Without in any way disagreeing with Jay, I'll mention a few common uses for
line breaks:
1. Lists (long, skinny columns of names--not numbered or bulleted). This
would fit Jay's description of "fairly short single lines." The advantage to
having them in a single paragraph is that they are governed by "Widow/orphan
control," and you can even, if desired, apply "Keep lines together."
2. Addresses. This is vital. Whether this is the inside address in a letter
or one of a series of names, addresses, and phone numbers in a directory,
keeping all the lines of the address in a single paragraph makes them much
easier to handle.
3. Poetry. Each verse is a line; each stanza is a paragraph. This allows you
to have more space between the stanzas than between the verses and also
allows you to handle the stanzas as paragraphs (using "Keep lines together"
if desired). Also simplifies fine-tuning the formatting, assuming you're
adjusting the indent to center the poem visually (while leaving it
left-aligned).
4. Runover lines in numbered/bulleted lists. For any significant amount of
text (and certainly if space is needed between the lines), it's better to
use a List Continue style, but for the occasional situation where you want
to, for example, add a short sublist, line breaks are handy.
5. Lines in printed forms (such as legal contracts) that end in a leader tab
(but the text of the paragraph continues on the next line).
One main disadvantage of line breaks is that in justified text a line ending
in a line break will be justified. Sometimes this is just the effect you
want, but when you don't, you can work around it by inserting a tab
character before the line break (you can also change the appropriate
Compatibility Option, but that will apply to all cases and not just a
specific one).
--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA
Word MVP FAQ site:
http://www.mvps.org/word
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