Understanding Cohesion and Coherence in English Texts

COHESION IN ENGLISH

Cohesion is the grammatical and lexical relationship within a text or sentence. Cohesion can be defined as the links that hold a text together and give it meaning. It is related to the broader concept of coherence.

How is cohesion different from coherence? It is difficult to separate the two. However, think of coherence as the text making sense as a whole at an idea level, and cohesion as rather more mechanical links at a language level.

There are two main types of cohesion: grammatical, referring to the structural content, and lexical, referring to the language content of the piece. A cohesive text is created in many different ways.

In Cohesion in English, M.A.K. Halliday and Ruqaiya Hasan identify five general categories of cohesive devices that create coherence in texts: reference, ellipsis, substitution, lexical cohesion, and conjunction.

Referencing 1- Anaphoric reference occurs when the writer refers back to someone or something that has been previously identified, to avoid repetition: Susan dropped the plate. It shattered loudly. (the word it refers to the phrase the plate.) 2- Cataphoric reference is the opposite of anaphora: a reference forward as opposed to backward in the discourse. Something is introduced in the abstract before it is identified: "Here he comes, our award-winning host... it's John Doe!"

Ellipsis Ellipsis is another cohesive device. It happens when, after a more specific mention, words are omitted when the phrase needs to be repeated. A simple conversational example: A: Where are you going? B:To town. (The full form of B's reply would be: "I am going to town".) A simple written example: The younger child was very outgoing, the older much more reserved. (The omitted words from the second clause are "child" and "was".)

Types of Ellipsis Short answers: Can you speak Spanish? Yes, I can. (the short answer Yes, I can, means Yes, I can speak Spanish. The words speak Spanish are understood.) the words and so, followed by the verb or first auxiliary, followed by the subject: He can speak Spanish, and I can speak Spanish too. would normally be shortened to: He can speak Spanish, and so can I.

the words and neither, used to express a negative idea, following a negative statement : He cannot speak Danish, and I cannot speak Danish either. would normally be shortened to: He cannot speak Danish, and neither can I.

Substitution A word is not omitted, as in ellipsis, but is substituted for another, more general word: Which ice-cream would you like? I would like the pink one. ("one" is used instead of repeating "ice-cream. ) This works in a similar way to pronouns, which replace the noun. For example, 'Ice-cream' is a noun, and its pronoun could be 'It : 'I dropped the ice-cream because it was dirty'.

Types of Substitution nominal: ones, ones; same; pronouns. - Can you give me the big table cloth? - You mean the one with the red flowers? verbal: do. a) the words did not come the same as they used to do. b) I don t know the meaning of half those long words, and what s more, I don t believe you do either! clausal: so, not. - Is there going to be an earthquake? - It says so.

Three environments in which clausal substitution takes place reported clauses; e.g., if you ve seen them so often, of course you know what they re like. I believe so , said Alice. condition; e.g., Everyone seems to think he s guilty. If so, no doubt he ll offer to resign. modality; e.g., May I give you a slice? she said, taking up the knife and fork, and looking from one Queen to the other. Certainly not, the Red Queen said,...

Lexical Cohesion This is a way of achieving a cohesive effect by the use of particular vocabulary items. You can refer to the same idea by using the same or different words. To Halliday, lexical cohesion comes about through the selection of [lexical] items that are related in some way to those that have gone before . It usually concerns to repetition, synonyms, antonyms, collocation.

Types of lexical cohesion I turned to the ascent of the peak. The ascent The climb The task is perfectly easy. The thing. It (1) Repetition (2) Synonym (3) Supernym (4) General noun (5) Reference item

Conjunction Conjunction sets up a relationship between two clauses. Examples include then, however, in fact, and consequently. Conjunctions can also be implicit and can be deduced by the interpretation of the text. The aim of conjunction is to create a logically articulated discourse.

Sources Halliday, M.A.K; and Ruqayia Hasan (1976): Cohesion in English. London: Longman. Hoey, Michael (1991): Patterns of Lexis in Text. Oxford: OUP. Kunz, K. & Steiner, E. Towards a comparison of cohesion in English and German concepts, systemic contrasts and a corpus architecture for investigating contrasts and contact, in: Taboada, Maite, Su rez ,Susana Doval and Gonz lez lvarez, Elsa. Forthcoming. Contrastive Discourse Analysis. Functional and Corpus Perspectives. London: Equinox

SOME EXAMPLES - Ellipsis I don't know if John has gone, but I think he has gone. What should I have done? You should have told him the truth. I could have gone to her party, but I didn't want to go to her party. If you need any money, I've got some money. Mark bought a coat and Lynn bought a hat and gloves.

SOME EXAMPLES - Ellipsis I don't know if John has gone, but I think he has gone. What should I have done? You should have told him the truth. I could have gone to her party, but I didn't want to go to her party. If you need any money, I've got some money. Mark bought a coat and Lynn bought a hat and gloves.

Superlatives She is the best doctor [of all the doctors that] I know. This is the worst thing [of all the things] that could have happened. That star is the brightest [star]. These cookies are the best [cookies].

Auxiliaries Can you speak Spanish? Yes, I can. (the short answer Yes, I can, means Yes, I can speak Spanish. The words speak Spanish are understood.

So Neither He can speak Spanish, and I can speak Spanish too. (would normally be shortened to: He can speak Spanish, and so can I.) Without Ellipsis: She is not ready, and you are not ready either. With Ellipsis: She is not ready, and neither are you.

Some examples - Substitution one My jump is worn out, so I need a new ______ Mary likes coffee and I _______ too. Has she arrived? I think _________. His car is red and _________ is too. I like Greece. We went on holiday ______ He may lose, but I hope _________. There s plenty of food, so do have ______. do so mine there not some