ShmoopTube

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[Coop and Dino singing]

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

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

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awkward silences.

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But sometimes, empty space can be important.

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Indentation. [Dino discussing indentation]

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

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little space at the start of a paragraph.

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

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So cute!

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

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where we write.

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

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

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first line of a paragraph!

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

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

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There are plenty of different types of indentation.

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

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

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

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particularly important, like a quotation.

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

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

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

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

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

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keeping everything clear and under control.

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

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

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