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Q&A Why are the paragraphs of a document often indented and not vertically separated?

Up until recently the "correct" way to indicate the start of a new paragraph. It is what was taught at schools and preached by style guides. Esentially it is the default because it has been the def...

posted 9y ago by Ashandes‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by System‭

Answer
#3: Attribution notice added by user avatar System‭ · 2019-12-08T04:08:49Z (about 5 years ago)
Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/16685
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
#2: Initial revision by user avatar Ashandes‭ · 2019-12-08T04:08:49Z (about 5 years ago)
Up until recently the "correct" way to indicate the start of a new paragraph. It is what was taught at schools and preached by style guides. Esentially it is the default because it has been the default for a long time.

Now, either tend to be considered acceptable (although some insitutions or organisation may prefer a particular style) but indents are probably more popular.

Readability might have more to do with what you're used to and, to some extent the medium you're reading (electronic or print) and even the nature of the text.

I, for example, don't like whitespace in finction as I find it jarring and clinical and it brings me out of the story. But I grew up with indents as standard, so it might be that.

#1: Imported from external source by user avatar System‭ · 2015-03-31T16:40:14Z (over 9 years ago)
Original score: 6