Coherence and Cohesion

Coherence and Cohesion
Introduction
Coherent essays are identified by relevance to the central topic. They
communicate a meaningful message to a specific audience and maintain
pertinence to the main focus. In a coherent essay, the sentences and ideas
flow smoothly and, as a result, the reader can follow the ideas developed
without any issues.
To achieve coherence in an essay, writers use lexical and grammatical
cohesive devices. Examples of these cohesive devices are repetition,
synonymy, antonymy, meronymy, substitutions, and anaphoric or cataphoric
relations between sentences. We will look at these devices in more detail
below.
This page will deal with the following points:
1. We will start with definitions of coherence and cohesion.
2. Then, we will give examples of how a text can achieve cohesion.
3. We will see how a text can be cohesive but not coherent.
Definitions
In general, coherence and cohesion refer to how a text is structured so that
the elements it is constituted of can stick together and contribute to a
meaningful whole. In coherent essays, writers use grammatical and lexical
cohesive techniques so that ideas can flow meaningfully and logically.
What Is Coherence?
Coherence refers to the quality of forming a unified consistent whole. We
can describe a text as being coherent if it is semantically meaningful, that is
if the ideas flow logically to produce an understandable entity.
If a text is coherent it is logically ordered and connected. It is clear,
consistent, and understandable.
Coherence is related to the macro-level features of a text which enable it to
have a sense as a whole.
What Is Cohesion
Cohesion is commonly defined as the grammatical and lexical
connections that tie a text together, contributing to its meaning (i.e.
coherence.)
While coherence is related to the macro-level features of a text, cohesion is
concerned with its micro-level - the words, the phrases, and the sentences and
how they are connected to form a whole.
If the elements of a text are cohesive, they are united and work together or fit
well together.
To summarize, coherence refers to how the ideas of the text flow logically
and make a text semantically meaningful as a whole. Cohesion is what makes
the elements (e.g. the words, phrases, clauses, and sentences) of a text stick
together to form a whole.
How To Achieve Cohesion?

There are two types of cohesion: lexical and grammatical. Writers connect
sentences and ideas in their essays using both lexical and grammatical
cohesive devices.
Lexical Cohesion
We can achieve cohesion through lexical cohesion by using these techniques:
 Repetition.
 Synonymy.
 Antonymy.
 Hyponymy.
 Meronymy.
Now let's look at these in more detail.
Repetition
Repeating words may contribute to cohesion. Repetition creates cohesive ties
within the text.
Example:
“Birds are beautiful. I like birds.”
Synonymy
You can use a word or phrase that means exactly or nearly the same as
another word to achieve cohesion.
Example:
“Paul saw a snake under the mattress. The serpent was probably hiding
there for a long time.”
Antonymy
Antonymy refers to the use of a word of opposite meaning. This is often used
to create links between the elements of a text.
Example:
“Old movies are boring, the new ones are much better.”
Hyponymy
This refers to the use of a word that denotes a subcategory of a more general
class.
Example:
I saw a cat. The animal was very hungry and looked ill.”
Relating a superordinate term (i.e. animal) to a corresponding subordinate
term (i.e. cat) may create more cohesiveness between sentences and clauses.
Meronymy
Meronymy is another way to achieve cohesion. It refers to the use of a word

that denotes part of something but which is used to refer to the whole of it for
instance faces can be used to refer to people as in "I see many faces here". In
the following example, hands refer to workers.
Example:
More workers are needed. We need more hands to finish the work.
Grammatical Cohesion
Grammatical cohesion refers to the grammatical relations between text
elements. This includes the use of:
 Anaphora.
 Cataphora.
 Ellipsis.
 Substitutions.
 Conjunctions and transition words.
Let us illustrate the above devices with some examples.
Anaphora
Anaphora is when you use a word referring back to another word used earlier
in a text or conversation.
Example:
Jane was brilliant. She got the best score.
The pronoun "she" refers back to the proper noun "Jane".
Cataphora
Cataphora is the opposite of anaphora. Cataphora refers to the use of a word

or phrase that refers to or stands for a following word or phrase.
Example:
Here he comes our hero. Please, welcome John.
The pronoun "he" refers back to the proper noun "John".
Ellipsis
Ellipsis refers to the omission from speech or writing of a word or words that
are superfluous or able to be understood from contextual clues.
Example:
Liz had some chocolate bars, and Nancy an ice cream.
In the above example, "had" in "Nancy an ice cream" is left because it can be
understood (or presupposed) as it was already mentioned previously in the
sentence.
Elliptic elements can be also understood from the context as in:
A: Where are you going?
B: Home.
Substitutions
Substitutions refer to the use of a word to replace another word.

Example:
A: Which T-shirt would you like?
B: I would like the pink one.
Conjunctions Transition Words
Conjunctions and transition words are parts of speech that connect words,
phrases, clauses, or sentences.
Examples of conjunctions: but, or, and, although, in spite of, because,
Examples of transition words: however, similarly, likewise, specifically,
consequently, for this reason, in contrast to, accordingly, in essence, chiefly,
finally.
Here are some examples:
 I called Tracy and John.
 He was tired but happy.
 She likes neither chocolates nor cookies.
 You can either finish the work or ask someone to do it for you.
 He went to bed after he had done his homework.

 Although she is very rich, she isn’t happy.
 I was brought up to be responsible. Similarly, I will try to teach my kids


 Use Cohesive
how to take responsibility for their actions.
Devices And Signposting Phrases
Cohesive device Examples
Repetition.
Synonymy.
Lexical Antonymy.
Hyponymy.
Meronymy.
Anaphora.
Cataphora.
Grammatical Ellipsis.
Substitutions.
Conjunctions and transition words.
Some Other devices:
Signposting Functions Examples

Transition words Expressing addition in addition - as well as - moreover - what is
more...
Expressing contrast however - yet - nevertheless - nonetheless -
on the contrary - whereas...
Expressing cause and consequently - as a consequence - as a

effect result - therefore...
Expressing purpose in order to - in order not to - so as to...
Summarizing in conclusion - to conclude - to sum up
Other To introduce the essay This essay aims at...
signposting This essay will be concerned with...
expressions It shall be argued in this essay...
This essay will focus on...
To introduce a new idea Having established..., it is possible now
to consider...
... is one key issue; another of equal
importance is...
Also of significant importance is the issue
of...
With regard to...
W with respect to...
Firstly, ...
Secondly, ...
Finally, ...
To illustrate something One aspect which illustrate ... is ...
An example of... can be identified as ...
The current debate about... illustrates
This highlights...
To be more specific and Importantly,
emphasize a point Indeed,
In fact,
More importantly,
It is also important to highlight
In particular, … In relation to … More
specifically, … With respect to … In terms
of …
Changing direction To get back to the topic of this paper, ...
Speaking of..., ...
That reminds me of...
That brings to mind...
On a happier/sad note, ...
Another point to consider is ...
Comparing In comparison, ...
Compared to...
Similarly, ...
Likewise,...
Conversely
In contrast, ...
On one hand, ...
On the other hand, ...
Going into more detail on In icular...
a point Specifically...
Concentrating on ...
By focusing on .... in more detail, it is
possible...to …
To be more precise ...
Rephrasing In other words, ...
To put it simply, ...
That is to say...
To put it differently, ...
To rephrase it, ...
In plain English, ...
Reintroducing a topic As discussed/explained earlier, ...
The earlier discussion on … can be
developed further here, ...
As stated previously, ...
As noted above,...
Introducing an An alternative perspective is given

opposing/alternative view by... who suggests/argues that …
This conflicts with the view held
by...
Alternatively, …
Concluding It could be concluded that...

From this, it can be concluded that...
The evidence shows that...

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Coherence and Cohesion

How To Achieve Cohesion?

Now let's look at these in more detail.

Meronymy is another way to achieve cohesion. It refers to the use of a word

 Conjunctions and transition words.

Let us illustrate the above devices with some examples.

Cataphora is the opposite of anaphora. Cataphora refers to the use of a word

Substitutions refer to the use of a word to replace another word.

Conjunctions Transition Words

 I called Tracy and John.

 He was tired but happy.

 She likes neither chocolates nor cookies.

 He went to bed after he had done his homework.

 I was brought up to be responsible. Similarly, I will try to teach my kids

Some Other devices:

Signposting Functions Examples

Expressing cause and consequently - as a consequence - as a

Introducing an An alternative perspective is given

Concluding It could be concluded that...

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