variety in paragraph writing

Question

i am learning to write paragraph writing. I studied that a paragraph should have unity, order and variety. I can't understand what this variety means bcz unity is forcing us to stick to the main topical sentence but variety is almost an opposite

GPY · Accepted Answer

According to the link below, and other sources which seem to have copied its ideas, "variety" means that "sentences should differ in length and form". Personally I don't see what this specifically has to do with paragraph construction. It seems to be more a general point about writing style.

https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=EvPzH10XSZcC&pg=PA221&lpg=PA221

CalifJim · Answer

Unity and variety are opposites of a kind. That's the point. There's a conflict between being too repetitive (too much unity) and stating too many different points (too much variety) all in one paragraph. Therefore, as in any art, you have to strike a balance. Don't keep harping on the exact same thing (not enough variety), and don't go off in all directions saying unrelated things (not enough unity). Either way you'll irritate your reader, and the point is to keep the reader interested and informed all the way through the paragraph.

Of course, you apply the same principles to one paragraph after another and to the relationship of paragraphs to one another until you've written the whole essay.

CJ

GPY · Answer

CalifJimUnity and variety are opposites of a kind. That's the point. There's a conflict between being too repetitive (too much unity) and stating too many different points (too much variety) all in one paragraph. Therefore, as in any art, you have to strike a balance. Don't keep harping on the exact same thing (not enough variety), and don't go off in all directions saying unrelated things (not enough unity). Either way you'll irritate your reader, and the point is to keep the reader interested and informed all the way through the paragraph.

This is a not unreasonable interpretation, but I'm not sure it is what was meant in the material that Anon is studying. This idea of "unity, order and variety" in paragraphs seems to be repeated across various materials, and always, as far as I can see, "variety" is supposed to refer to form and not content. For example, in the link below: "Lest the law of variety be thought to contradict the law of unity, Scott and Denney hastened to add that variety was a matter of length, structure and order, rather than of thought." Of course, it doesn't prove that everyone must use it in that sense, but there does seem to be a theme here, as far as I can see.

https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=g6S6qmchnwkC&pg=PA129&lpg=PA129

Anonymous · Answer

Variety in a paragraph means

Cat olive 985 · Answer

What a variety mean?

anonymous i am learning to write paragraph writing. I studied that a paragraph should have unity, order and variety. I can't understand what this variety means bcz unity is forcing us to stick to the main topical sentence but variety is almost an opposite

variety in paragraph writing

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