Coherence cohesion

7/30/2019 Coherence cohesion

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Writing, Ch. 2



How do you write a good

paragraph? You need good organization:

topic sentence, supporting sentences, concludingsentence

You also need three characteristics:

coherence

cohesion

unity



Coherence Coherence in writing means

that all the ideas in a

paragraph flow smoothly from one sentence to thenext sentence.

With coherence, the reader

has an easy timeunderstanding the ideasthat you wish to express.



Look at the bold words My hometown is famous for several amazing natural features. First, it is

noted for the Wheaton River, which is very wide and beautiful. On eitherside of this river, which is 175 feet wide, are many willow trees which

have long branches that can move gracefully in the wind. In autumn theleaves of these trees fall and cover the riverbanks like goldensnow. Second, on the other side of the town is Wheaton Hill, which isunusual because it is very steep. Even though it is steep,climbing this hill is not dangerous, because there are some firm rocks

along the sides that can be used as stairs. There are no treesaround this hill, so it stands clearly against the sky and can be seen frommany miles away. The third amazing feature is the Big Old Tree. Thistree stands two hundred feet tall and is probably about six hundred

years old. These three landmarks are truly amazing and make my

hometown a famous place.



Coherence Narrative Paragraphs & Chronological Ordering

narrative paragraphs tell a story

events must be ordered according to time Descriptive Paragraphs & Spatial Ordering

descriptive paragraphs tell what something looks likephysically

describe from… top to bottom

left to right

front to back



Coherence Expository Paragraphs & Logical Ordering

expository paragraphs explain something

supporting sentences follow a logical pattern



Cohesion All the supporting sentences connect

to each other and to the topic sentence.

Use COHESIVE DEVICES: connectors

and, but, so, when, in addition, before

definite articles

the; Do practice 5, p. 23 personal pronouns

he, she, they; Do practice 6, p. 24

demonstrative pronouns

this, that, these, those; Do practice 7, p. 24



Unity Paragraph unity means that one paragraph is about

ONLY ONE main topic.

That is, all the sentences -- the topic, supportingsentences, the detail sentences, and (sometimes) theconcluding sentence -- are all telling the reader aboutONE main topic.

If your paragraph contains a sentence or somesentences that are NOT related to the main topic, then we say that the paragraph "lacks unity," or that thesentence is "off-topic."

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Coherence cohesion