is there a limit on paragraph length in an essay?

Most teachers generally teach that a paragraph is 3 – 5 sentences. However, if you read professional works, they rarely limit their paragraphs to a specific sentence count.

The classic essay is the 5 paragraph essay. Paragraph one is the introduction and states the author’s point of view and briefly gives 3 reasons for his/her position. The next three paragraphs each elaborate on a different one of the reasons, giving specific details and concrete examples. The final paragraph summarizes or wraps up the author’s position.

As you can see from the format, getting 3 – 5 sentences per paragraph is probably not a problem for the first 4 paragraphs, but trying to write 3 – 5 sentences for the summary can be difficult to do without directly repeating things you’ve already covered.

I teach 5th and 6th grade writing, and I always tell my students that a paragraph is as many sentences as it takes to completely and clearly express your idea. I’d rather read a paragraph of 2 – 3 well-constructed, informative sentences than read 5 – 7 short, choppy sentences that have little or nothing to do with the topic.

A standard paragraph is 3-5 sentences. An official essay paragraph has 5-7 sentences. I’d say you’d need to find a place to end it off after 7 or 8 sentences.

A paragraph is generally composed of 3-5 sentences and a essay generally has three paragraphs (Introduction, body, conclusion).