Coherence, Cohesion, Unity

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CoherenceTo stick together.

Making ideas flow smoothly and clearly. And making the reader understand.

Coherence Unity: The First Key to Effective Writing

•It has a clear main point or central idea (topic sentence, thesis statement). “What’s your point?” Or “What’s your main idea?”

•To have unity: You need to develop a single point and stick to that point. All the details in your writing are related to that point.

Coherence What Is Coherence?

• means "to stick together."

• All the ideas in a paragraph flow smoothly from one sentence to the next sentence.

• With coherence, the reader has an easy time understanding the ideas that you wish to express.

Coherence Is Coherence Important?

Coherence Before Build Up Coherence

• Is there a working thesis statement in your essay already?Thesis statement is first priority. Without a working thesis statement, you are lost.

• Did you develop clear relationships of ideas yet?Check your outline first, does it fit your topic? Is it organized? Is it logical? If not, re-read the topic and revise the outline.

• Are there enough specific evidences that support your points?

All yes?

Congratulation! You can move on >>

Coherence How Can We Create Coherence

Coherence itself is the product of two factors

• Sentence Cohesion• Paragraph Unity

Coherence Sentence Cohesion

Sentence Cohesion: to achieve cohesion, the link of one sentence to the next, consider following techniques

• Repetition • Synonymy• Pronoun Reference• Parallelism• Transitions (Connectors)

Coherence Repetition - Sentence Cohesion

Repeat key words and phrases.

Example 1The problem with contemporary art is that is not

easily understood by most people. Contemporary art is deliberately abstract, and that means it leaves viewers wondering what they are looking at.

Example 2You can fool some of the people all of the time,

and all of the people some of the time, but you cannot fool all of the people all of the time. (Abraham Lincoln)

Coherence Synonymy- Sentence Cohesion

If direct repetition is too obvious, use a synonym of the word you wish to repeat.

Example 1He appeared so thankful to all the staff, thankful to

all ofthe parents, and especially thankful to his students.

He appeared so thankful to all the staff, grateful to all ofthe parents, and especially appreciative towards hisstudents.

Coherence Pronoun Reference- Sentence Cohesion

• Use pronoun to make explicit reference back to a form mentioned earlier.

• Pronouns quite naturally connect ideas because pronouns almost always refer the reader to something earlier in the text. Thus, the pronoun causes the reader to sum up, quickly and subconsciously, what was said before, then the reader going on to the next part.

Pronouns

SubjectForm

ObjectForm

POSSESSIVE PRONOUNS(show ownership)

Adjectives Pronouns

Personal pronouns Iyoushe, he, itweyouthey

meyouher, him, it usyouthem

my your her, his, its ouryour their

mineyourshers, his, itsoursyourstheirs

Relative pronouns and interrogative pronouns

whowhich that

whom which that

whose + noun

Source: Ann Hougue, “Subject, object, and possessive forms”, The Essentials of English: A Writer’s edition, Pearson Education, 2003. P165~P166; Azar, Betty Schrampfer. “8-1 PERSONAL PRONOUNS.” Understanding and using English grammar. 3rd ed. NY: Pearson Education, 1999. 132.


Example 1

While the commuters were driving home, they saw the

highway buckle. Immediately they began pulling over to

stop. Within moments they realized an earthquake had

struck their city, San Francisco.


Example 2

When scientific experiments do not work out as expected, they

are often considered failures until some other scientist

tries them again. Those that work out better the second

time around are the ones that promise the most rewards.

Coherence Parallelism- Sentence Cohesion

• Repeat a sentence structure.

• A successful parallel sentence reads smoothly, while a faulty parallel sentence lurches awkwardly.

• Actually, when we do our outline, we are using parallelism.


Example 1

I acquired my considerable fortune by investing carefully, hard work and marrying a rich woman.

I acquired my considerable fortune by investing carefully, working hard and marrying a rich woman.


Example 2 : Repetition+ Parallelism

… ask not what your country can do for you,

ask what you can do for your country.(John F. Kennedy)

Coherence Transitions - Sentence Cohesion

• Link sentences with particular logical relationships.

• They link your sentences and paragraphs together smoothly so that there are no abrupt jumps or breaks between ideas.

• Indicate to the reader the order and flow of your writing and ideas. They strengthen the internal cohesion of your writing.

• Using transitions makes it easier for the reader to follow your ideas. They help carry over a thought from one sentence to another, from one paragraph to another, or from one idea to another.


Example My morning routine never changes. My alarm clock rings

for the third time. I get up. I sleepwalk to the shower. I stand in the shower for ten minutes. I am finally awake. I get dressed. I got to the kitchen, make a cup of tea and put a slice of bread in the toaster. I eat breakfast and feed my cat. I put her outside. I am ready to face the world. I get on the bus and go to school. My first class begins, I go back to sleep.

My morning routine never changes. When my alarm clock rings for the third time, I get up and sleepwalk to the shower. I stand in the shower for ten minutes until I am finally awake. Then I get dressed. Next, I got to the kitchen, make a cup of tea and put a slice of bread in the toaster. After I eat breakfast and feed my cat, I put her outside. Finally, I am ready to face the world, so I get on the bus and go to school. As soon as my first class begins, I go back to sleep


Useful Signals for Compare /Contrast Essays

Signals of likeness Likewise, In the same way, Similarly

Signals of difference On the other hand, in contrast, on the contrary

Related words Whereas, unlike

Signals of logical consequence Therefore, Thus, Consequently, Hence

Signals of illustration For example, For instance

Signals of restatement That is, in other words, in simpler terms, to put it differently,

Coherence How Can We Create Coherence

Coherence itself is the product of two factors:

• Sentence Cohesion• Paragraph Unity

Coherence

Coherence Paragraph Unity

• Coherence is necessary.

• Unity without coherence results in a second-class paragraph.


• An essay focus on one overall theme.

• Each paragraph is about ONLY ONE main idea.

• All the sentences − topic sentence

− supporting sentences

− detail sentences

− (sometimes) the concluding sentence are all telling the reader about ONE main idea.

Topic Sentence

Concluding Sentence

SupportingSentences

This is an essay

1st paragraph Introduction + Thesis Statement

2nd paragraphOne main idea

3rd paragraphThe anther idea

Concluding paragraphSum up your ideas


Topic Sentence

Concluding Sentence

SupportingSentences

San Francisco is one of the perfect places to spend a vacation.

First of all, it is a beautiful city. From the top of its hills, the

views of the sparkling blue water of San Francisco Bay and the

green hills beyond are spectacular. Second, San Francisco has

many excellent restaurants. With hundreds of restaurants

serving delicious food from every part of the world, the city is

truly a food-lover’s paradise. San Francisco is also fun. Riding a

cable car down one of the city’s steep hills, eating a seafood

cocktail at Fisherman’s Wharf, window-shopping in Cinatown,

or walking across the famous Golden Gate Bridge are just a few

of the activities on every visitor’s “must-do” list.

San Francisco is one of the perfect places to spend a vacation.

First of all, it is a beautiful city. From the top of its hills, the

views of the sparkling blue water of San Francisco Bay and the

green hills beyond are spectacular. Second, San Francisco has

many excellent restaurants. With hundreds of restaurants

serving delicious food from every part of the world, the city is

truly a food-lover’s paradise. San Francisco is also fun. Riding a

cable car down one of the city’s steep hills, eating a seafood

cocktail at Fisherman’s Wharf, window-shopping in Cinatown,

or walking across the famous Golden Gate Bridge are just a few

of the activities on every visitor’s “must-do” list.

Coherence Review

• What is Coherence? Making ideas flow smoothly and clearly.

And making the reader understand. Sentence Cohesion + Paragraph Unity

• How to create Coherence? Repetition Synonymy

Pronoun Reference Parallelism

Transitions (Connectors) Unity

Coherence Reference

• Ann Hougue (2003).The Essentials of English: A Writer’s edition, Pearson Education

• Azar, Betty Schrampfer (1999). Understanding and using English grammar. 3rd ed. NY: Pearson Education

• Zemach, Dorothy. E. & Rumisek, Lisa A. (2003). College Writing: From Paragraph to Essay. Oxford: Macmillan.

• http://lrs.ed.uiuc.edu/students/fwalters/cohere.html (point by point) (pithy)

• http://hospitality.hud.ac.uk/studyskills/writing/index.htm (Repetition)

• http://web.uvic.ca/wguide/Pages/SentParallel.html (Parallelism)

• http://owl.english.purdue.edu/handouts/grammar/g_parallel.html (Parallel Structure)

• http://more.headroyce.org/research/writing/techniques/transsignals11.html (Transition Signals)

• http://www.uwf.edu/writelab/handouts/paragraphcoherence.pdf (Paragraph Coherence Writing Lab 2003)

Coherence

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Coherence, Cohesion, Unity