ShmoopTube

Where Monty Python meets your 10th grade teacher.

Search Thousands of Shmoop Videos

ELA 3: Indent, Indeed 23 Views


Share It!


Description:

Get ready for some intense indents. We're throwing little spaces in text all over the place in this video.

Language:
English Language

Transcript

00:03

[Coop and Dino singing]

00:12

Empty space is something we try to avoid… [Girl stood in an empty room]

00:14

Seriously, think of how much we like to cover our walls with posters, or babble to fill

00:18

awkward silences.

00:20

But sometimes, empty space can be important.

00:23

Indentation. [Dino discussing indentation]

00:24

Even if you don't recognize the word, you've probably seen indentation before: it's that

00:28

little space at the start of a paragraph.

00:30

Aw…so little! [Finger points to an indentation in a paragraph]

00:32

So cute!

00:33

When we're writing, we usually leave a bit of space between the edge of the page and

00:36

where we write.

00:37

These spaces between the body of text and the edges of the page are called the margins.

00:41

So the indentation is the little blank space that comes between the left margin, and the [Finger points to margins]

00:45

first line of a paragraph!

00:46

It helps us to show that a new paragraph is starting, because unfortunately, we can't

00:50

put drumrolls and trumpet fanfares into essays. [Drums and trumpets appear]

00:55

There are plenty of different types of indentation.

00:57

One is hanging indentation, where instead of the first line being indented…

01:01

…every line except for the first one gets the indentation treatment.

01:05

We can also use indentation to set off bits of text that we want to show off as being [Sentence in paragraph highlighted]

01:09

particularly important, like a quotation.

01:12

Unlike the indentation at the start of a paragraph, we indent every bit of the quotation, so that

01:16

it has a nice, clear comfortable spot on the page.

01:19

It might not be quite as comfortable as a really fancy mattress, but it's just a bunch of text. [Boy jumps on bed]

01:23

They won't lose any sleep over it, trust us.

01:26

Once you know a thing or two about indenting, you'll be formatting your writing like a champ, [Coop talking about indentation]

01:30

keeping everything clear and under control.

01:32

And if you're still feeling guilty over that block of text tossing and turning at night,

01:36

maybe buy them a mattress topper or something… [Piece of paper on a mattress]

Up Next

ELA Drills, Beginner: Point of View 1
14041 Views

ELA Drills, Beginner: Point of View. Is the statement in the video true or false?

Related Videos

ELA Drills, Beginner: Textual Analysis 1
404 Views

ELA Drills, Beginner: Textual Analysis 1. The purpose of the instruction manual was...what?

ELA Drills, Beginner: Point of View 3
85 Views

ELA Drills, Beginner: Point of View 3. Which sentence in the passage best shows the narrator's point of view on the topic of Chelsea Simpson?

Science 3: Sedimentary Rocks and Ancient Buildings
115 Views

We wanted to make a video about sedentary rocks, but we couldn't get lazy uncle Rocky off the couch. Oh well. We'll teach you about sedimentary roc...

Science 3: How Living Things Become Fossils
137 Views

Today we're bringing you the opposite of Jurassic Park—how living things become fossils. Okay okay, it might not be quite as fun...but hey, at le...