1.

Cohesion :
Cohesion can be thought of as all the grammatical and lexical links that link one part of a text to another.
Coherence can be thought of as how meanings and sequences of ideas relate to each other.

Exercise - Recognising Cohesion :

1. Once upon a time there was a little girl

And she went out for a walk
And she saw a lovely little teddy bear
And so she took it home
And when she got home she washed it. (Halliday & Hassan pg. 70)

2.He got up on the buffalo

I have booked a seat
I have put it away in the cupboard
I have not eaten it

2. What makes text Cohesive?

1. Lexical Cohesion
a. Word repetition
b. Synonyms
c. Superordinates and generals (forest – tree; furniture-table)
d. Opposites
e. Related words, collocation
2. Substitution - Pro-forms
a. Noun / Noun phrase : I left this Univ, and moved to another one.
b. Verb Substitutes (Ellipses) : I play the cello so did my mother
Anyhow are you coming to stay? If so, when?

3. Reference words: ( Situational and textual deixis, Personal pronouns, demonstratives,

comparatives)
(he, it, here, there, then, now, this, those, that, we, I, same as, as…so)
a. Cataphoric
When I first met him, John Smith was wearing a very ugly T-shirt.
b. Anaphoric
We have already seen that subjects given no pre-training do less well in the test phase than those given
initial discrimination training and we have acknowledged that unambiguous interpretation of this
difference is impossible.
4. Ellipsis – editing out
A: Where are you going?
B: To town.
5. Parallelism – structural
"It is by logic we prove, but by intuition we discover." (Leonardo da Vinci)
6. Transitions (linking words)
a. Listing - Firstly, Secondly, for one thing, equally, also, in addition, furthermore, moreover,
above all, lastly, to sum up
b. Apposition (including exemplification) - that is to say, namely, for example, for instance
c. Result - consequently, so, therefore, as a result, in that case, then
d. Reformulation - In other words, rather, put differently, alternatively
e. Contrast - on the contrary, on the other hand, instead
f. Concession - nevertheless, however, still, yet, in many case, all the same, at any rate, in
spite of that
7. Background knowledge (intertextuality)
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