Coherence & Cohesion

• Cohesion

  • act of forming a whole unit
  • subset of coherence
  • focused on the grammatical aspect of writing
  • degree to which sentences are connected
• Coherence

  • quality of being logical, consistent, and able to be understood
  • rhetorical aspects of writing which include developing and supporting your argument, synthesizing and integrating reading, organizing, and clarifying ideas
• Cohesion

  • set of resources for constructing relations in discourse that transcend grammatical structure
• General Categories of Cohesive Devices

  1. Reference
  2. Substitution
  3. Ellipsis
  4. Lexical Chains
  5. Cohesive Nouns
  6. Conjunction
• Reference

  • Replacement of words and expressions with pro-forms (e.g. pronouns, pro-modifiers)
  • Has three types:

  1. Personal
  2. Demonstrative
  3. Comparative
• Personal Reference

  • a reference by means of person
  • includes:

  1. Personal Pronouns (e.g. I, he, she)
  2. Possessive Pronouns (e.g. mine, hers, his)
  3. Possessive Determiners (e.g. my, your, her)
• Demonstrative Reference

  • form of verbal pointing
  • speaker identifies the referent by treating it on a scale of proximity
  • examples:

  1. This, These, and Here (proximity to the speaker)
  2. That, Those, and There (distance from the speaker)
• Comparative Reference

  • contributes to textual cohesion by setting up a relation of contrast
  • expressed by such adjectives as same, identical, equal, adjective in comparative degree such as bigger, faster, and adverbs such as identically, likewise, so, such as, etc
• Substitution

  • Use a word/phrase to replace a word/phrase used earlier
• Ellipses

  • Omitting words because it is already understood in the context
• Lexical Chain

  • One word is related to another
  • A sequence of related words in writing
• Cohesive Nouns

  • A kind of lexical reference
  • Can summarize many words
  • Can be used to signal what is to come or can refer back
• Conjunctions

  • A word or group of words used to connect words, phrases, or clauses
  • Can be used to signal what is to come or can refer back
• Types of Conjunctions

  1. Coordinating Conjunctions - connect words, phrases, or clauses of equal grammatical rank
  2. Subordinating Conjunctions - connect clauses that are of subordinate importance to the independent clause or to some element in the main clause
• Coherence

  • way in which ideas in a text are linked logically
  • a semantic property of discourse formed through the interpretation of each individual sentence relative to the interpretation of other sentences, with “interpretation” implying interaction between the text, the reader, and the writer
• Coherence

  • allows the reader to make sense of the text
  • refers to the semantic unity created between the ideas, sentences, paragraphs, and sections of a piece of writing
• How can you Achieve Coherent Text?

  1. Clarify the meaning
  2. Indicate a change of topic
  3. Headings & Subheadings
  4. Layout
  5. Formatting
• Coherence can be Achieved through:

  1. Logical ordering of ideas,
  2. Formatting/ clear communicative stages
  3. Eliminating ambiguity
  4. Maintaining consistency in lexis and syntax
• Coherence vs Cohesion

  • Cohesion - where you can see connections
  • Coherence - where you infer connections
• Coherence

  • feature of cohesive texts, but texts can be cohesive without being coherent