• The deadline for submission

of the group task is delayed

to April 23
• Only three theory sessions
left (+today’s) → start
reviewing!
Unit 4:
Written expression in
English (II).
Coherence, cohesion
and grammatical
correctness
Cristina Lara Clares
What is coherence?
Coherence
• Division of the text into internally consistent units (usually paragrahs)
• A paragraph is coherent when the reader can move easily from one sentence
to the next and read the paragraph as an integrated whole, rather than a
series of separate sentences (McCrimmon Writing with a purpose)
• A logical order is necessary for the text to be semantically meaningful
 Principles for text
coherence

Thematic No
Relevance
relation contradictions

Ideas must be All ideas must be

Ideas depend on
connected to the compatible with the
context
main topic rest

Source
 How to achieve coherence
Paragraph Unity of the
structure paragraph

Repetition of key Use of consistent

nouns pronouns

Transitional
Logical order
devices

Source
 Paragraph structure
• Topic sentence
• Supporting sentence
• Concluding sentence

Source
 Paragraph structure
Gold, a precious metal, is prized for two important characteristics. First of all,
gold has a lustrous beauty that is resistant to corrosion. Therefore, it is suitable
for jewelry, coins, and ornamental purposes. Gold never needs to be polished
and will remain beautiful forever. For example, a Macedonian coin remains as
untarnished today as the day it was minted twenty-three century ago. Another
important characteristics of gold is its usefulness to industry and science. For
many years, it has been used in hundreds of industrial applications. The most
recent use of gold is in astronaut suits. Astronauts wear gold-plated heat shields
for protection outside spaceships. In conclusion, gold is treasured not only for
its beauty but also for its utility

Source
 Paragraph structure
Gold, a precious metal, is prized for two important characteristics. First of all,
gold has a lustrous beauty that is resistant to corrosion. Therefore, it is suitable
for jewelry, coins, and ornamental purposes. Gold never needs to be polished
and will remain beautiful forever. For example, a Macedonian coin remains as
untarnished today as the day it was minted twenty-three century ago. Another
important characteristics of gold is its usefulness to industry and science. For
many years, it has been used in hundreds of industrial applications. The most
recent use of gold is in astronaut suits. Astronauts wear gold-plated heat shields
for protection outside spaceships. In conclusion, gold is treasured not only for
its beauty but also for its utility

Source
 Unity of the paragraph
It is perhaps worth noting that even before the planning of a research project begins there
are two important questions that a researcher would need to consider. These questions may
themselves present dilemmas for some researchers, but I have not included them in my TEN
since in most cases they no longer apply to my work. First, is a qualitative research approach
the most appropriate for answering the research question? To answer this, you would need
to have a good idea about the aims and scope of the study, what its purpose is, and what is
achievable with the time and resources available. In contrast, quantitative research is the
systematic empirical investigation of observable phenomena via statistical, mathematical, or
computational techniques, which is widely used in research studies. Second, is a qualitative
research approach the most suitable for you as a researcher? In other words, is it compatible
with your research skills and your interests in the way research is or should be done; does it
fit with how you see yourself and how you feel as a researcher? I find this second question to
be hugely important. From my experience and observations there is nothing worse than
being stuck in a project where you feel out of place and thus uninterested and unmotivated.

Source
 Repetition of key nouns
Gold, a precious metal, is prized for two important characteristics. First of all,
gold has a lustrous beauty that is resistant to corrosion. Therefore, it is suitable
for jewelry, coins, and ornamental purposes. Gold never needs to be polished
and will remain beautiful forever. For example, a Macedonian coin remains as
untarnished today as the day it was minted twenty-three century ago. Another
important characteristics of gold is its usefulness to industry and science. For
many years, it has been used in hundreds of industrial applications. The most
recent use of gold is in astronaut suits. Astronauts wear gold-plated heat
shields for protection outside spaceships. In conclusion, gold is treasured not
only for its beauty but also for its utility.

Source
 Repetition of key nouns
English has almost become an international language. Except for Chinese,
more people speak English than any other languages. Spanish is the official
language of more countries, but more countries have English as their official or
unofficial second language. More than 70 percent of the world’s mail is written in
it. It is the primary language on the Internet. In international business, English
is used more than any other language, and it is the language of airline pilots
and air traffic controllers all over the world. Moreover, although French used to
be the language of diplomacy, English has displaced it thoughout the world.
Therefore, unless you plan to spend your life alone in a desert island in the
middle of the Pacific Ocean, English is a useful language to know.

Source
 Consistent pronouns
Three studies of mine illustrate how I managed the number-of-participants
dilemma. The first is my doctoral study briefly, which focused on the first-year
classroom experiences of only one teacher. A single participant was appropriate
in this case since my aim was to gain an in-depth, intensive understanding of
the teacher’s interactional patterns that exemplify beginning language teaching.
Having more than one participant during that same period (the first six weeks of
the semester) would have diluted my goal.

Source
 Transitional devices (cohesion!)
Gold, a precious metal, is prized for two important characteristics. First of all,
gold has a lustrous beauty that is resistant to corrosion. Therefore, it is suitable
for jewelry, coins, and ornamental purposes. Gold never needs to be polished
and will remain beautiful forever. For example, a Macedonian coin remains as
untarnished today as the day it was minted twenty-three century ago. Another
important characteristics of gold is its usefulness to industry and science. For
many years, it has been used in hundreds of industrial applications. The most
recent use of gold is in astronaut suits. Astronauts wear gold-plated heat shields
for protection outside spaceships. In conclusion, gold is treasured not only for
its beauty but also for its utility.

Source
 Logical order

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pyUHIRuDGpg

Source See also https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jY3adcPw4HM

 Let’s practice
Find on the Internet one piece of news that follows one of the text structures
that we just learned about. Then, identify how text coherence was achieved or
what it lacks
Prepare a very brief presentation for your classmates!
Paragraph Unity of the
structure paragraph

Repetition of key Use of consistent

nouns pronouns

Transitional
Logical order
devices
Source
 How to make a text more coherent: some tricks
• Organise your paragraphs into meaning units, i.e. one topic per paragraph

My favourite animal is the domestic cat. Cats were domesticated almost 10,000
years ago in ancient Mesopotamia. Mesopotamia is a name that literally means
"the land between two rivers," taken from Greek. The Greek language is one of
the oldest written languages, and its alphabet forms the basis of many other
writing systems, including Latin. Latin ...

Source
 How to make a text more coherent: some tricks
• Organise your paragraphs into meaning units, i.e. one topic per paragraph

My favourite animal is the domestic cat. Cats were domesticated almost 10,000
years ago in ancient Mesopotamia. Mesopotamia is a name that literally means
"the land between two rivers," taken from Greek. The Greek language is one of
the oldest written languages, and its alphabet forms the basis of many other
writing systems, including Latin. Latin ...

• Great cohesion, but no coherence

• One test: read the first and last sentence of the paragraph. Do they match?

Source
 How to make a text more coherent: some tricks
• Put new information last: in English, typically, familiar/known information is
written first, and new information is added at the end (end focus principle)

Farmers try to provide optimal growing conditions for crops by using soil
additives to adjust soil pH. Garden lime, or agricultural limestone, is made from
pulverized chalk, and can be used to raise the pH of the soil. Clay soil, which is
naturally acidic, often requires addition of agricultural lime.

Los agricultores intentan proporcionar unas condiciones óptimas para los cultivos utilizando aditivos para ajustar el pH
del suelo. La cal de jardín, o caliza agrícola, se fabrica a partir de tiza pulverizada y puede utilizarse para elevar el pH
del suelo. Los suelos arcillosos, naturalmente ácidos, suelen requerir la adición de cal agrícola [DeepL translation]
Source
 How to make a text more coherent: some tricks
• Put new information last: in English, typically, familiar/known information is
written first, and new information is added at the end (end focus principle)

Farmers try to provide optimal growing conditions for crops by using soil
additives to adjust soil pH.
Garden lime, or agricultural limestone, is made from pulverized chalk, and can
be used to raise the pH of the soil.
Clay soil, which is naturally acidic, often requires addition of agricultural lime.

• Also, articles: first the (new element), then a(n) (known element)

Source
 Let’s practice: create a logical paragraph

Source
 Let’s practice: create a logical paragraph

Source
What is cohesion?
 Cohesion
• Morpho-syntactic devices of the text, i.e. ways (grammatical, lexical, semantic,
metrical, alliterative) in which the elements of a text are linked together
• Cohesion vs. coherence: a text can be internally cohesive but incoherent, e.g.
An octopus is an air-filled curtain with seven heads and three spike-filled fingers, which
poke in frills and furls at ribbon-strewed buttons*.

Grammatical cohesion Lexical cohesion

• reference • repetition
• substitution • word families
• ellipsis • synonymy
• conjunction… *Un pulpo es una cortina llena de aire con siete
cabezas y tres dedos llenos de pinchos, que se
clavan en volantes y rizos en botones atados
Source con cintas [DeepL translation]
 Grammatical cohesion
Grammatical relations between text elements

Source
 Grammatical cohesion
• Endophoric reference, e.g. anaphora (referring back to an entity introduced earlier)

Source 2
• But also cataphora, deictics, etc.
Source 1
• Note that exophoric reference would not be cohesive, but coherent
 Grammatical cohesion
Substitution

Jack’s car is very old and ugly. He should get a nicer car

Jack’s car is very old and ugly. He should get a nicer one

Different types of substitution: i) nominal substitution (replacement of a noun by “one,

ones, same”, ii) verbal substitution (replacement of a verb by “do”) and clausal
Source 2 substitution (replacement of a clause by “so, not”) (Halliday & Hasan 1994: 90f.).
Source 1
 Grammatical cohesion
Substitution vs. reference
The substituted items are always exchangeable by the items they stand
for

1. Jack’s car is very old and ugly. He should get a nicer one vs. Jack’s car is
very old and ugly. He should get a nicer car → substitution
2. There it is, my so much admired watch vs. *There watch is, my so much
admired watch. → reference (cataphora)
3. John goes fishing every other week. He is a very good fisherman vs. John
goes fishing every other week. John is a very good fisherman → substitution
(ambiguity)
Source
 Grammatical cohesion
Ellipsis

I bought a new dress and also some jewellery

I bought a new dress and [I] also [bought] some jewellery

Source
 Grammatical cohesion
Linking adverbials or conjunctions

I have a wedding in a month. I bought a new dress. I bought some

jewellery

I have a wedding in a month. For this reason, I bought a new dress and I
also bought some jewellery

Source
 Lexical cohesion
Repetition

Gold, a precious metal, is prized for two important characteristics. First of all,
gold has a lustrous beauty that is resistant to corrosion. Therefore, it is
suitable for jewelry, coins, and ornamental purposes. Gold never needs to be
polished and will remain beautiful forever. For example, a Macedonian coin
remains as untarnished today as the day it was minted twenty-three century
ago. Another important characteristics of gold is its usefulness to industry and
science. For many years, it has been used in hundreds of industrial
applications. The most recent use of gold is in astronaut suits. Astronauts
wear gold-plated heat shields for protection outside spaceships. In conclusion,
gold is treasured not only for its beauty but also for its utility.

Source
 Lexical cohesion
Word families/collocation

• heads, fingers (body parts)

• curtain, frills, furls, ribbons, buttons (haberdashery)

Source
 Lexical cohesion
Synonymy

The surroundings in which we carry out our daily lives are very important to
us. We are continually aware of our surroundings as we go about our
business

The surroundings in which we carry out our daily lives are very important to
us. We are continually aware of our environment as we go about our
business

Source
 Lexical cohesion
• And more: synonyms, near-synonyms, hyperonyms (superordinates), pairs of
opposites (e.g. husband-wife, nephew-niece), antonyms (e.g. black-white, full-
empty), “pairs of words drawn from the same ordered series” (e.g. Monday-
Wednesday), “pairs drawn from unordered lexical sets” (e.g. blue-yellow, attic-
cellar), part-whole relationships (e.g. air plane-wing, pants-pocket), part to part
relationships (e.g. nose-ear), and “co-hyponyms of the same more general
class” (e.g. couch/cupboard-furniture), etc. (Halliday & Hasan 1994: 285)
• In general terms, “any two lexical items having similar patterns of collocation –
that is, tending to appear in similar contexts – will generate a cohesive force if
they occur in adjacent sentences.

Source
 Lexical cohesion

Referential relation

No reference

Source
 Let’s practice
Is this text coherent? And cohesive? Why?

I am a teacher. The teacher was late for class. Class rhymes with grass.
The grass is always greener on the other side of the fence. But it wasn’t’

Source
 Grammatical correctness
• Quantifiers: many vs. much
• There were many people at the show.
• She gave them many presents.
• He gave them much advice.

Source
 Grammatical correctness
• Quantifiers

Source
 Grammatical correctness
• Quantifiers
• Capitalisations: check this!
• Names and titles
• Geographical names
• Words in titles of books, etc.
• Names of university courses
• Religious names, etc.
• Days, months, etc.
• Astronomical names
• Outlines, lists & legends
• The cardinal points

Source
 Grammatical correctness
• Quantifiers
• Capitalisations
• Punctuation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pbeSztinCWY&list=PLeVxAnFsasIqIc8b03kHA3tw-xfIwgO2M

Also check the pdf in Platea!

Source
 Grammatical correctness
• Quantifiers
• Capitalisations
• Punctuation
• Register/style: general list of dos and don’ts

Source
Grammatical correctness
• Quantifiers
• Capitalisations
• Punctuation
• Register/style
• Indefinite pronouns (somebody, anybody, everybody, nobody) + 3rd person
singular
• Everybody knows you will study a lot for the exam
• But: people ARE
Grammatical correctness
• Quantifiers
• Capitalisations
• Punctuation
• Register/style
• Indefinite pronouns + 3rd person singular
• Verb as subject → -ing!
• Taking notes is tiring
Grammatical correctness
• Quantifiers
• Capitalisations
• Punctuation
• Register/style
• Indefinite pronouns + 3rd person singular
• Verb as subject → -ing!
• Actually vs. nowadays
• Nowadays, young people do actually work a lot. They are not so lazy!
Grammatical correctness
• Quantifiers
• Capitalisations
• Punctuation
• Register/style
• Indefinite pronouns + 3rd person singular
• Verb as subject → -ing!
• Actually vs. nowadays
• This + singular; these + plural
• This is easy, but these rules cannot be forgotten!
 Grammatical correctness
• Conjunctive adverbs vs. subordinating conjunctions
• Both are used to link ideas
• However:
• Conjunctive adverbs are typically at the beginning of a new sentence, and followed by a comma.
They typically follow a full stop or a semi-colon. They connect two independent sentences, e.g.
• I didn't buy it. However, I wanted the item
• Examples: Firstly, Therefore, Consequently, In addition, Furthermore, For example, However
• Subordinating conjunctions join two sentences together: a main clause and a subordinate clause.
The subordinate clause cannot appear by itself! They appear at the beginning of the subordinated
clause and are not followed by a comma, e.g.
• I didn't buy it although I wanted the item
• *Although I wanted the item. I didn’t buy it
• Examples: while, because, when, although, despite, until

Source See also https://ted-ielts.com/subordinating-conjunction-vs-conjunctive-adverb/

 Let’s practice
Search for a coherent text with a different text structure from the one you used
in the previous activity. Now, “destroy” the text: make it non-coherent regarding
two coherence and two cohesive elements. Also, add two grammatical
mistakes. Do not make changes too obvious! Paragraph Unity of the
structure paragraph
Upload two versions to Platea:
1. The original text + the Repetition of key
nouns
Use of consistent
pronouns
‘destroyed’ text with a short
Transitional
explanation of the changes devices
Logical order

you did
Grammatical cohesion Lexical cohesion
2. The ‘destroyed’ text without
• reference
any mark; as if it were • substitution
• repetition
• word families
originally like that •
•
ellipsis
conjunction
• synonymy

Source