- From: Andy Mabbett <andy@pigsonthewing.org.uk>
- Date: Tue, 14 Jun 2011 15:22:50 +0100
On 14 June 2011 08:32, Ian Hickson <ian at hixie.ch> wrote:
> On Thu, 10 Mar 2011, Jukka K. Korpela wrote:
>> Under these circumstances, what should we say to people to need to use
>> paragraphs that contain lists, for example?
>
> That paragraphs don't contain lists; when a sentence has
> ?* this
> ?* structure,
> ...it is in fact two paragraphs and a bullet list.
I think that's an opinion, not a fact.
> Indeed, but "block of text" is pretty much what a paragraph is -- it isn't
> a logical construct.
Cite?
The Oxford English Dictionary would seem to disagree with you:
A distinct passage or section of a text, usually composed
of several sentences, dealing with a particular point, a short
episode in a narrative, a single piece of direct speech, etc.
> It's quite possible, if rare, for a sentence to span
> paragraphs even without lists being involved... Take, for instance, the
> first...
>
> ...no, the second...
>
> ...no, the third, of these blocks of text. That sentence spans three
> paragraphs.
My view is that that's one paragraph, with line breaks.
Consider:
I like apples, pears, grapes, but not bananas. Nor do I like peaches.
and:
I like
* apples
* pears
* grapes
but not bananas. Nor do I like peaches.
The difference between those two is presentational, not semantic. Each
is a single paragraph.
--
Andy Mabbett
@pigsonthewing
http://pigsonthewing.org.uk
Received on Tuesday, 14 June 2011 07:22:50 UTC