Coherence and Cohesion

1. COHERENCE & COHESION
Julia Young
MELD 1AA3
February 27th 2018

2. COHERENCE
Connection of ideas at the text level
Logical and systematic organization
Train of thought flows smoothly and is continuous

3. LACK OF COHERENCE EXAMPLE:
This year, the minimum wage in Canada increased to
$14 per hour. Many people are unable to find
employment and are left without a way to pay their
bills. Justin Trudeau has been spending Canada’s
money in the wrong places. Many think that Donald
Trump is an inadequate politician. Despite numerous
protests, he refuses to change the gun laws in the
United States. His daughter Ivanka attended the
Olympic games in South Korea.

4. COHESION
Connection of ideas at the sentence level
Lexical and grammatical
All ideas relate to each other and the topic

5. LACK OF COHESION EXAMPLE:
A school shooting in Florida occurred. Americans can
buy guns at the age of 18. Donald Trump wants to arm
the teachers instead of changing gun laws. Many
people protest and the people will march.

6. WHY?
Presents ideas in a logical order
Allows writing to flow smoothly
Connects ideas
Helps the reader to understand how
the ideas relate

7. REVERSE OUTLINE
Helpful technique for improving coherence
Write the main idea of each paragraph
Verify that topic sentences connect to the thesis
Create a Reverse Outline:
Complete Exercise 2 on page 58

8. COHESIVE DEVICES
Old to new information pattern
The most important cohesive device
Known info comes before info that’s being introduced
OLD → NEW
For Example:
“New destructive viruses are detected every year. Even
more concerning is that these viruses are spreading at an
increasing rate.”

9. COHESIVE DEVICES
Cohesive Device Explanation
Repetition Use of synonyms or different forms, avoid multiple instances
of the same words
Reference Reference to previous information through use of:
Demonstrative determiners (this, that, these, those),
comparatives (another, the other, others, such), pronouns
(he, them, me), possessive pronouns (your, their, hers),
relative pronouns (which, who, whose)
Cohesive Nouns Summarize many words with just one noun (Eg. these
methods, the advantages, these solutions, this procedure,
the difficulties)
Topic Introducer Transitions that make ideas flow (Eg. concerning, regarding,
in reference to)
Logical Connector Transitions that connect ideas (Eg. because of, due to, as a
result of, based on, given, in light of, despite, similar to, in

11. YOUR HOMEWORK!
MyEnglishLab:
Supporting Skill 1 and Language Skill (All
activities)