Combining and Splitting Paragraphs

As you're typing, you may at times want to combine two paragraphs into one, or split a longer paragraph into two or more shorter ones. Although there is nothing mysterious about doing this, it can be a little puzzling to beginners .

To join two paragraphs, click at the very end of the first paragraph, just past the period, and press the Delete key one or more times until the second paragraph moves up to join the first. (Alternatively, you can click at the very beginning of the second paragraph and press the Backspace key one or more times.) You may need to add a space where the two paragraphs come together.

When you press the Delete or Backspace key to join paragraphs, you're actually removing the hidden paragraph marks separating the paragraphs. (See "Deleting Text" later in this hour for more about deleting hidden characters.) Remember that you can click the Show/Hide button in the Standard toolbar to make paragraph marks and other hidden characters visible.

To split a paragraph into two separate ones, click just before the first letter of the sentence that should begin the second paragraph, and press Enter. If you want blank lines between the two paragraphs, press Enter again for each blank line you need.