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  • Hello. Do you know how to write a basic paragraph? This is not only for ESL students.

  • This is for everyone around the world, even if you speak English, even if you don't speak English.

  • This is a very, very beautiful, basic lesson on how to write small, short, beautiful paragraphs.

  • "How to Write a Basic Paragraph". Now, I also want you to be very careful.

  • This is not how to write a 200-word essay for your university exam.

  • We don't have enough time in the world for me to teach you that, and I probably forget.

  • So this is, very simply, how to write a basic English paragraph. One, two, three, four rules.

  • Rule No. 1 is: Indent, indent. What does "indent" mean? Indent, basically, means -- I learned this when I was a child -- you take your finger.

  • You can have a big finger, a small finger -- I don't care.

  • You take your finger or two fingers, and you make a little space like so. This is called an "indentation" or "indent".

  • So "indent" means you leave a space at the very first line of the paragraph.

  • And that's it. You do not leave a space at any other lines in the paragraph, only the first line.

  • So it's very important that you only indent the first line of your paragraph like so. Okay.

  • The next thing that you have to do is you have to use a capital letter at the beginning of every sentence.

  • Now, the word that I've written is "I".

  • Another rule in English is that every single time you write "I", it must be a capital.

  • So I'm going to write an example sentence for you to illustrate what I mean:

  • "I am a teacher." Okay? This is one sentence.

  • So rule No. 3: At the end of my sentence, I must use a period. A "period" is a dot, if you'd like. So "I am a teacher."

  • So what I'm going to do is my next sentence... I'm going to begin it with a capital letter.

  • "My"-- so I want to say, "My name -- My name is Ronnie." So what I've done: Rule No. 1, indent.

  • Rule No. 2, you have to use a capital letter at the beginning of every new sentence.

  • Rule No. 3, you're going to use a period at the end of each sentence so that the person reading your beautiful paragraph knows when to stop and take a break.

  • For example, if I did not have a period here, I'd say, "I'm a teacher my name is Ronnie."

  • You need to break up your ideas. So one sentence has one thought and one period.

  • "I am a teacher. My name is Ronnie."

  • Next one. No. 4. I see this in a lot of students' writing. The two basic things about a paragraph are the form and the content.

  • The form is the most important. The form is the indentation.

  • And don't use point form. Do you know what "point form" is?

  • If you're typing something on Word or on an email, "point form" is also called "bullets", which [makes shooting sounds].

  • So "bullet" means you would put each new sentence on a new line.

  • So if I was to write this: "I'm a teacher", then I would put my next sentence here. This is not how to make a paragraph.

  • This is "point form". So this is bad. What I'm going to do is I'm going to write until I almost reach the end of the page.

  • Don't write past the end of the page because then you're writing on the desk and it gets messy.

  • So "I am a teacher. My name is Ronnie.

  • I live -- so I'm going to use up all of my line until the end -- I live in Canada."

  • What would you like to know about Canada? "Canada is very cold." In the winter.

  • So as you can see by my example, I only stop my sentence at the end of my paper. I don't use each sentence on each line.

  • So four basic things to remember when you're writing a basic English paragraph.

  • The first one is: Indent the first line of your paragraph only.

  • Use a capital letter at the beginning of each new line or each new sentence.

  • And use a period at the end. Also, don't forget: Don't use point form.

  • "I am a teacher. My name is Ronnie. I live in Canada. Canada is very cold."

  • Go to 'Subscribe' on YouTube, so you can find more great lessons like this. Goodbye.

Hello. Do you know how to write a basic paragraph? This is not only for ESL students.

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