If you have the entire paragraph selected (including the paragraph mark),
you should be able to apply a border to the entire paragraph. But you should
be able to accomplish the same with the insertion point just in the
paragraph (no text selected). When text is selected, the default is always
going to be Text, which is not what you want.

Is there some reason you're not using Track Changes and Comments instead of
borders and such?

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA
http://word.mvps.org

wrote in message
...
I use Word 2000 (which crashes intermittently on VISTA, but that's the
subject for another thread).

I have tried to mark up papers using a variety of WORD tools,
including suggesting a writer delete an entire paragraph. I Select the
paragraph, then go to Borders and Shading. I choose Box, and then
Text.

What happens is that the paragraph IS selected, but the borders
encircle each line of the paragraph.

If I choose Paragraph rather than Text from the drop-down menu,
nothing happens. I mean literally nothing--no border appears at all.

I'd appreciate greatly if someone told me what I'm doing wrong, and if
it's possible to select a paragraph of text and apply a border to it--
and ONLY it.

Thank you.