Cohesion

• It is important for the parts of a written text to be

connected together. Another word for this
is cohesion.
• This word comes from the word cohere, which
means 'to stick together'.
• Cohesion refers to the ties and connections which
exist within texts that link different parts of
sentences or larger unit of discourse.
• Cohesion is therefore related to ensuring that the
words and sentences you use stick together and
make sense.
• Good cohesion is achieved through the
following three main methods, each of which
is described in more detail below:

1. repeated words/ideas
2. reference words
3. transition signals
 1. Repeated words/ideas

• One way to achieve cohesion is to repeat

words, or to repeat ideas using different
words (synonyms).
• Study the following example.
 Example
• Cohesion is an important feature of
academic writing. It can help ensure that
your writing coheres or 'sticks together', which
will make it easier for the reader to follow the
main ideas in your essay or report. You can
achieve good cohesion by paying attention to
three important features. The first of these is
repeated words. The second key feature is
reference words. The final important aspect is
transition signals.
 Repeated words (or synonyms) are
shown in bold.
• Cohesion is an important feature of
academic writing. It can help ensure that
your writing coheres or 'sticks together',
which will make it easier for the reader to
follow the main ideas in your essay or report.
You can achieve good cohesion by paying
attention to three important features. The
first of these is repeated words. The
second key feature is reference words. The
final important aspect is transition signals.
• In this example, the word cohesion is used
several times, including as a verb (coheres).
• It is important, in academic writing, to avoid
too much repetition, so using different word
forms or synonyms is common.
• The word writing is also used several times,
including the phrase essay or report, which is
a synonym for writing.
• The words features are also repeated, again
using synonyms: key feature, important
aspect.
 2. Transition signals
• Transition signals, also called cohesive devices,
are words which show the relationship between
ideas.
• These are many different types, the most
common. Some examples of transition signals
are:
• for example - used to give examples
• in contrast - used to show a contrasting or
opposite idea
• first - used to show the first item in a list
• as a result - used to show a result or effect
 Example
• Cohesion is an important feature of academic
writing. It can help ensure that your writing
coheres or 'sticks together', which will make it
easier for the reader to follow the main ideas in
your essay or report. You can achieve good
cohesion by paying attention to three important
features. The first of these is repeated words.
The second key feature is reference words.
The final important aspect is transition signals.
 Grammar of transition signals

• Broadly speaking, transition signals can be

divided into three types:
I. sentence connectors
II. clause connectors
III. other connectors
 I. Sentence connectors
• Sentence connectors are used to connect two
sentences together. They are joined by a full-stop
(period) or semi-colon, and are followed by a comma.
The following are examples of sentence connectors.
i. Transition signals are very useful. However, they
should not be used to begin every sentence.
ii. Transition signals are very useful; however, they
should not be used to begin every sentence.
iii. Contrast signals are one type of transition signals. In
addition, there are others such as compare signals
and addition signals.
 II. Clause connectors
• Clause connectors are used to connect two clauses
together to form one sentence. They are joined by a
comma. Mostly conjunctions are used for connecting
clauses.
• The following are examples of clause connectors.
I. Transition signals are very useful, but they should not
be used to begin every sentence.
II. Although transition signals are very useful, they
should not be used to begin every sentence.
III. Contrast signals are one type of transition
signal, and there are others such as compare signals
and addition signals.
 III. Other connectors
• Other connectors follow different grammar patterns.
Many are followed by noun phrases. Some are verbs
and should therefore be used as verbs in a sentence.
• The following are examples of other connectors.
I. Despite their importance in achieving cohesion,
transition signals should not be used to begin every
sentence.
II. Good cohesion is the result of using repeated words,
reference words, and transition signals.
III. It is clear that careful use of transition signals will
improve the cohesion in your writing.
IV. Contrast signals are one type of transition
signal. Another type is comparison signals.
 3. Reference words

• Reference words are words which are used to

refer to something which is mentioned
elsewhere in the text, usually in a preceding
sentence.
• The most common type is pronouns, such as
'it' or 'this' or 'these'. Study the previous
example again. This time, the reference words
are shown in bold.
 Example
• Cohesion is an important feature of academic
writing. It can help ensure that your writing
coheres or 'sticks together', which will make it
easier for the reader to follow the main ideas
in your essay or report. You can achieve good
cohesion by paying attention to three
important features. The first of these is
repeated words. The second key feature is
reference words. The final important aspect is
transition signals.
 1. Coherence

• The language users try to come to an

interpretation in the scenario of knowledge of
the world they posses.
• Coherence is not something which exists in
the language but something which exists in
people.
• By using coherence the reader understands
semantic unity of the paragraph.
• Example:
Her: That’s the telephone.
Him: I’ am in the Kitchen.
Her: Ok.
• We can interpret the above dialogue with the
help of conventional action and by our
background knowledge that someone is busy
in the kitchen can not attend the telephone.
 Cohesion vs. coherence
• The words 'cohesion' and 'coherence' are often used
together with a similar meaning, which relates to how
an academic text sticks together to make a unified
whole.
• Although they are similar, they are not the same.
• Cohesion relates to the micro level of the text, in
other words the words and sentences and how they
cohere.
• Coherence, in contrast, relates to macro level features
of a text which help it to stick together, such as topic
sentences, thesis statement, the summary in the
concluding paragraph, and other 'bigger' features
including headings such as those used in reports.
 Reference
• https://www.eapfoundation.com/writing/coh
esion/