COHERENCE AND

COHESION
Lesson 5
LEARNING OUTCOMES
At the end of the lesson, the student is expected
to:
1. Define coherence and cohesion;
2. Illustrate coherence and cohesion; and
3. Write compositions with coherence and
cohesion.
 A string of sentences or even a single word is considered a text if it possesses
text-internal links (cohesion) and text-external relevance (coherence).
Cohesion is "the type of organization in a text that is created by the presence
(or absence) in each sentence of distinctive, recognizable linguistic items
which relate it to preceding and following sentences. It is the text-internal
organization of a text: the links and bonds established on the surface level of
a text by the use of pronouns, coordinators and subordinators, and lexical
patterning, which all combine to give it a sense of connectedness (Collins &
Hollo, 2000)." For example, John proposed to marry Marsha because he
loved her so much; consequently, she accepted his proposal and the two
kissed and hugged each other.
 The cohesive devices used are as follows:
1. The use of the personal pronouns "he" and "his" to refer to John
2. The use of the personal pronouns "her" and "she" to refer to Marsha 3. The
use of the reciprocal pronoun "each other" to refer to John and
Marsha
4. The use of the subordinator "because" to connect the abstract ideas "marriage
proposal" and "love“
5. The use of the coordinator "consequently" to connect two independent clauses
6. The use of the coordinator "and" to join two independent clauses and two
verbs (kissed, hugged)
7. The use of the numeral "two" to refer to John and Marsha
8. The lexical patterning by using the words "proposed" and "proposal"
 The above examples (co-reference, substitution, and ellipsis) are cohesive devices on the
micro level. On the macro level, the following cohesive devices are used:
1. Deictic signposts-participant identification, place and time indicators, temporal ordering
expressions, tense and aspect
2. Generic signposts— use of certain openers (introductory sentences/paragraphs) and enders
(concluding sentences! paragraphs) for specific genres
3. Logical signposts — patterns of text development such as the use of chronological order in
narratives
Collins and Hollo (2000) stressed, "If a text, spoken or written, appears to "hang together' rather
than being a random collection of sentences, it is said to have coherence. Such a text would
make sense because it would appear logical and consistent in its development and structure, and
would not contradict any of our presuppositions and knowledge about our world. Whilst
cohesion is an internal property of texts-an objective matter, capable of automatic recognition -
coherence recognizes the fact that linguistic communication takes place in an extra-linguistic
environment. What is felt to be a text must be so because it has a recognized function and form
in some 'real life' situation."
 For example, the dialogue below shows coherence even though there is an absence of cohesive
devices.
A: Someone's knocking.
B: I'm taking a bath.
Coherence is present in the sense that A informed B that someone was knocking while B was in
the bathroom. So B indirectly replied that he could not open the door to let that someone in
because he could not get out of the bathroom.
While the example above shows the presence of coherence even if it doesn't have cohesive
devices, the example below shows the absence of coherence even if it has cohesive devices.
Recently, A bought a second-hand. digital camera. A digital watch does not have a second hand.
I have two hands, the left and the right. My left hand is wounded. However, I use my right hand
in writing. Yes, I have a right to enroll in creative writing. Are you a creative writer?
As can be gleaned from the above discussion, cohesion and coherence are essential properties of
a well-written text.