The PROCEDURE DIVISION of a program is divided into sections and paragraphs, which contain sentences, statements, and phrases.
A section has a section header and is optionally followed by one or more paragraphs.
A section can be the subject of a PERFORM statement. One type of section is for declaratives.
A paragraph has a name followed by a period and zero or more sentences.
A paragraph can be the subject of a statement.
A statement is a valid combination of words, and begins with a COBOL verb. Statements are imperative (indicating unconditional action), conditional, or compiler-directing. Using explicit scope terminators instead of periods to show the logical end of a statement is preferred.
related concepts
Compiler-directing statements
Scope terminators
Imperative statements
Conditional statements
Declaratives
related references
PROCEDURE DIVISION structure
(COBOL for Windows Language Reference)