9. We saw the lakes climbing a tree.
10. The old lady gave alms to a young beggar with the white hair.
CHAPTER III
THE PARAGRAPH
9. The Use of the Paragraph.—Composition is the combining or grouping of words. We group our words in sentences. We also group our sentences in paragraphs.
A paragraph is a group of sentences which together express an important thought. In a way, of course, every sentence expresses a thought—a small thought, so to speak. But experience has shown that the educated mind can best understand written language if it can take in several of these smaller thoughts, in as many sentences, in rapid succession, provided only that these smaller thoughts, when taken together, make up a larger thought. A paragraph is, then, the expression of a large or important thought, made up of several smaller or less important thoughts, expressed in sentences.
Note.—Sometimes, but not often, a single sentence represents such an important thought that it can best stand by itself.
A paragraph is indicated to the eye by the fact that the beginning of the first sentence is placed a little way to the right of the left-hand margin; in other words, it is indented. On the printed page, a paragraph is indented only the space which would be occupied by two or three letters. In a written composition the paragraph is indented about an inch.