Coherence and Cohesion Flashcards
COHERENCE
To be coherent a text must be logical and make sense, with ideas that flow and are related to each other
Inference
The additional information assumed by hearers/readers in order to make connections
Speakers/writers imply
listeners and readers infer
Logical Ordering
The text is structured in a way that makes sense for the text-type, for example events might be recounted chronologically or a speech would begin with a greeting before moving into the content
Formatting
There may be a range of formatting features
Headings and subheadings
Typography - bold, italics, colours, sizes and capitalisation
Lists (bullet points or numbered), borders, tables
Infographics, graphs, charts
Consistency and Conventions
The text contains elements that work together
The text also includes conventions appropriate for the text-type
Greetings, sign offs in a letter or email
List of ingredients and method in a recipe
COHESION
A means of establishing connections within a text at different structural levels. It is focused on the mechanical construction of a text to aid understanding (coherence).
Synonym
Words that have closely related meanings and can often be substituted
Avoids unnecessary repetition
Antonymy
Words that are opposite in meaning
Can be used to give a clear and decisive message
Hyponym/Hypernym
Making a connection between more general term (eg. dog) and a specific instance of that term
Eg- poodle (hyponym) dog (hypernym)
Collocation
Words that are often combined with each other
Eg (rotten eggs, sour milk, wheelie bin)
Clefting
Focus device that splits off part of a sentence in order to give it prominence
Unmarked sentence: i saw him last year
It-cleft: it was last year that I saw him
Wh-cleft/pseudocleft: when I saw him last year
Focus
Moving an element of the sentence to the front or end for impact
Front focus : icecream, i just can’t live without it
End focus: there is only 1 thing i can’t live without, icecream
Anaphoric reference
Refers back to something that has appeared before in the discussion (i never believed mary could do what she did)
Cataphoric reference
Refers forward to another expression that follows it
(if you want it, you can take my book)
Deictics
Involved words such as here, there, these. They represent a way of using language to point and are common in spoken language
Ellipses
The deletion of items in a sentence because they appear elsewhere or can be reconstructed from the context, reducing repetition
Substitution
Replacing one element of a sentence with something else. Similar to ellipses it reduces repetition
Repetition
Helps to reinforce or maintain a topic. Can feature the same lexical choices repeated, or variations of the same
Conjunctions and Adverbials
Joining words or phrases that provide links or connections within a sentence or discourse
Additives: and, also
Contrastives: while, nevertheless, neither, nor
Causes and effects: because. Therefore
Sequences and timing: meanwhile, after, eventually
