Here is a reminder of the six ways we create cohesion.
- 1. Reference
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This way of creating cohesion uses determiners (e.g. “this“, “that“, “these” and “those“); pronouns (e.g. “him“, “them“, “me“); possessive pronouns (e.g.”your“, “their“, “hers“); relative pronouns (e.g. “which“,”who“, “whose“). This type of cohesion can also be achieved comparatively with expressions like: “similarly“, “likewise“, “less“.
- 2. Lexis
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In this way of creating cohesion you can use: synonyms (e.g. “beautiful” for “lovely“); hyponyms and superordinates (e.g. “daffodil“, “rose” and “daisy“, are all hyponyms of the superordinate “flower“). Lexical chains are created in a text by using words in the same lexical set (e.g. “army“, “soldiers“, “barracks“, “weapons“). These techniques allow for the central themes to be reiterated in a way that avoids monotony for the reader.
- 3. Cohesive nouns
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These words are a kind of lexical reference. They can summarise many words in one (e.g. “attitude“, “solution“, “difficulty“), and have been called ‘umbrella’ nouns for this reason (Bailey 2006:150). They are used to signal what is to come (e.g. “the problem to be discussed…“), or can refer back (e.g. “The issue mentioned above…“).
- 4. Substitution
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This method of creating cohesion uses one word/phrase to replace a word/phrase used earlier. For example, “the one(s)” and “the same” can be used to replace nouns (e.g. “I’ll have the same.”). Verbs can be replaced by “do” (e.g. “The authorities said they had acted, but nobody believed they had done.”). In speaking, whole clauses can be replaced by, “so” or “not” (e.g. “I hope so/not.“).
- 5. Ellipsis
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In this way of creating cohesion you can use: synonyms (e.g. “beautiful” for “lovely“); hyponyms and superordinates (e.g. “daffodil“, “rose” and In this way of creating cohesion, words are omitted because they are understood from the context (e.g. “John can type and I can [type] too!“; “I don’t want to go out, do you?” [want to go out].
- 6. Conjunction
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This type of cohesion includes listing words (e.g. “firstly“, “next“, “lastly“); linkers for addition (e.g. “moreover“, “and“, “also“); concession (e.g. “but“, “however“, “despite“); and cause and effect (e.g. “so“, “because“, “as a result“).
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