind is when an author goes out of his or her way to limit each and every single paragraph they write in a blog post to one or two sentences. It’s ugly and it’s stupid. It also shows a lack of talent on the author’s part.

Don’t take my word for it. Before sitting down to put pen to paper, as they say, I did a bit of reading on the topic.

Peter Darling: If you write things that are strings of one-sentence paragraphs, I hate you. I want to roll you in honey, and stake you out in the desert next to a nest of fire ants, and leave you there.

I like this guy. He’s got chutzpah.

Joel Eifert: None of the previous responses even hint to the fact of automated writing. A growing amount of news is written by an algorithm today. The original facts are data which are then put into sentences by a machine. This obviously saves a lot of money and allows for automated A/B testing of news. (If we change that sentence there what will be the impact on reading?) It’s a lot easier to put data into short paragraphs that have no connection to each other than to connect the sentences in a meaningful way. Note: I’m not a writer or journalist, but a software engineer.

In the above, Joel is responding to those who defend (in a forum post) the use of one or two sentence paragraphs. The supporters claim that these types of paragraphs are used to keep the reading experience concise in certain types of instances (news stories, technical writing, scientific journals) as well as writing that’s primarily meant to be read on phones. This is a perfect example of a so-called news article that’s been written by a robot. It utilizes the one or two sentence per paragraph short-form style. Read it. I think you’ll agree that it’s sad and odd looking.

Jeff Barton: If you’re an avid reader, you’ll notice the trend toward entire articles containing one-sentence paragraphs. It’s prevalent on Medium and hundreds of blogs across the internet. As soon as I see a story full of one-sentence paragraphs, I immediately click away. There is something about the lack of flow and overall choppiness that makes me not want to read what’s written. While it’s subjective, the contents within usually reflect that lack of flow, and the quality is, more often than not, lacking as well. I don’t care what the subject is, I’m not interested. It tells me you are a wannabe LinkedIn “thought leader” or a content creator, neither of which I want to follow.

This is the introductory paragraph I wish I had written for this post. It contains the perfect mixture of analysis and contempt.

Rebekah Brately: Without using paragraphs, those thoughts tend to become all over the place. And often, writers who engage this style use sentence fragments. While it might mirror how people speak and be designed to make the company or writer seem down-to-earth, it simply goes against everything we know about engaging readers.

I couldn’t have said it better myself.

While reading, I found a healthy supply of those who actually prefer to employ the one or two sentences per paragraph format, such as Mike Grindle in his piece found here. While it’s difficult to argue with Mike’s rationale because it’s something that obviously works for him, I’m fairly certain, due to the recent and rabid response to this type of writing style, it won’t be used by all.

Have you seen the one sentence per paragraph writing style out there in the wild? Do you have an opinion on it? If so, please share below. Thanks!