2.

3 Cohesion
cross-reference
1. Cohesion means linking phrases together so that the whole
text is clear and readable. It is achieved by several methods,
3.7 Conjunctions
such as the use of conjunctions. Another is the linking of
phrases and sentences with words like he, they and that
which refer back to something mentioned before:

Jane Austen wrote six major novels in her short life. They deal

with domestic drama in middle-class families.

Examples of reference words and phrases

Pronouns he/she/it/they
Possessive pronouns his/her/hers/their/theirs
Objective pronouns her/him/them
Demonstrative pronouns this/that/these/those
Other phrases the former/the latter/the rst/the second

2. Read the following paragraph and complete the table.

Jenkins (1987) has researched the life cycle of new
businesses. He found that they have an average life of
only 4.7 years. This is due to two main reasons; one
economic and one social. The former appears to be a lack
of capital, the latter a failure to carry out sufcient market
research. Jenkins considers that together these account
for approximately 70% of business failures.

Reference Reference word/phrase

Jenkins he
new businesses
average life of only 4.7 years
one economic
one social
the former . . . . ., the latter . . . . . .

3. Read the paragraph and complete the table below to show what
the reference words (in italics) refer to.
There is little prospect of improvement in the standard of
living of the villagers from their present low level without
the support of electricity. Presently, the households can
enjoy only a limited number of hours of illumination based
on kerosene or diesel. These are not cheap and so are
not affordable by a large majority of the rural masses. This
restricts the range as well as the intensity of their activities
severely. But even if supply of power from these sources
is available more abundantly, there is the problem of
adverse environmental effects of such use.
74 Elements of Writing

Reference Reference word

their
these
this
their
these sources
such use

4. In the following paragraph, insert suitable reference words from

the box below in the gaps.
Disposable razor blades were invented by Gillette at the
beginning of the twentieth century. a) . . . . . . . . . were
a simple idea but at rst b) . . . . . . . found it very hard
to sell c) . . . . . . . . d) . . . . . . . was because nobody
had marketed a throw-away product before. However,
e) . . . . . . . use of advertising to stimulate demand
gradually increased sales and before long f) . . . . . . . . .
became a millionaire.

he x 2/his/them/this/they

5. Complete these paragraphs with suitable reference

words from the table in (1).
A) The Victoria and Albert Museum is in South Kensington
in London. a) . . . . . . . is named after Queen Victoria
and b) . . . . . . . husband, Prince Albert. c) . . . . . . . was
made Queen in 1837, and married d) . . . . . . . three years
later. e) . . . . . . . had a happy marriage which produced
nine children. f) . . . . . . . . life together was quite simple,
although g) . . . . . . . was the queen of the worlds most
powerful nation. Albert had a serious character, and
perhaps h) . . . . . . . major achievement was to organise
the Great Exhibition of 1851, the prots from which helped
to build the Museum.
B) One group of commentators have little faith in the
ability of food availability to improve child nutrition.
a) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . arguments are supported by the
fact that over two-thirds of malnourished children live
in countries with food supplies adequate for b) . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . populations needs. c) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
point to problems of poverty and to non-food factors,
such as childrens health and the quality of d) . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . care. e) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . belief is that both,
but especially f) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . (which is increasing
in many countries), play a more signicant part in
malnutrition than is often admitted.