1 COHESION
2 to one another, to the flow of text,Cohesion: connection of sentences to one another, to the flow of text, to the ways in which a paragraph of separate sentences becomes a unified whole Points to consider in cohesion: A) Reader expectation B) Three important features of cohesive writing Repetition Known-new contract Parallelism
3 A) READER EXPECTATION In reading and writing, we do have some expectations! We don’t know exactly what is coming next, but we predict; if something unexpected comes, we might not understand the message.
4 From what has gone before From the prior text From the title Where do the readers’ expectations come from? From what has gone before From the prior text From the title From the opening sentence of a paragraph…
5 Exercise for Reader expectationRead the sentence and discuss what you expect to follow: A convincing argument can be made about globalization not only playing a pivotal role in the development of technology and economy, but also promoting the cultural exchange between different countries.
6 Exercise for Reader expectationRead the sentence and discuss what you expect to follow: A convincing argument can be made about globalization not only playing a pivotal role in the development of technology and economy, but also promoting the cultural exchange between different countries.
7 Exercise for Reader expectation
8 Exercise for Reader expectation
9 What do you expect to read? (Exercise 2)Admittedly, the profit driven side of globalization has severely affected young people. Today, in the metropolises in different countries, it is very common to see teenagers wearing NIKE T-shirts and Adidas footwear, playing Hip-Hop music on Apple iPods and eating at KFC. The culture that took a thousand years to form just seems similar in these cities; it seems as though you can only distinguish them by their language. Meanwhile, in some developing countries, sweat workshops are always a concerning issue. For instance, reports show that some teenagers employed by NIKE’s contractors work in smelly factories over 14 hours a day, but are only paid fifty cents per hour.
10 B) Three Features of Cohesive WritingRepetition: key words and phrases that keep the reader on course The known-new contract: the concept that reflects one aspect of reader expectation: a sentence will have both known and new information (the known information will precede the new one) Parallelism: repetition of structures of the same form for clarity and emphasis.
11 REPETITION (LEXICAL COHESION)Repeating key words in a paragraph is an important technique for achieving cohesion However, careless or excessive repetition is boring: redundancy (unnecessary repetition) adds nothing new to the discussion. But if used skillfully and selectively, this technique can help to hold sentences together and focus the reader's attention on a central idea.
12 Is there redundancy or an effective use of repetition in this paragraph?We Americans are a charitable and humane people: we have institutions devoted to every good cause from rescuing homeless cats to preventing World War III. But what have we done to promote the art of thinking? Certainly we make no room for thought in our daily lives. Suppose a man were to say to his friends, "I'm not going to PTA tonight (or choir practice or the baseball game) because I need some time to myself, some time to think"? Such a man would be shunned by his neighbors; his family would be ashamed of him. What if a teenager were to say, "I'm not going to the dance tonight because I need some time to think"? His parents would immediately start looking in the Yellow Pages for a psychiatrist. We are all too much like Julius Caesar: we fear and distrust people who think too much. We believe that almost anything is more important than thinking.
13 It is also possible to use synonyms for lexical cohesion.E.g. He was startled by a noise from behind him. It was the noise of running horses The sound of the cavalry grew rapidly nearer...
14 KNOWN-NEW (REFERENCE)Generally the known info comes first and the new one comes later. E.g. Despite the immense racial gulf separating them, Lincoln and Douglass had a lot in common. They were the two preeminent self-made men of their era.
15 The repeated known info is not always repeated in the exact words; sometimes it is possible to write a paraphrase of the topic: E.g.
16 Begin with the new information from the previous sentence, because this information is now known.Tell the reader something new toward the end of the sentence. Sentence 1: Medical ethics is a complicated field of inquiry. Sentence 2: Fields such as this… Sentence 2: This field involves… Sentence 2: Inquiry into ethical… (new)
17 Now look at the example paragraphs on pp 87-88And then go to Exercise 16 on p
18 Role of Pronouns Personal Pronouns: I, we, you, he, she, it, theyPossessive Pronouns: mine, yours, his, hers, its, ours, theirs Demonstrative Pronouns: this, that, these, those This and These imply closeness (in a text, in time, ideologically, etc.) That and Those imply distance (in a text, in time, ideologically, etc.)
19 Pronouns can be used as the known information: used instead of a noun phrase used before (called antecedent) See example paragraphs on p
20 More examples on pronounsIn the following sentences, the known information is in red. The Known/New contract is established and coherence is created by either (1) repeating a main phrase or (2) using a pronoun (with a clear antecedent). Recent outreach programs to the homeless community in Denver have focused on meeting basic needs. Once these needs are met, many programs develop life and job-related workshops designed to get the homeless off the streets. These workshops have been met with increasing resistance from Denverʼs homeless because they fail to achieve a balance between current situations and realistic goals.
21 Caution: Beware of “broad reference” or “naked” pronouns, which occur when a pronoun is used by itself with either a very broad or no clear referent/antecedent Now go to pp. 94 for exercise 17 (for broad references)
22 Inverting sentence structure to maintain coherenceShifting a sentenceʼs construction from active to passive can help maintain the order of known and new information (from one sentence to the next) by switching the positions of the subject and object. For example: Active Voice: The Dean signed all of the contracts. Passive Voice: The contracts were signed by the Dean. Introductory clauses can also create this inversion. After completing a review of the budget, the Dean signed all of the contracts. The contracts were signed by the Dean after he completed a review of the budget.
23 Now go to pp 96-97 for group discussion
24 PARALLELISM Parallelism is a specific kind of repetition.It provides cohesion especially when the repeated elements extend through a paragraph or from one paragraph to the next. It becomes an especially strong cohesive device when a structure echoes a structure from a previous sentence or paragraph. Now go to p. 99 for Group Discussion