: Re: Must every piece of speech get its own paragraph? I've had a few people read pieces of narrative writing I've done, and they seem to take issue with the fact that I sometimes put a piece

@Tiffany377

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Jill found a box of mints she liked, and took them off the shelf. She
walked up to the cashier. "How much are these mints?" she asked,
holding up the box.

"Two fifty," replied the cashier. Jill handed him the money, took the
mints, and left the store.

Your first paragraph, yes, your second, no. Some persons are saying that it's somehow confusing to separate the dialogue from the actions of another person, but that indicates, to me, a fundamental lack of cognizance of how the English language is used. A new speaker is always on his own paragraph, and then if someone else does actions thereafter, there is a new paragraph. There is no "pause" because this is just how the language is used.

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