write a short speech using your understanding of the principles of cohesion

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What is cohesion?

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Cohesion How to make texts stick together

Cohesion and coherence are important features of academic writing. They are one of the features tested in exams of academic English, including the IELTS test and the TOEFL test . This page gives information on what cohesion is and how to achieve good cohesion. It also explains the difference between cohesion and coherence , and how to achieve good coherence. There is also an example essay to highlight the main features of cohesion mentioned in this section, as well as some exercises to help you practise.

For another look at the same content, check out YouTube or Youku , or the infographic .

It is important for the parts of a written text to be connected together. Another word for this is cohesion . This word comes from the verb cohere , which means 'to stick together'. Cohesion is therefore related to ensuring that the words and sentences you use stick together.

Good cohesion is achieved through the following five main methods, each of which is described in more detail below:

• repeated words/ideas
• reference words
• transition signals
• substitution

Two other ways in which cohesion is achieved in a text, which are covered less frequently in academic English courses, are shell nouns and thematic development . These are also considered below.

Repeated words/ideas

Check out the cohesion infographic »

One way to achieve cohesion is to repeat words, or to repeat ideas using different words (synonyms). Study the following example. Repeated words (or synonyms) are shown in bold.

Cohesion is an important feature of academic writing . It can help ensure that your writing coheres or 'sticks together', which will make it easier for the reader to follow the main ideas in your essay or report . You can achieve good cohesion by paying attention to five important features . The first of these is repeated words. The second key feature is reference words. The third one is transition signals. The fourth is substitution. The final important aspect is ellipsis.

In this example, the word cohesion is used several times, including as a verb ( coheres ). It is important, in academic writing, to avoid too much repetition, so using different word forms or synonyms is common. The word writing is also used several times, including the phrase essay or report , which is a synonym for writing . The words important features are also repeated, again using synonyms: key feature , important aspect .

Reference words

Reference words are words which are used to refer to something which is mentioned elsewhere in the text, usually in a preceding sentence. The most common type is pronouns, such as 'it' or 'this' or 'these'. Study the previous example again. This time, the reference words are shown in bold.

Cohesion is an important feature of academic writing. It can help ensure that your writing coheres or 'sticks together', which will make it easier for the reader to follow the main ideas in your essay or report. You can achieve good cohesion by paying attention to five important features. The first of these is repeated words. The second key feature is reference words. The third one is transition signals. The fourth is substitution. The final important aspect is ellipsis.

The words it , which and these are reference words. The first two of these, it and which , both refer to 'cohesion' used in the preceding sentence. The final example, these , refers to 'important features', again used in the sentence that precedes it.

Transition signals, also called cohesive devices or linking words, are words or phrases which show the relationship between ideas. There are many different types, the most common of which are explained in the next section on transition signals . Some examples of transition signals are:

• for example - used to give examples
• in contrast - used to show a contrasting or opposite idea
• first - used to show the first item in a list
• as a result - used to show a result or effect

Study the previous example again. This time, the transition signals are shown in bold. Here the transition signals simply give a list, relating to the five important features: first , second , third , fourth , and final .

Substitution

Substitution means using one or more words to replace (substitute) for one or more words used earlier in the text. Grammatically, it is similar to reference words, the main difference being that substitution is usually limited to the clause which follows the word(s) being substituted, whereas reference words can refer to something far back in the text. The most common words used for substitution are one , so , and auxiliary verbs such as do, have and be . The following is an example.

• Drinking alcohol before driving is illegal in many countries, since doing so can seriously impair one's ability to drive safely.

In this sentence, the phrase 'doing so' substitutes for the phrase 'drinking alcohol before driving' which appears at the beginning of the sentence.

Below is the example used throughout this section. There is just one example of substitution: the word one , which substitutes for the phrase 'important features'.

Ellipsis means leaving out one or more words, because the meaning is clear from the context. Ellipsis is sometimes called substitution by zero , since essentially one or more words are substituted with no word taking their place.

Below is the example passage again. There is one example of ellipsis: the phrase 'The fourth is', which means 'The fourth [important feature] is', so the words 'important feature' have been omitted.

Shell nouns

Shell nouns are abstract nouns which summarise the meaning of preceding or succeeding information. This summarising helps to generate cohesion. Shell nouns may also be called carrier nouns , signalling nouns , or anaphoric nouns . Examples are: approach, aspect, category, challenge, change, characteristics, class, difficulty, effect, event, fact, factor, feature, form, issue, manner, method, problem, process, purpose, reason, result, stage, subject, system, task, tendency, trend, and type . They are often used with pronouns 'this', 'these', 'that' or 'those', or with the definite article 'the'. For example:

• Virus transmission can be reduced via frequent washing of hands, use of face masks, and isolation of infected individuals. These methods , however, are not completely effective and transmission may still occur, especially among health workers who have close contact with infected individuals.
• An increasing number of overseas students are attending university in the UK. This trend has led to increased support networks for overseas students.

In the example passage used throughout this section, the word features serves as a shell noun, summarising the information later in the passage.

Cohesion is an important feature of academic writing. It can help ensure that your writing coheres or 'sticks together', which will make it easier for the reader to follow the main ideas in your essay or report. You can achieve good cohesion by paying attention to five important features . The first of these is repeated words. The second key feature is reference words. The third one is transition signals. The fourth is substitution. The final important aspect is ellipsis.

Thematic development

Cohesion can also be achieved by thematic development. The term theme refers to the first element of a sentence or clause. The development of the theme in the rest of the sentence is called the rheme . It is common for the rheme of one sentence to form the theme of the next sentence; this type of organisation is often referred to as given-to-new structure, and helps to make writing cohere.

Consider the following short passage, which is an extension of the first example above.

• Virus transmission can be reduced via frequent washing of hands, use of face masks, and isolation of infected individuals. These methods, however, are not completely effective and transmission may still occur, especially among health workers who have close contact with infected individuals. It is important for such health workers to pay particular attention to transmission methods and undergo regular screening.

Here we have the following pattern:

• Virus transmission [ theme ]
• can be reduced via frequent washing of hands, use of face masks, and isolation of infected individuals [ rheme ]
• These methods [ theme = rheme of preceding sentence ]
• are not completely effective and transmission may still occur, especially among health workers who have close contact with infected individuals [ rheme ]
• health workers [ theme, contained in rheme of preceding sentence ]
• [need to] to pay particular attention to transmission methods and undergo regular screening [ rheme ]

Cohesion vs. coherence

The words 'cohesion' and 'coherence' are often used together with a similar meaning, which relates to how a text joins together to make a unified whole. Although they are similar, they are not the same. Cohesion relates to the micro level of the text, i.e. the words and sentences and how they join together. Coherence , in contrast, relates to the organisation and connection of ideas and whether they can be understood by the reader, and as such is concerned with the macro level features of a text, such as topic sentences , thesis statement , the summary in the concluding paragraph (dealt with in the essay structure section), and other 'bigger' features including headings such as those used in reports .

Coherence can be improved by using an outline before writing (or a reverse outline , which is an outline written after the writing is finished), to check that the ideas are logical and well organised. Asking a peer to check the writing to see if it makes sense, i.e. peer feedback , is another way to help improve coherence in your writing.

Example essay

Below is an example essay. It is the one used in the persuasion essay section. Click on the different areas (in the shaded boxes to the right) to highlight the different cohesive aspects in this essay, i.e. repeated words/ideas, reference words, transition signals, substitution and ellipsis.

Title: Consider whether human activity has made the world a better place.

History shows that human beings have come a long way from where they started. They have developed new technologies which means that everybody can enjoy luxuries they never previously imagined. However , the technologies that are temporarily making this world a better place to live could well prove to be an ultimate disaster due to , among other things, the creation of nuclear weapons , increasing pollution , and loss of animal species . The biggest threat to the earth caused by modern human activity comes from the creation of nuclear weapons . Although it cannot be denied that countries have to defend themselves, the kind of weapons that some of them currently possess are far in excess of what is needed for defence . If these [nuclear] weapons were used, they could lead to the destruction of the entire planet . Another harm caused by human activity to this earth is pollution . People have become reliant on modern technology, which can have adverse effects on the environment . For example , reliance on cars causes air and noise pollution . Even seemingly innocent devices, such as computers and mobile phones, use electricity, most of which is produced from coal-burning power stations, which further adds to environmental pollution . If we do not curb our direct and indirect use of fossil fuels, the harm to the environment may be catastrophic. Animals are an important feature of this earth and the past decades have witnessed the extinction of a considerable number of animal species . This is the consequence of human encroachment on wildlife habitats, for example deforestation to expand cities. Some may argue that such loss of [animal]   species is natural and has occurred throughout earth's history. However , the current rate of [animal]   species loss far exceeds normal levels   [of animal species loss] , and is threatening to become a mass extinction event. In summary , there is no doubt that current human activities such as the creation of nuclear weapons , pollution , and destruction of wildlife , are harmful to the earth . It is important for us to see not only the short-term effects of our actions, but their long-term ones as well. Otherwise , human activities will be just another step towards destruction .

Aktas, R.N. and Cortes, V. (2008), 'Shell nouns as cohesive devices in published and ESL student writing', Journal of English for Academic Purposes , 7 (2008) 3-14.

Alexander, O., Argent, S. and Spencer, J. (2008) EAP Essentials: A teacher's guide to principles and practice . Reading: Garnet Publishing Ltd.

Gray, B. (2010) 'On the use of demonstrative pronouns and determiners as cohesive devices: A focus on sentence-initial this/these in academic prose', Journal of English for Academic Purposes , 9 (2010) 167-183.

Halliday, M. A. K., and Hasan, R. (1976). Cohesion in English . London: Longman.

Hinkel, E. (2004). Teaching Academic ESL Writing: Practical Techniques in Vocabulary and Grammar . Mahwah: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates Inc Publishers.

Hyland, K. (2006) English for Academic Purposes: An advanced resource book . Abingdon: Routledge.

Thornbury, S. (2005) Beyond the Sentence: Introducing discourse analysis . Oxford: Macmillan Education.

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Below is a checklist for essay cohesion and coherence. Use it to check your own writing, or get a peer (another student) to help you.

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Author: Sheldon Smith    ‖    Last modified: 03 February 2022.

Sheldon Smith is the founder and editor of EAPFoundation.com. He has been teaching English for Academic Purposes since 2004. Find out more about him in the about section and connect with him on Twitter , Facebook and LinkedIn .

Compare & contrast essays examine the similarities of two or more objects, and the differences.

Cause & effect essays consider the reasons (or causes) for something, then discuss the results (or effects).

Discussion essays require you to examine both sides of a situation and to conclude by saying which side you favour.

Problem-solution essays are a sub-type of SPSE essays (Situation, Problem, Solution, Evaluation).

Transition signals are useful in achieving good cohesion and coherence in your writing.

Reporting verbs are used to link your in-text citations to the information cited.

Cohesion and Coherence

Introduction

Every writer wishes to make their points clearly to their readers, with pieces of writing that are are easy to read and have logical links between the various points made. This coherence , this clarity of expression , is created by grammar and vocabulary (lexis) through cohesion . This is the “glue” that joins your ideas together to form a cohesive whole.

In this Learning Object we are going to focus on how this is done, in order to assist you when you come to write your next assignments and in your reading. In reading, if you understand how the author makes connections within the text, you gain a better understanding of his or her message. As regards your writing, after analysing the texts in this Learning Object, you should analyse your own writing in the same way. This will help you to realise which techniques you could use more to benefit your reader.

Before starting the activities, you can obtain an overview of how best to use this Learning Object, using a Screencast (with audio), by following this link Overview

• To raise awareness of how cohesion contributes to coherence in text
• To raise awareness of how cohesion is created through: reference, conjunction, ellipsis, substitution and lexis , including cohesive nouns .
• To raise your awareness of cohesion at paragraph level and how punctuation plays a crucial role in this

Activity 1: Ways of creating cohesion in text

According to the writers Halliday and Hasan (1976), there are six main ways that cohesion is created in a text. These they called: Reference , Substitution , Ellipsis , Lexical Chains , Cohesive Nouns and Conjunction .

Open this Cohesion Presentation PDF document that shows you examples of each of them.

For the following six ways of creating cohesion, select each one to read detailed explanations and examples:

This way of creating cohesion uses:

• determiners (e.g. "this" , "that" , "these" and "those" );
• pronouns (e.g. "him" , "them" , "me" );
• possessive pronouns (e.g. "your" , "their" , "hers" );
• relative pronouns (e.g. "which" , "who" , "whose" ).
• This type of cohesion can also be achieved comparatively with expressions like: "similarly" , "likewise" , "less" .

In this way of creating cohesion you can use:

• synonyms (e.g. "beautiful" for "lovely" );
• hyponyms and superordinates (e.g. "daffodil" , "rose" and "daisy" , are all hyponyms of the superordinate "flower" ).
• Lexical chains are created in a text by using words in the same lexical set (e.g. "army" , "soldiers" , "barracks" , "weapons" ).

These techniques allow for the central themes to be reiterated in a way that avoids monotony for the reader.

These words are a kind of lexical reference.

• They can summarise many words in one (e.g. "attitude" , "solution" , "difficulty" ), and have been called 'umbrella' nouns for this reason (Bailey 2006:150).
• They are used to signal what is to come (e.g. "the problem to be discussed..." ), or can refer back (e.g. "The issue mentioned above..." ).

This method of creating cohesion uses one word/phrase to replace a word/phrase used earlier. For example,

• "the one(s)" and "the same" can be used to replace nouns (e.g. "I'll have the same." ).
• Verbs can be replaced by "do" (e.g. "The authorities said they had acted , but nobody believed they had done .").
• In speaking, whole clauses can be replaced by, "so" or "not" (e.g. "I hope so/not." ).

In this way of creating cohesion, words are omitted because they are understood from the context. e.g.

• " John can type and I can [type] too! ";
• " I don't want to go out, do you? [want to go out] ."

This type of cohesion includes:

• listing words (e.g. "firstly" , "next" , "lastly" );
• linkers for addition (e.g. " moreover" , "and" , "also" );
• concession (e.g. "but" , "however" , "despite" ); and
• cause and effect (e.g. "so" , "because" , "as a result" ).

Then try this Cohesion quiz to test your memory of the terms.

Activity 2: Highlighting cohesion in a text

For this activity you are going to read the short narrative text below, which is a piece of creative writing about a student, and then complete an exercise in highlighting the cohesive words, using colour codes. First, read the text quickly and try to think of a title for it.

The student sighed as she handed in the assignment, at last it was finished. This was the most difficult piece of writing which she had been set, but she had completed it. The ‘magnum opus’ was 10,000 words long. This project, though not quite a dissertation, was still the longest piece of academic writing she had ever written. She had thought she would never complete it and it had taken all her strength to do so.

Her achievement made her elated, but had left her exhausted. When she had read the title of the task, she knew it was not going to be just another essay, not an easy one at all. Finally, the completed work lay on the counter of the reception [and was] beautifully bound. She would sleep easy at night, [and she would be] no longer troubled by thoughts of its accusing blank pages – the nightmare was over!

Instruction

Now try this colour coding exercise to highlight the 6 different ways of creating cohesion.

--> Show feedback Hide feedback

The original title of the piece of writing was “The Assignment” .

Now try this interactive exercise to colour-code the words and phrases that create cohesion in the 6 different ways using the six colours.

You can download this Feedback 1 PDF for a summary of the answers to the task.

Activity 3: Cohesion in a discursive text

In this exercise you are going to see how the 6 ways of creating cohesion are used in a short text arguing in favour of working in groups as a way to learn better in class. Before you read the text, you might like to predict what the arguments might be in favour of and against classes being organised to work together in this way.

To do a series of exercises to raise awareness of different forms of cohesion used in academic writing, try these interactive cloze exercises .

Activity 4: Colour coding the cohesion in the discursive text

Now, we are going to use the same text to see how your awareness of cohesion is improving.

Read this longer discursive text about working in groups. As you read, notice the different forms of cohesion that are used in the text. After you’ve read it, move on to the colour-coding exercise that follows.

“Working in groups is a bad idea because it encourages weak students to let the others do the work.” Discuss

The idea that working in groups is a bad thing is fundamentally mistaken because, overall, the advantages of this way of configuring the class outweigh the potential disadvantages [of this way of configuring the class]. In groups there is the opportunity for peer teaching, which can often be invaluable. In addition, lessons organised in this way become less teacher-centred. Moreover, in life today, team-working is a feature of every workplace and one of the roles of university education is to provide a preparation for students’ future careers.

Firstly, peer teaching can contribute to effective learning in most classroom situations. Many students (especially in large classes) can benefit from this approach. Weaker students are often less afraid of making mistakes and taking risks in front of their peers, than in close contact with their teacher or in front of the whole class. Also, with regard to the stronger students, a perfect way to consolidate their learning is to transmit that knowledge to others. Furthermore, most pedagogic approaches today concur that a lesson that is focused on the teacher at all times, is one from which the students are unlikely to benefit. Certainly, some classroom activities, like project work for example, are best conducted in small groups. The teacher as the source of all wisdom standing at the front of the class, the ‘jug and mug’ model of education, is not only antiquated, but also ineffective.

A further benefit of group-teaching is the preparation it provides for working in teams. In a great variety of careers today, the employees are asked to, and are judged on their ability to work in teams. Group working in class represents basically the same concept. The same skills are being tested and developed – interpersonal skills and emotional intelligence, to mention just two. In business today, the ability to lead effectively and to support one’s peers is prized almost above all other skills.

In conclusion then, while it may sometimes be true that the weak students may ‘take it easy’ sometimes in groups, allowing others to work hard to compensate for their laziness, if the lesson materials are interesting and the teacher motivating, this is a rare occurrence. As outlined above, there are so many ‘pros’ to this method of classroom configuration that these easily outweigh this somewhat questionable ‘con’.

Now try these Cohesion colour-coding exercies , using the 6 different colours.

Show feedback Hide feedback

You can download this Feedback 2 PDF document for a summary of the answers to the task.

Activity 5: Cohesive nouns, reference and substitution

For more exercises to practise cohesive nouns, reference and substitution try this Reference and Substitution cloze exercise .

Activity 6: Cohesion and coherence at paragraph level

Cohesion has a strong connection to coherence (logic and meaning). In fact, cohesion is the grammatical and lexical realisation of coherence at a profound level within the text. It is what makes a text more than just a jumbled mixture of sentences.

In this exercise, you will use your understanding of cohesion and punctuation, and your understanding of the underlying meaning of paragraphs, to put them into the most logical order. Now try these Paragraph Cohesion Activities .

Would you like to review the main points?

Show review Hide review

To review the way we create cohesion in texts follow this link The 6 Ways of Creating Cohesion

For websites with more information and exercises to raise your awareness of cohesion and the way we organise information following a ‘given-to-new’ pattern, we recommend the following websites:

• The Grammar of English Ideas
• Academic Writing in English

References:

Batstone, R. (1994). Grammar. Oxford: Oxford University Press

Cook, G. (1996). Discourse. Oxford: Oxford University Press

Halliday, M. A. K. and R. Hasan (1976). Cohesion in English. London: Longman UK Group Limited.

Lubelska, D. (1991). “An approach to teaching cohesion to improve in reading” in Reading in a Foreign Language, 7 (2)

© William Tweddle, Queen Mary, University of London, 2010, visual created by the author using a Smartboard and Jing

Cohesion And Coherence In Essay Writing

Table of contents, introduction.

Before illustrating how to write coherent essays, let us start with the definitions of coherence and cohesion and list the ways we can achieve cohesion in a coherent text.

Definitions Cohesion and Coherence

What is coherence.

Coherence is related to the macro-level features of a text which enable it to have a sense as a whole.

What is cohesion?

How to achieve cohesion and coherence in essay writing, lexical cohesion.

Repeating words may contribute to cohesion. Repetition creates cohesive ties within the text.

Grammatical cohesion

Substitutions, conjunctions transition words, cohesive but not coherent texts.

The player threw the ball toward the goalkeeper. Balls are used in many sports. Most balls are spheres, but American football is an ellipsoid. Fortunately, the goalkeeper jumped to catch the ball. The crossbar in the soccer game is made of iron. The goalkeeper was standing there.

How to write a coherent essay?

1. start with an outline, 2. structure your essay.

3. Structure your paragraphs

4. relevance to the main topic, 5. stick to the purpose of the type of essay you’re-writing, 6. use cohesive devices and signposting phrases.

What is signposting in writing?

Essay signposting phrases.

7. Draft, revise, and edit

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Coherence and Cohesion

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When it comes to planned, non-spontaneous texts including written discourse and speeches, the manner in which the text is put together can be explained by elements of coherence and cohesion. While spontaneous discourse will also display coherence and cohesion, it is emphasized in planned texts because there is a greater deal of thought and intention behind the use of cohesive ties and devices of coherence.

They can however often be difficult concepts to grasp. For starters, it is essential to understand the difference between the two terms.

Coherence is defined as the quality of being logical, consistent and able to be understood. Imagine coherence as a building (It’s an analogy, go with it).

Cohesion on the other hand refers to the act of forming a whole unit. It is effectively a subset of coherence. Picture cohesion as the bricks and cement which make up the building.

Bricks and cement can be put together to create any form of structure. However, it is only when they are laid together properly that they form a building. Similarly, a text will be cohesive if cohesive ties are used however it will only be coherent if the cohesive ties are used appropriately to create meaning.

You can have cohesion without coherence but you cannot have coherence without cohesion. The picture does not make sense unless the correct pieces are placed in the correct order, even if certain pieces may be the same size and shape.

“I bought some hummus to eat with celery. Green vegetables can boost your metabolism. The Australian Greens is a political party. I couldn’t decide what to wear to the new year’s party.”

In the example above, there are lexical links from one sentence to the next; cohesive ties are used to join the sentences. There is evidence of lexical repetition, ‘green’ ‘party’ and collocations, ‘new years’. 

However, this string of sentences do not make any sense; there is no binding semantic link. This is an example of cohesion without coherence.

Cohesive devices effectively help the discourse flow. They include collocations, lexical repetition, linking adverbials, substitution, ellipsis, conjunctions, synonymy/antonymy, hypernyms/hyponyms and referencing (anaphoric, cataphoric, deictic). These devices create physical links between the words in a discourse.

Coherence which we previously defined as understanding can be achieved through devices such as cohesive ties, formatting techniques, inference, logical ordering of information, semantic patterning and consistency.

These all enhance the ability of a text to be successfully interpreted and understood. Recipes, terms and condition documents, informative brochures all make use of formatting in the form of headings, bolding, underlines etc. to emphasis certain aspects of the text and draw audience attention to the most important elements.

The focus of coherence factors is determined by the social purpose of the text. Is the text made to entertain? Inform? Persuade? Celebrate? If so, why? What is the overarching intention of the text? Answering such questions can help explain the purpose of coherence factors and cohesive devices within a discourse.

This is effectively what you are aiming to do in your analytical commentaries and short answer questions in the exam. Identify the social purposes of the text and use them to explain the role of coherence and cohesion within the discourse.

The other major factor of consideration is the intended audience of the text. Is the text aimed at teenagers? the Australian public? Or specifically to “bogan” Australians? The language choices and ideas implied in the text will reflect the intended audience. If a text is aimed at Victorian’s it may include lexemes such as “Mornington Peninsula” or “Shepparton” which Victorian’s can infer as locations within Victoria, however these terms would need to be further explained to those who reside outside this state. Lexical choices which require outside inference would be included if it can be reasonably interpreted that the intended audience would be aware of their meaning. Finding examples of inference in texts can be useful in identifying the social purpose of the text.

The main thing to be mindful of is that finding cohesive devices and evidence of coherence in texts alone is not enough. You will gain your marks in your exam for linking these fragments of evidence to the wider social purposes of the text.

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For an overview of English Language, the study design, what’s involved in the exam and more, take a look at our Ultimate Guide to English Language .

How To Effectively Build an Essay Evidence Bank

Essays in English Language require contemporary examples of language being used in Australia , in order to justify your response to the topic. English Language essays are often said to only be as good as the examples that are used, so it follows that your essays will only be as good and interesting as the examples that you find. It’s a really good idea to start collecting examples, or evidence, in a “bank” from day one, and throughout the year as you prepare for essay SACs and the final exam. Great examples not only lead your discussion, but also make your essay more interesting and therefore stand out.

What Makes a Good Piece of Evidence?

Primarily you want your evidence to comprise examples of how language is being used within a specific context in contemporary Australia . For instance, you might explore how leaders in Australia use overtly prestigious language with Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews’ use of the formal vocative phrase 'my fellow Victorians' at a press briefing. You may not always be able to find a specific instance of a particular language feature being used, which can be especially true for language that is not frequently used in public contexts, such as slang and ethnolects . It is okay to just have general examples that you discuss in these instances; perhaps the ellipsis (omission of understood words) of auxiliary verbs in varieties such as Greek Australian English . What is important is that the majority of your examples are actually instances of language features being used , and not simply a quote of someone else’s analysis of language, such as a linguist’s quote. Such quotes can be used in essays, but should complement your own discussion of your own examples.

Good examples must also be 'contemporary', as per the majority of essay prompts. As a general rule of thumb, ask yourself if the example you have is older than two years , and if so you may want to think of something newer. This does not mean you can never employ an older example. For instance, you may want to discuss language change in an essay, which sometimes necessitates discussing the historical context of certain language features.

How To Build an Example Bank

Many students find it highly beneficial to create a table or list of examples that they will practice and get comfortable with – you cannot bring this into the exam of course, but it is a very effective tool for preparation. In your table or list, consider including the following:

• Your example itself (this may not always be just a quote, sometimes you might have a phonetic transcription, for instance)
• The context that surrounds the example
• The metalanguage that you can use to analyse it
• The areas of the study design and essay topics it can cover
• A few short sentences of analysis

An example is given below:

These examples do not necessarily have to be something that you put a huge effort into going out and finding, so long as you make sure that you write down interesting language features that you come across in your day-to-day life . Keep an eye on places like the news, social media ( including emojis and text speak ), and any Australian television, radio, podcasts you watch or listen to. You will of course also discuss different examples of contemporary language use in class too, so make sure to add them as well.

Getting evidence is only step one of preparing for essay writing in English Language, but is the most important step for writing interesting and engaging essays. Keep in mind that this doesn’t have to be a solo activity; collaborating with classmates and group discussions, especially as you prepare for the exam can be a great way to make evidence collection fun. Be sure to check out our other blog, What Is an English Language Essay? for other tips and tricks to make your essays stand out.

• What Is English Language?
• VCE English Language Study Design
• What's Involved in the Exam?
• How To Study for English Language
• Metalanguage List
• Sample Essay
• Year 12 Essay Topic Categories

1. What Is English Language?

Study design stuff.

English Language is 1 of the 4 different English subjects that are offered as part of the Victorian Certificate of Education (VCE). In this subject, you’ll explore how individuals and groups of various identities use different varieties of English, and how this ties in with reflecting their values and beliefs. English Language will provide you with a substantial understanding of the impact language has on societies, what it communicates about ourselves and the groups that we identify with, and how societies in turn can also influence language.

If you’re feeling uncertain about what exactly this subject entails, don’t worry! Let’s go through what’s involved in each unit, and what you’re expected to do in each.

2. VCE English Language Study Design 

Note: The study design contains a metalanguage list for Units 1 & 2 and for Units 3 & 4. They’re pretty similar, except the Units 3 & 4 list includes several new features, such as the addition of patterning (phonological, syntactic, and semantic), as well as a significant addition to the discourse subsystem (coherence, cohesion, features of spoken discourse, and strategies of spoken discourse). ‍

Area of Study (AoS1) 

AoS1 is called ‘the nature and function of language’. You’ll learn about the functions of different types of texts, the differences between spoken and written texts, how situational and contextual factors can influence texts, and most importantly, you’ll learn about metalanguage as per the Units 1 & 2 metalanguage list. 

Area of Study (AoS2) 

AoS2 is called ‘language acquisition.’ Here, you’ll learn about theories various linguistics and sociologists have proposed regarding how children acquire languages. Furthermore, you’ll also cover how second languages are acquired. One of the most important skills you’ll pick up in this AoS is how to apply metalanguage in discussions and essays.

English Across Time’, will provide you with a historical context for how we have achieved the form of English that we use today. You’ll learn about the processes which led to the development of Modern English from Old English, the changes this had on all the subsystems ( learn about the syntax subsystem here ), and the various attitudes that are held towards linguistic change.

‘Englishes in contact’, you will learn about the processes which have led to the global spread of English, the intersections between culture and language, and the distinctive features of pidgins, creoles and English as a lingua franca. 

‘Informal language’, will give you an understanding of the roles of informal language in the contemporary Australian context. You’ll learn about what makes texts informal, how this differs for spoken and written texts, and what social purposes can be achieved through informal language - such as maintaining or threatening face needs, building intimacy or solidarity, creating an in-group, or supporting linguistic innovation. 

‘Formal language,’ will provide you with a detailed insight of what makes texts formal, distinguishing features for spoken and written texts, and what social purposes can be achieved through formal language - such as reinforcing authority, establishing expertise, clarifying, obfuscating, or maintaining and challenging positive and negative face needs. 

In both of these AoS, you’ll be applying the Units 3 & 4 Metalanguage in your short answer responses and analytical commentaries. The additional metalanguage is typically taught in Term 1 of year 12, while you learn the content for Unit 3.

‘Language variation in Australian society,’ is a detailed study on how both standard and non-standard Australian English are used within contemporary society. You’ll learn about how identity is constructed through language, how varieties of English vary by culture (such as ethnolects or Australian Aboriginal English), and the attitudes that are held towards different varieties by different groups. 

In ‘Individual and group identities’, you’ll look at how language varies by different factors, such as age, gender, occupation, interests, aspirations, or education, and how these factors all contribute to our identities. You’ll learn more about in-groups and out-groups, and how they can be created and maintained through language. Furthermore, you’ll learn about the relationship between social attitudes with language, and how language can be shaped by, but also influence, social attitudes and community expectations. 

For more information, have a look at the study design . 

3. What's Involved in the Exam?

The Year 12 Exam involves 2 hours of writing time and 15 minutes of reading time. It has three sections:

• Section A: 15 marks (It is recommended that you spend approximately 20-25 mins in this section)
• Section B: 30 marks (It is recommended that you spend approximately 40-45 mins, and write 600-700 words)
• Section C: 30 marks (It is recommended that you spend approximately 45-50 mins, and write 700-800 words)

Make sure you have a read through of the assessment criteria for each section.

Section A is 15 marks of short answer questions. You are given a text, and you’re required to respond to questions about the stylistic and discourse features used in the text, while ensuring that you’re demonstrating a detailed knowledge of metalanguage through carefully selecting relevant examples from the text. 

A strong understanding of the metalanguage is really important, both in terms of knowing the meanings of each metalinguistic term, and also in knowing which category each term fits under (For example, knowing that inference is part of coherence and not cohesion). Therefore, it is important that you learn your metalanguage in terms of what each terminology means, and also in terms of which category each term fits into.

As a general guide:

• 1 mark – one idea or one example or one explanation
• 2 marks – one idea plus one or two examples with explanations
• 3 marks – two ideas plus one or two examples of each with explanations
• 4 marks – two or three ideas plus one or two examples of each with explanations
• 5 marks – three ideas plus one or two examples of each with explanations

One of the biggest mistakes students make here is not reading the questions properly. Students sometimes miss how many examples the questions specifies to identify (this information is often given as ‘identify 2 examples’ or ‘identify the purposes’ as plural), forget to check how many marks a question is, or mix up certain metalanguage terms, such as confusing sentence types with sentence structures. So, be very careful in answering these questions.

Here are some examples of short answer questions that have come up in past VCAA exams:

[Question 2, 2017 VCAA] - Identify and comment on the use of two different prosodic features. (4 marks).

‍ Here, you would identify 2 different prosodic features (pitch, stress, volume, intonation, or tempo), and discuss what effect they have on the text, taking contextual factors into consideration. For example, stress could be used to draw emphasis, or intonation could influence the emotion conveyed. 

[Question 1, 2015 VCAA] - What sentence types are used in lines 15 to 36? How do they reinforce the purposes of this text? (3 marks)

‍ Here, you would identify the relevant sentence types (declaratives, imperatives, interrogatives, and exclamatives), and explain their role in the text. You would also want to ensure that your explanations are specific to the context of the text.

[Question 9, 2010 VCAA] - Discuss the function of two different non-fluency features between lines 70 and 96. (4 marks)

‍ Here, you would identify two non fluency features (such as pauses, false starts, repairs, repetition) and give a 1 sentence explanation of its role or what it indicates.

[Question 1, 2012 VCAA] - Identify the register of the text. (1 mark)

‍ This question is quite straightforward, and you could use terms such as formal, informal, predominantly formal/informal in your response.

[Question 4, 2012 VCAA] - How does the verb tense in lines 9–34 support the purpose of this section of the text? (2 marks)

‍ Here you would identify whether the verb tense is in past, present, or future tense, and explain why it has been used in that way based on the contextual factors.

[Question 3, 2017 VCAA] - Using appropriate metalanguage, identify and explain two specific language features that reflect the speaker’s identity.(4 marks)

‍ Here, you can pick examples from any subsystem that relate to the speaker’s identity, such as jargon, colloquialisms, semantics of certain jokes, expletives, or pejoratives.

Note: The exams prior to 2012 have 2 sets of short answer questions, because analytical commentaries weren’t a part of the exam back then. This leaves you with lots of practice questions! However, do keep in mind that the metalanguage lists differed and certain features were categorised in different ways. For example, Question 2 from the VCAA 2013 exam asks you to talk about prosodic features, however, in the examiner’s report, pauses are suggested as an option. We know that in the present study design, pauses are classified as features of spoken discourse, under the discourse subsystem, whereas prosodic features are classified under the subsystem of phonetics and phonology.

Check out How To Respond to Short Answer Questions in VCE English Language if you need more help tackling Section A of the exam.

Section B is an analytical commentary (AC) worth 30 marks. The introduction for an AC is an explanation of the contextual factors, the social purpose, and the register, of the text. In the body paragraphs (generally three), you group your examples from the text by themes, and explain their roles. 

There are two main approaches for body paragraphs; the sub-system approach, and the holistic approach. In the sub-system approach, you would organise your examples so that each paragraph is addressing a specific subsystem. For example, your AC could be composed of the introduction, and then a paragraph on lexicology, one on syntax, and one on discourse. This approach is easier for when you’re starting out with ACs, but one of the issues with it is that you end up limiting yourself to just one portion of the text for the one paragraph. In the holistic approach, you would typically do a paragraph on social purpose, register, and discourse. In this approach, you are able to group examples from multiple subsystems and talk about how they work together in achieving specific roles in the texts. 

Make sure you’re attempting a range of different types of texts, such as, opinion pieces, recipes, oaths, editorials, advertisements, eulogies, social media posts, public notices, television transcripts, radio transcripts, letters, speeches, legal contracts, conversations, narratives, and more.

For more information, have a look at this video:

Section C is an essay worth 30 marks. There are a range of topics that can potentially come up in the exam, and it is really important that you practice writing a variety of essays. 

In essays, it is really important to ensure that you set out a clear contention in your introduction. This will basically tell the assessor what point you’re making in your essay, and it’ll also help you remember which direction to take your essay. After your contention, you need to signpost your ideas. This means that you need to summarise what 3 points you are stating in your body paragraphs. 

Here’s an exercise which is really helpful in refining introductions - When you’re writing your contention, write “In this essay, I will argue that [Insert contention]. I will do this by stating the following points [Insert signposting].” When you’re happy with your introduction, you can remove the underlined parts. This will help you really understand how the roles for contentions and signposting differ. You’ll also thoroughly understand what position you’re taking in the essay.

The body paragraphs follow TEEL structure. You begin with your topic sentence, state your evidence, explain it, and then link it back to your contention. You have three options for the type of evidence that you’ll use (stimulus material, contemporary examples, and linguist quotes), and it's important to use a combination of them. According to the exam rubric, you have to be using at least 1 piece of stimulus material. Contemporary examples should ideally be from the current year and the previous. Linguist quotes don’t have time restrictions but it’s a good idea to try and find recent ones.

One of the most important things in body paragraphs is to make sure that you’re able to link your example back to your contention. If you’re unable to do this, it means that your examples aren't relevant to the points that you’re trying to make. 

In your conclusion, you need to ensure that you don’t introduce any new examples or points. The role of the conclusion is to summarise and reinforce your points and your overall contention. 

If you would like further clarification, have a look at this post on English Language Essays.

4. How To Study for English Language

Time management and organisation.

Having a study timetable will make studying much less stressful than it needs to be. In your timetable, make sure you are allocating enough time for all of your subjects, as well as time for rest, extra-curricular activities, work, and socialising. A realistic time-table will also mean that you’re less likely to waste time trying to decide which subjects to study for. For example, every Sunday, you could spend 15 minutes planning out your week based on which assessments you have, and which subjects you would like to give time to. This becomes especially useful in SWOTVAC, where you’ll be responsible for ensuring you’re spending enough time on each subject whilst also balancing everything else outside of school. 

Here are some extra resources to help you with time management:

SWOTVAC: Planning Your Life

10 Hacks For Time Management

How to survive VCE - motivation and approach

Revising Metalanguage

Consistently revising metalanguage is one of the most important study methods for English Language. 

The basics of metalanguage are covered in Unit 1. Make sure you keep a clear set of notes for this content so that you’re able to look back on it to revise throughout the year. Before the year 12 year begins, you want to make sure that everything in the year 11 metalanguage list makes sense to you. Spending the summer holidays before year 12 begins in reinforcing the basics will help you throughout year 12, as you’ll be able to pick up on the new metalanguage much faster. One of the first things you'll cover is coherence and cohesion, so if you would like to get a head start, have a look at this post.

Throughout year 12, consistently revising metalanguage will be your responsibility. It is likely that you’ll be spending a greater proportion of class time in learning content, and writing short answer responses, analytical commentaries, or essays. Therefore, it’s really important to figure out a way that works best for you in being able to frequently revise metalanguage. Flashcards are pretty useful for revision, as well as making mind maps so that you’re able to visualise how everything is set out in the study design.

One issue students run into is that they’re able to define and give examples for metalanguage terms, however, they are unable to understand how it fits in in terms of the categories under each subsystem. For example, a student is able to remember what a metaphor is, but unable to recall that it fits under semantic patterning. Similarly, a student may know what a pause is, but not know if it’s part of prosodic features or discourse features. It’s important to know what all the categories are, because the short answer questions usually ask for you to identify features under a particular category. Therefore, spending time on just revising the definitions alone isn’t sufficient in learning metalanguage. You also need to be able to ensure that you can recall which category each term fits under.

Reading the News

For the essay, you’re required to use contemporary media examples as evidence (alongside stimulus material and linguist quotes). It’s really important for you to begin this process early so that you’re able to start using examples in essays as early as possible. For tips on how to find, analyse and store your examples, see our post on Building Essay Evidence Banks for English Language .

Having an awareness of Australia’s historical, political, and social context, will provide you with a more comprehensive perspective of the contemporary examples. So, if you don’t already do this, try to develop a habit of reading the news (The Conversation or The Guardian are a good place to start). Television programs like Q and A, The Drum, and Media Watch, will help you understand the Australian context, and often these programs will also discuss the roles of language, which directly links with what you're looking for as essay examples. It’s especially important to start early, and to build these skills over time, so that you are able to develop a holistic foundation. 

Extra Practice Pieces and Seeking Feedback

Doing extra practice pieces is a really effective way to develop and refine your analytical skills. Make sure you receive feedback for all your work from your teacher or tutor, as it’s the only way you'll know if you’re going in the right direction.

If you’re short on time, even writing up AC or essay plans, or just doing 1 paragraph, is an effective way to revise.

Learning Quotes and Examples

Memorising several pages full of linguist quotes and contemporary examples may seem daunting at first, but once you begin using them in essays, they’ll become much easier to remember. Right from the beginning of yr12, make sure you set up a document to compile your linguist quotes and examples into subheadings. For example subheadings such as ‘cultural identity,’ ‘jargon,’ ‘hate speech,’ ‘free speech,’ or ‘Australian values’ will make it easier for you to navigate your notes when you're planning your essays.

If you start early, you’ll be able to remember everything bit by bit as you progress through the year, which is definitely easier than trying to remember the evidence the night before the assessment. Additionally, you’ll be ready with quotes and examples as soon as you begin essays in class, so you’ll be able to use your examples earlier, hence learn them earlier, and therefore be able to memorise your quotes and examples in advance. If you’re in year 12 and you’re nearing the end of the year and still struggling to memorise your examples and quotes, try using flashcards to remember your evidence.  Make sure you’re doing a range of essays on different topics so that you’re able to apply and analyse your evidence. 

Learning From Your Mistakes

It can be pretty disheartening to make the same mistakes repeatedly and continue to lose marks. So, compiling the mistakes that you make throughout the year in a separate notebook or document is a fantastic way to keep track of the key things you need to remember. You’ll also be less likely to repeat those mistakes.

Group Studies

Studying in groups for English Language is a highly effective way to refine your understanding of the content, and see different perspectives in the way certain ideas can be applied. Revising metalanguage and testing your friends on their knowledge can be a light and engaging way to ensure you and your friends are on the right track. Sharing the ways you and your group have approached a specific AC is also an effective way to learn about different approaches. Discussing essay topics is a useful way in refining your arguments, as you’ll be exposed to different opinions and be able to work on ensuring that your arguments are relevant and strong.

See How To Extend Yourself in VCE English Language for more tips!

5. Metalanguage List

Please refer to pages 9-10 for the Year 11 list, and 17-18 for the Year 12 list !

6. Sample Essay

Language is fundamental to identity and consequently we draw on our linguistic repertoire to project different aspects of our identity according to context. Discuss this statement in the contemporary Australian context with reference to at least two subsystems in your response.

(This essay topic relates to Unit 4 - AoS1, ‘Language variation in Australian society.’) 

Introduction

Language plays a pivotal role in establishing and communicating various facets of identity. As such, individuals can alter their linguistic repertoire to establish in-group membership. Teenspeak is an effective mechanism in expressing teenage identity, but can also be used by the older generation to appeal to young people. Code switching between ethnolects and standard Australian English further illustrates how individuals can manipulate their linguistic choices to suit their environment, whilst simultaneously reflecting ethnic identity . Furthermore, jargon plays a critical role in establishing professional identity and signifying expertise or authority. Consequently, linguistic choices are capable of expressing diverse and multifaceted identities.

Body Paragraph

Teenspeak is capable of expressing identity and establishing in group membership amongst teenages, however it can also be used by those in the out-group to appeal to teenagers. Professor Pam Peters asserts that “Teenagers use language as a kind of identity badge that has the effect of excluding adults." Consequently, teenagers are able to establish exclusivity and in-group membership. Bakery owner Morgan Hipworth, who largely has a teenage following and is a teenager himself, employs teenspeak in a video recipe, where he responds to the question ‘Can you make a 10 layer cheese toastie?’ with ‘Bet, let’s go.’ Through using the teenspeak term ‘bet,’ Hipworth is able to relate and connect with his young audience while further asserting his identity as a teenager. This demonstrates how teenspeak can be effective in both establishing in-group membership, and expressing identity. Similarly, Youtuber Ashley Mescia’s extensive use of teenspeak initialisms in Instagram captions, such as ‘ootd’ for ‘outfit of the day,’ ‘grwm’ for ‘get ready with me,’ and ‘ngl’ for ‘not gonna lie,’ allows her to connect with her predominantly teenage following, thus allowing her to establish solidarity and in-group membership. This further indicates that teenspeak is an effective mechanism in expressing identity and building in-group membership. In contrast, teenspeak can also be used by older people in an effort to appeal to teenages. For example, in 2019, ABC’s Q and A host Tony Jones ended a promotional video for an opportunity for high-school students to appear on the panel with ‘It’s gonna be lit fam.’ This was done in an effort to appeal to younger people by exploiting the notion that it is often seen as cringeworthy when older people use teenspeak. Linguist Kate Burridge asserts that “older people using contemporary teen slang often sounds insincere and phoney,” and Jones was aware of this, however his purpose was to appeal to this to be able to further promote the video. Therefore, teenspeak is effective in both establishing in-group membership and expressing identity, and also appealing to the in-group and a member of the out-group.  

7. Year 12 Essay Topic Categories

1: australian english.

• Australian English differs from other national varieties – this theme looks at what makes Australian English unique and the factors that have contributed to its development over time. You can learn more by checking out our blog post on Australian Cultural Values
• What makes this variety unique as a national variety
• Broad, General, Cultivated accents
• Aboriginal English
• Attitudes towards Australian language varieties
• Standard Australian English and its prestige value
• Non-standard varieties operating in Australia
• Regional variation within Australia
• The role of language in constructing national identity
• Face needs (read blog)

2: Individual and Group Identity

• Social and personal variation (age, gender, occupation, interests, education, background, aspiration)
• Individual identity and group membership
• Standard and non-standard English and prestige varieties
• In-groups and exclusion
• Social attitudes to non-standard accents and dialects

3: Register

• Relationships between speaker/writer and interlocutors/audience
• Physical setting, situational and cultural contexts
• Subject matter/topic/domain/field
• Mode (spoken, written, electronic)
• Purpose/function of the interaction
• Social attitudes and beliefs of participants

4: Social Purpose of Language

• Inclusion and exclusion; in-groups and out-groups; social distance and intimacy
• How language can be used to uphold or threaten positive or negative face needs (read blog)
• Prestige forms of language
• Political correctness (read blog)
• Discrimination and hatespeech
• Euphemism and dysphemism (watch video)
• Taboo, pejoratives, and swearing
• Jargon, and how language establishes expertise
• Slang and colloquialisms
• Manipulation of language (obfuscation, doublespeak, gobbledegook)
• Politeness strategies and social harmony
• Language in the public domain; public language
• Linguistic innovation
• How language represents or shapes social and cultural, values, beliefs, attitudes
• How language can express identity 
• Other functions of language, such as recording, clarifying, entertaining, promoting, persuading, commemorating, celebrating, instructing, informing

5: Attitudes to the Varieties

6: Language Change

Although language change features more heavily in Units 1 & 2, it is still important to be aware of how language is changing in everyday lives to reflect social needs, attitudes and values. Consider the following:

• Australian English and its development and evolution over time
• Taboo, swearing and dysphemism and the role of changing social values
• Political correctness , non-discriminatory language and changing social values
• Linguistic innovation and informal language
• Technological advances and their impact on language - this includes emojis and text speak
• Global contact and other social changes and their impact on contemporary Australian English
• Migrant ethnolects and Aboriginal English

Language has many uses which go beyond simple communication. Language can be used to entertain, to convey abstract ideas and to mold one’s perspective. A strong understanding of linguistic features, of words and their connotations can allow one to manipulate their language in order to convey certain ideas and thoughts. This brings us to the topic of face needs. One’s face need is the sense of social value that is experienced during social interactions. There are two types of face needs; positive face needs and negative face needs. Positive face refers to the need to feel accepted and liked by others while negative face describes the will to do what one wants to do with freedom and independence.

In daily conversations and in media, language is used to either appeal to face needs or to avoid meeting face needs. Basic politeness markers are frequently used to appeal to face needs, often subconsciously. Imagine a teacher asks you to pass them the pencil they just dropped. Most likely, they will ask something along the lines of, “are you able to pass me that pencil please?” The teacher’s relationship with you is that of an authoritative nature. Therefore, when asked to pick up the pen, you will almost certainly oblige unless there is a compelling reason not to. While the teacher has technically posed a request or a question, it is a in fact a command in disguise. The teacher has an expectation that you will pick up the pen, however, by framing this command as a question, it appears as though you are being given a choice. This appeals to your negative face needs as you are not being imposed upon to pick up the pen, but are given a choice should you wish to “pick it up”. In situations where interlocutors do not have a very close social distance, linguistic features such are politeness markers, rising intonation and interrogative sentences are used to appeal to negative face needs. If this same situation occurred with a friend, they might say something along the lines of ‘oi, chuck us that pen.’ This is a blatant disregard for negative face needs, but due to the close social distance between you and your close friend, appealing to negative face needs for such small things is unnecessary.

Appealing to negative face is most commonly observed in interactions with strangers or with those who do not have a strongly established relationship. However, appeals to negative face needs can also be observed with close individuals, particularly used to further the relationship by extending its boundary. For example, when asking a big favour from a relatively new friend one will most likely use methods to appeal to negative face needs, using phrases such as, ‘do you mind if,’ ‘would it be possible if,’ ‘could I please ask you a huge favour’. Such phrases do not impose of the individual, allowing them to “choose” whether or not to oblige. Appealing to the negative face demonstrates that one recognizes the other’s freedom and wish to do as they wish. 

Appealing to positive face needs occurs through slightly different linguistic and paralinguistic techniques. Compliments, minimal response, eye contact, politeness markers and the use of interrogatives are all ways in which one can appeal to another’s positive face needs. These techniques are very often employed in radio and television interviews. It is the duty of the host to make their guest feel welcome and wanted on the show. Television hosts such as Jimmy Kimmel and Ellen often introduce their celebrity guests by mentioning their achievements, thus making them feel special. They frequently employ interrogatives to display avid interest in their guests. Furthermore, back-channeling and vocal effects such as laughter allow the guests to feel that their presence is welcome and appreciated. Think of this from the perspective host and their social purpose. They want to make their guests feel appreciated to promote their viewership and build solidarity with the guests so they may return on the show.

This is interview is an example of positive face needs where interviewer Rajeev Masand compliments Stanger Things actors Milly Bobby Brown and Noah Schnapp at the beginning of the interview for their show.

Tom Holland on Ellen:

In this example both Tom Holland and Ellen meet one another’s positive face needs. Politically correct language and euphemisms are also another example of appeals to positive face needs. Calling people ‘differently abled’ is done in attempt to avoid discrimination and allow individuals of different abilities to feel equally accepted and welcome. However, this does not always come across as intended. Often politically correct labels are not embraced by the given community as they feel that such labels further alienate them from society. Politically correct labels can act as reminders to such groups that they are considered minority or, they may feel that these labels are a feeble attempt to push aside previous, conflicting history. This is important to note as it demonstrates that appealing to face needs can sometimes be a hit or miss. In everyday conversation, people use cues in attempt to understand the individual they are conversing with and hence alter their language accordingly. They will use these cues to understand how to use language to appeal to the face needs of the other individual. In a context with school friends, there is likely to be less use of politeness markers and politically correct language as the pre-established relationship means there is a mutual understanding the one does not wish to offend. In contrast, the use of language is likely to be very different in transactional conversations, interviews and conversations with an authoritative relationship.

Techniques used to appeal to face needs always come back to the social purpose of the interlocutors and the contextual factors. By understanding the link between these elements, you can form a holistic analysis of face needs. Therefore, when writing about face needs in your exam and sacs, it is vital to be considerate of the context as this impacts how face needs are approached. 

Here are some other examples of celebrity interviews where there is evidence of appeals to positive face needs. Watch them carefully and you’ll notice the specific linguistic features used in these interviews to build solidarity with the guests and create engagement with the show. The hosts compliment their guests and frequently employ minimal response to allow the conversation to progress smoothly. There are minimal overlaps as the hosts are cautious not to talk over their guests. You will notice that in certain interviews, when the host and guest are known to one another, appeals to face needs are not adhered, allowing them to strengthen their bond and further audience engagement.

Malala Yousafzai on Ellen:

Eddie Redmayne interview on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert:

Understanding the Syntax Subsystem for English Language

One of the most common areas of difficulty and confusion in English Language is the syntax subsystem , so you are not alone if you find this difficult. You will already have an intuitive understanding of how syntax in English works (you speak the language after all), but being able to effectively analyse and parse sentences and utterances can be tricky. It is important that you understand what the following word classes (aka parts of speech ) are, and what their role is in a sentence, you may need to revise them from Unit 1/2.

• Preposition
• Conjunction
• Interjection

There are innumerable online and physical resources, such as Sara Thorne’s fantastic Mastering Advanced English Language , which you can look at to revise these word classes. These are the fundamental building blocks that we have at our disposal when building up a sentence and are vital for understanding syntax. Syntax is how we arrange these building blocks into phrases , which we combine to form clauses , which in turn create sentences .

What Is a Phrase?

Phrases are words or groups of words that function together in a clause . Often we class phrases in terms of what role they are playing: we might have a noun phrase, a verb phrase, or an adverbial phrase, for example. Look at the example below to get a feel for what is meant by a phrase.

Authorised Officers are here to help keep your public transport running smoothly and make sure everyone is paying their way.

The main phrases are:

• 'Authorised Officers', 'your public transport', 'everyone', 'their way' (noun phrases)
• 'are', 'to help keep…running', 'make sure', 'is paying' (verb phrases)
• 'here’, 'smoothly' (adverbial phrases)
• ’and’ (coordination conjunction)

What Is a Clause?

Clauses can be entire sentences or be one of several parts of a sentence. At a minimum, standard clauses must contain a subject and a verb , but usually have other components too. To help us understand what makes up a clause, it is important to re-familiarise yourself with the five clause elements :

Clauses must contain a verb, or else we class them as fragments . The following is a clause:

They watched the sunset together.

But this is a fragment :

What a sunset!

Note that the clause above contains a subject (They) , verb (watched) , object (the sunset) and adverbial (together), whereas it is not entirely clear how to classify the elements of the fragment, because there is no verb telling us how the words relate to each other.

There are two types of clauses we need to be concerned about: independent (main) clauses and dependent (subordinate) clauses. An independent clause can stand by itself as a simple sentence, whereas a dependent clause sits inside another clause and usually adds extra or supporting information.

Sentence Structures

Now for one of the key skills that is assessed in short answer questions and analytical commentaries : understanding how we combine clauses to create different structures.

Simple Sentences & Utterances

The first sentence structure is the simple sentence , which contains only one clause . Often these are seen as “short” sentences, but this is not always the case. For instance below is an example of a simple sentence:

All the school children, their families and their teachers were at the carnival for a day of fun and competition.

Compound Sentences & Utterances

Compound sentences consist of at least two independent clauses (ones that have a subject, a verb and form a complete idea on their own), joined by a comma, semicolon or a coordinating conjunction . Take for example the following compound sentence comprised of three clauses:

She swam and she surfed, but her thoughts inevitably returned to the dangers of the sea.

Complex Sentences & Utterances

Complex sentences, on the other hand, contain one independent or “main” clause, as well as one or several subordinate clauses . To identify a subordinate clause, you need to think about whether the clause you have identified stands as a complete thought, or whether it relies on the rest of the sentence to make sense. An example is included below, where only the main clause is bolded.

Now, if you turn to your right, you’ll see the gallery , which was constructed in 1968.

Compound-Complex Sentences & Utterances

Compound-complex sentences, exactly as one would expect, are a combination of several independent and subordinate clauses , to form what is most often quite a long sentence . If you know how to identify compound and complex sentences, this one should not pose much difficulty. Here is an example, where only the dependent clause is bolded.

Now it wouldn’t matter how fast he ran, he would never make it there in time, nor would he have anyone to blame but himself.

Give me a ring if you’re coming , or tell Max on his way home from work.

Sentence Fragments (Minor Sentences)

It may occur to you that not every sentence or bit of language that you ever come across fits neatly into one of the above categories, especially if there is not any identifiable independent clause. These we class as sentence fragments , and they are often found in informal spontaneous discourses .

Too easy mate, good on ya, etc.

Like any skill in English Language, getting good at syntax takes practice. To build your confidence, try parsing any of the texts you come across in school, or even texts you see in a magazine or newspaper. Check with a teacher, friend or tutor to see if you got it right, and where you might still need a little bit of work. And, come back to this blog post anytime you need a refresher!

Be sure to read our Ultimate Guide to English Language for an overview of the study design, what’s involved in the exam, how to study for the subject and more!

There are several strategies you can use to your advantage to extend yourself in VCE English Language. 

Make Finding Examples a Habit

One simple way to expose yourself to more examples is to follow news pages on social media so that you can see regular updates about current affairs. Have a read through of point 7: Year 12 Essay Topic Categories in our Ultimate Guide to English Language so that you can understand what types of examples you should be keeping an eye out for. 

Right from the start of the school year, make sure you set up a system to keep track of your examples. You could do this by setting up a document with headings (such as ‘free speech’, ‘egalitarianism’, ‘ political correctness ’, ‘double-speak’, ‘ethnolects’ and ‘ Australian identity ’) and adding examples to this document throughout the year as you find them. For more information about the potential headings you could use, have a look at the dot points in the VCE English Language Study Design from page 17 onwards. 

I’d also highly recommend checking out Building Essay Evidence Banks for English Language as it teaches you a great table method for storing and analysing your examples. 

The advantage of creating an example/evidence bank of some sort is that if you start looking for examples right at the start of the year, you’ll have more time to analyse and memorise them. Additionally, you’ll also be able to use them far earlier in your essays, which means that the quotes and examples you select will become much easier to remember for the final exam.

Have a Basic Understanding of Australian History, Politics and Social Issues

Having a basic understanding of Australian history, politics and social issues is highly beneficial for enhancing your analytical skills for English Language. This is essential in developing strong contentions for your essays. Some key issues that would be worth having some background information on include the following:

Australia’s colonial history and treatment of Indigenous communities, racism, and the language surrounding these matters.

 Look into the following: 

• How does language reflect or perpetuate prejudice? 
• How does hate speech affect social harmony? 
• How can language be used to establish in-group solidarity?

Sexism, racism, ableism, homophobia and transphobia.

• How can bias and prejudice be conveyed through language? 
• What are some examples of implicit and explicit bias? 
• What role does political correctness play in this context? 
• Does political correctness create benefits or does it restrict societies? 

Environmental issues, and the way this intersects with politics. 

• How can euphemisms , doublespeak, and bureaucratic language be used to obfuscate or mitigate blame? 

Immigration and refugee policy related discourse. 

• What are the origins of pejoratives such as ‘boat people’ and ‘queue jumper’ that are frequently used against refugees? 
• How does this influence the values or beliefs of a society? 

Business and economic issues, labour exploitation 

• How can bureaucratic language and jargon be used to mislead and manipulate?

Political affairs (historical and recent)

• How can formal language be used to mitigate blame and responsibility, negotiate social taboos, or establish national identity? 

Having an awareness of key events and social issues in Australia, an understanding of the groups that make up Australia, and exposing yourself to a diverse set of media is really important in developing your essay writing skills. It does take time, but what will ultimately happen is that your discussions in your essays will be much more insightful and demonstrate a well thought out argument.

Apply Your Critical Thinking Skills

When writing essays, try your best to apply your critical thinking skills . Identify the assumptions you’re making when you present a certain point, and try to develop arguments against your position so that you can better understand why you have chosen your side. Developing a holistic and detailed contention is far better than just picking one side out of simplicity, as it allows you to demonstrate consideration and analysis of a range of factors that affect a certain issue. Use your evidence (contemporary examples, linguist quotes and stimulus material) to develop your points, and position yourself to be mindful of any biases you may have by continuously asking yourself what has influenced your way of thinking. Above all, try to discuss your essay prompts with your peers, as this will provide you with different perspectives and help you strengthen your own point. 

Consistently Revising Metalanguage

Consistently revising metalanguage is crucial for doing well in English Language. Throughout Year 12, consistently revising metalanguage will be your responsibility. It is likely that you’ll be spending a greater proportion of class time in learning content, and writing practice pieces. Therefore, it’s really important to figure out a way that works best for you in being able to frequently revise metalanguage. Flashcards are useful for revision on the go, as well as making mind maps so that you’re able to visualise how everything is set out in the study design. 

One issue students run into when it comes to learning metalanguage is that they’re able to define and give examples for metalanguage terms, however, they are unable to understand how those terms fit into the categories under each subsystem. For example, a student is able to remember what a metaphor is, but unable to recall that it fits under semantic patterning. Similarly, a student may know what a pause is, but not know if it’s part of prosodic features or discourse features. 

It’s important to know what all the categories are because the short answer questions usually ask you to identify features under a particular category (e.g. you’d be asked to talk about semantic patterning, not metaphor or pun). Therefore, spending time on just revising the definitions alone isn’t sufficient in learning metalanguage. You also need to be able to ensure that you can recall which category each term fits under. Refer to the study design (pages 17-18) , for a list of categories you need to remember; these include: 

• Prosodic features
• Vocal effects
• Phonological patterning
• Processes in connected speech
• Word classes, word formation processes
• Sentence types
• Sentence structures
• Syntactic patterning
• Features of spoken discourse
• Strategies of spoken discourse
• Semantic patterning
• Sense relations/other semantics

Using Meaningful Examples in Essays

When you talk about a certain variety of English, say for example ethnolects or teen speak, rather than just providing a lexical example or translation, try to find a contemporary example of the term being used in the media, online or by a prominent individual. For example, rather than saying:

  ‘The lexeme ‘bet’ is an example of teen speak which allows young people to establish solidarity ’,

you could say:

 ‘ Bakery owner Morgan Hipworth, who largely has a teenage following and is a young person himself, employs teenspeak in a video recipe, where he responds to the question “Can you make a 10 layer cheese toastie?” with “Bet, let’s go. ”’ 

This will provide you with a better opportunity to talk about in-groups and identity, rather than just defining and identifying an example as part of a particular variety. In doing so, you’re better able to address the roles of different linguistic examples in a contextualised and detailed manner. 

In Building Essay Evidence Banks for English Language you’ll see that a short analysis for each of your examples (the ones you are collecting throughout the year) is encouraged, but, you could take things one step further - add on an extra column and combine your analysis and example in a practice sentence. Head to the blog to learn more about building evidence banks .

Have a read of our Ultimate Guide to English Language if you haven't already done so!

[Modified Video Transcription]

Prescriptivism Versus Descriptivism - GIF or JIF?

Ever since the inception of the format, we have been arguing with each other over whether we should say 'gif' or 'jif'. This debate has raged both online and offline, but does it really matter? On one side, supporters of 'gif' claim that because the acronym stands for Graphics Interchange Format , the G sound in 'graphics' should be maintained. Whereas the 'jif' camp argues that because the inventor of the format, Steve Wilhite, says 'jif', so should we all. However, a far more sane argument is that as long as what someone says (whether it be 'gif' or 'jif') is understood, it shouldn't matter how they say it. 

As students of English language, we should aim to primarily take this descriptive approach to studying language. We identify and describe what people are saying or writing, and the effects this has, but we don't then ascribe our own judgement. Language exists to be a vessel for our communication, and so, as long as it is transferring meaning between its users, it's serving its purpose. There is no correct way of speaking or writing because there isn't really a good way of determining what this correct way is. 

What Are Prescriptivism and Descriptivism? 

Simply put, prescriptivism is an attitude that prescribes how language should be and how you, as its speaker, must use it. A prescriptivist most often promotes Standard English or a similar variety. This is the variety of English you will find in most textbooks, government letters and notices and in your English classroom. 

Descriptivism on the other hand, is a non-judgemental approach to looking at language. As descriptivists, we place more importance on how English is actually being written and spoken rather than trying to identify a correct way. The vast majority of linguists, dictionaries and other English language authorities consider themselves to be descriptive and not prescriptive, and this is a really important distinction. 

If the way that we as English speakers use or spell a word changes, the dictionary will change too, in order to reflect this. The Macquarie Dictionary made one such change in 2012, which entered the public spotlight. The word 'misogyny' has been used for many years to mean 'an entrenched prejudice against women' and not necessarily 'a hatred of women', as it says in the dictionary. So, when Julia Gillard used the word in her speech on the topic, it seemed to conflict with what it said in the dictionary. Yet, we all knew what she meant. And so, The Macquarie Dictionary updated its entry for the word to better reflect how we actually are using it. That's all well and good in the academic world, but why is this distinction important outside of a video about language? 

Language Prejudice

Throughout history, and still to this day, prejudice exists against people who speak differently.

For example, for much of the 20th century, and to some extent still to this day, Aboriginal Englishes have been deemed substandard and inferior to varieties used by people with European heritage. This has led to demonstrable discrimination in places like courts and hospitals, but often the time and care is not taken to actually interpret what Aboriginal people mean when they speak. By seeing that prescribing how a language ‘should’ be doesn't actually do anything to improve its effect or usefulness, we can be far more accepting of the fact that language varies depending on who is speaking and that it changes with time. 

We have the option of either allowing the people to define how a language is used or allowing a linguistic academy like the Council for German Orthography in Germany, or the French Academy in France, to prescribe how we should speak.

Language Shift

So, where can we find relevant examples in today's society? We're seeing a shift to prescriptive attitudes in the realm of teen-speak and text-speak, with people like David Crystal saying that creating new words and new ways of speaking is a rite of passage for young people. In the rapidly evolving fields of technology, social media or even politics these days, we are seeing new words and phrases and even entire new ways of constructing sentences being coined every day. But, not everyone is accepting of this and plenty of people still cringe when they hear a hashtag used in regular speech. We're also experiencing a shift to the normalization of informal language, Australian slang and hypocorisms, even in social and situational contexts where traditionally we would use a more formal register. Just how many times have we heard the likes of Scott Morrison and Malcolm Turnbull used the phrase ‘fair dinkum’?

But when does this matter in English language? We should be careful not to say that certain ways of speaking or certain varieties of language are inherently wrong and instead, describe what makes them 'non-standard uses' of language. This description is far more interesting than a subjective judgment of a particular way of using English. 

Descriptivism and Prescriptivism as Metalinguistic Tools

The terms descriptivism and prescriptivism can also be good metalinguistic tools when we are analysing opinions about language. Look out for segments on the radio, television or even the opinion columns of newspapers for discussions about varieties of English. People can identify very strongly with certain varieties of language, so a prescriptive attitude can often also indicate other beliefs. This can be important when identifying the social and cultural context of a text . We can also employ this knowledge in our own writing and speaking. Instead of trying to use correct language, we can instead focus on using appropriate language. This doesn't mean that you can start spelling words however you want, and giving your essays a generous sprinkling of commas and apostrophes where they don't belong (because these will often get in the way of you being easily and clearly understood), but the next time you're writing and you see a red line under that word that you're a hundred percent sure is correct, you can be safe in knowing that it's probably the dictionary, and not you, that needs an update.

A focal point of the English Language Study Design, specifically Unit 4 Area of Study 1, is the construction of the Australian identity through language. In order to understand how language is used to reflect the Australian identity, it is important to first understand what values or standards of behaviour an Australian identity is comprised of.

When it comes to constructing essays, it is important to find contemporary examples from Australian media and link them to Australian cultural values. These examples must be explained using subsystems to display their linguistic relevance.

Australian cultural values are influenced by Australia’s history. Convict settlement, the influence of the British monarchy, an influx of new migrants and globalization of language have all influenced the cultural values Australian’s hold today. These events in history have enabled Australians to develop values by which they hold themselves, including egalitarianism, mateship, antiauthoritarianism and larrikinism.

The most significant value is that of egalitarianism. This is the doctrine that all people are equal and deserving of equal rights and opportunities. Class distinctions are far less significant in Australian society compared to the United Kingdom where social circles have been constructed around rigid hierarchies. In contrast, Australians of lower socio-economic standing typically do not see themselves as being less equal than privileged Australians.

This notion is reflected in the language used in Australian society. Addressing individuals as ‘mate’ and using colloquialisms such as ‘pollies’ to refer to politicians demonstrates that Australians value one another on an equal ground, irrespective of socio-economics or class.

This value extends into Australia’s sense of multiculturalism. Australia houses citizens with diverse ethnic backgrounds and prides itself on this cultural diversity. Many ethnolects have established themselves within Australian culture overtime and spread across society. These ethnolects are also finding their way onto platforms such as television to reflect present Australian society. Comedians such as Nazeem Hussain or the Channel Nine show, ‘Here come the Habibs’ use phonological, lexical, syntactical and semantic features of their respective ethnolects in a comedic manner to portray cultural diversity in a public space and celebrate the Australian value of multiculturalism.

Ethnolect speakers express their multicultural identity by molding Australian English along with their ethnic language to create their unique ethnolect. This is particularly evident with Greek and Lebanon English speakers who adopt Australian colloquialisms but retain their ethnic accent. They also often insert an interjectory such as ‘reh’ into everyday discourse as a way of promoting solidarity with others within the ethnic society.

The Australian value of anti-authoritarianism is largely reflected through the lexical choices of individuals. This value is derived from the Australian notion of egalitarianism. Australians have a far greater tendency to use expletives than those from other English speaking countries. The relaxed manner in which the Australian society perceives language use is indicative of their disregard for social hierarchies and authority figures.

The ease with which comedic remarks can be made about influential figures and politicians in the Australian media, indicates this very idea. The SBS series, The Feed recently released a facebook video “How Politicians Speak” mocking politicians by imitating political language in everyday conversations, using excessive hedging and obfuscation and a highly formal register. This Facebook video can be further explained using the subsystem of semantics. The meaning of the video is greater than the literal words being spoken by the actors. There is cultural context required to understand the humorous intent of the video. Through this cultural context, the video is able to reach out to its audience and express this anti- authoritarian way of thinking.

The tendency to ridicule politicians and authoritative figures can be explained by a phenomenon known as ‘tall-poppy syndrome’ which describes the tendency to degrade, attack or cut down individuals because they have risen in the social hierarchy. As a country which deeply values humility and embodies the ‘battler’ persona, Australians automatically become critical when those around them climb the social ladder. Snide comments and banter are tools used to remind those rising through the ranks that they are not better than anyone else. Furthermore, the tall-poppy syndrome is an explanation for why Australians consistently ridicule and mock their politicians. Comedian, Tim Minchin recently gave a speech to a graduating class at the University of Western Australia. In this speech, he used crude language and blunt remarks to give advice to the students while simultaneously deflating their sense of self with phrases such as, ‘opinions are like assholes, in that everyone has one’. Embossed within this simile is the concept of humility and egalitarianism that depict the tall-poppy syndrome.

Most examples of Australian language will ultimately tie back to these values. This includes the general Australian accent, Australian colloquialisms, phonological features of Australian English such as assimilation and the use of high rising terminal. The features of this language are linked to the values this language is used to express.

This link is particularly evident in political speeches, debates and comedic material. In relation to essay writing, there are a few steps to be conscious of when showing these links. Try to understand your examples using subsystems and which subsystems are relevant for the given example. Is the language-use significant on a phonological level, morphological level, lexical level, syntactic level or semantic level?

Throughout the year, you will be required to research and collect such contemporary examples which reflect Australian values. In your essay, you are required to demonstrate the significance of your example, use metalanguage to explain the example and then link this example to the values it reflects in Australian society and finally explain what this means for the essay prompt. Following this sequence of steps will ensure that you are able to discuss Australian Identity and Language in a holistic manner.

Link to “How Politicians Speak” Facebook video:

Link To clippings of Nazeem Hussain’s SBS show “Legally Brown” which turns Political Incorrectness on its head:

Link to Kate Burridge interview on Studio 10 explaining the trend towards the General Australian Accent:

The political correctness debate is one which has been surfacing over the past few years, particularly with certain political figuring bringing this debate to the public platform. Let’s firstly define politically correct language. Political correctness is the avoidance of expressions which may offend, exclude or marginalize certain groups or individuals on the basis of race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation or disability.

Politically correct (PC) language is a framework used to promote and maintain social harmony. However, PC language can also be viewed to be a hindrance to expression and freedom of speech. The take an individual has on this debate is dependent on the connotations they associate with the phrase “political correctness”. Do they consider political correctness to be a social stabilizer or do they see it as language policing?

On one hand, the use of political correctness helps to confront prejudice in society and reinforce the idea of egalitarianism. This is achieved by slowly weakening the links between certain titles and the social groups they are associated with. This includes terms such as ‘black’, ‘wogs’, ‘curries’, ‘retarded’, ‘spastic’. Using PC terms such as ‘African-American’, ‘from Greek ethnicity’, ‘South-East Asian’ and ‘person with a disability’ are more respectful ways in which to address individuals without using titles which associate them with certain stereotypes or prejudiced thoughts. In particular, using ‘person with a disability’ rather than ‘disabled person’ is a way in which to dilute the link between the individual and the “disability” and to reiterate that the disability is only a single element of many which make up the individual.

While these are the currently accepted, politically correct terms, their appropriateness is likely to change with time. Originally, it was socially acceptable to use terms like ‘retard’, ‘chairman’, ‘policeman’ ‘black’, ‘man up’, ‘mother tongue’. However, with time, values change and society progresses and what is at one point considered socially acceptable becomes politically incorrect as further neutral terms are normalized. Thus, replacements such as, ‘differently abled’, ‘chairperson’, ‘police officer’, ‘African American’ and ‘native language’ are formed. As society continues to progress, these phrases will be outdated and replaced by new, more socially acceptable terms. This consistent cycle is spinning at a more rapid rate with globalization. With globalization, ideologies and values can be shared on wide platforms instantaneously. Through the sharing of ideas, new ideas and perceptions are molded and with this, the language we use to express ourselves also changes and develops.

This rapid evolution in “socially acceptable” language angers the public. Certain PC subtleties are seen by many as unnecessary. The trend towards political correctness is seen to inhibit freedom of expression, restricting individuals from speaking their mind in fear of causing offence. When there is public backlash over the lack of political correctness in a given situation, many individuals find this reaction to be highly excessive and a sign of over-sensitivity of the millennial generation. In an interview with ABC News, former solider stated that, ‘we just seem to bend over backwards for anyone that’s different. It is making Australia a lot softer, it’s making us a big more of a pushover country’.

This frustration of many is further exasperated by the rapid evolvement of normalized accepted terms in society. 

When language used in the public domain borders on politically incorrect, there is a public uproar, in particular, by the younger generation. Donald Trump is a prime example of this and as put by The Atlantic, “the press takes him literally, but not seriously; his supporters take him seriously, but not literally.” Simply put, the language choices of Donald Trump are strikingly bold; they incite fear and frustration amongst the public, deepening social prejudice through the reinforcement of stereotypes.

However, Trump’s language echoes the frustration of Americans. It is void of obfuscating, complex politically correct language, giving the indication that Trump speaks his mind, hence garnering public support and above all trust. Building trust for a politician is next to impossible, however, when Trump speaks his mind, without fear of causing office to minority groups, he is indeed able to build trust, as he speaks aloud what many think but fear to vocalize.

While this may sound bizarre given the strong global hatred towards Donald Trump, the matter of the fact is that Donald Trump won a majority vote. With a strong following of supporters despite his many controversies, it is important to recognize the power of Trump’s linguistic choices.

We all remember the famous, ‘build a wall’ statement, which became a defining factor of Trump’s presidential campaign. While a highly politically incorrect agenda, which marginalized Mexican people, many people supported Trump’s endeavors. In particular, Americans who were frustrated with their employment conditions are given an excuse to place blame onto a certain group of people. Trump, an influential figures’ use of politically incorrect language to target Mexican’s effectively gave the freedom to others to speak what they had previously restricted themselves from vocalizing for fear of being politically incorrect.

Aside from freedom of speech, the second major issue associated with political correctness is obfuscation. This form of political correctness is institutionalized and because of this here is a genuine danger that the immense emphasis on being politically correct means that often, vital information can be omitted from news scenarios because it targets or potentially targets a certain individual or minority group. As a result, information presented can be bias and incomplete. The 2013 Rotherham child sex abuse scandal in the United Kingdom is a strong example of this. An estimated 1400 children were violated sexually. However, in the media, it was intentionally omitted that the majority of perpetrators were of Pakistani heritage. Similarly, in fear of provoking racial attacks against migrants during refugee resettlement, the German media made an effort to hide that the multiple sexual assaults during the 2016 New Year celebrations were conducted by men of North African or Middle Eastern ethnicity. The omission of such details does avoid marginalizing ethnic groups, but at the cost of significant and rightful information for the public. This tradeoff is one which is still being explored in society as the wave of political correctness is still quite new.

This debate is one which is still raw in society; it is yet to progress and as the world develops, the role PC language plays in our society will become clearer. Will PC language become more prevalent as society focuses more on social inclusion? Or, will the movement towards PC language be restricted due to the black-lash it faces for the shortcomings of this framework of communication?

Examples of Political Correctness:

2017 australia day lamb ad by meat and livestock co : this company releases an australia day lamb ad every year which aims to show a progressive and egalitarian australian society, celebrating the idea of a politically correct society., facebook video by the line promoting gender equality and challenging the expectations of men and women:.

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Lesson 2: Cohesion, Coherence, and Emphasis

In lesson 1, we covered how the structure of the sentence cues the reader to important information. If you structure your sentences carefully, you encourage readers to interpret your meaning correctly. Structure has several other important uses: First, you can structure sentences for emphasis, drawing attention to the most important part of the sentence. Second, you can structure your sentences and paragraphs to flow — that’s what cohesion and coherence are all about.

Cohesion is the degree to which sentences “glue.” Coherence is the logical division of the writing into internally consistent units (usually paragraph units). In this lesson, you will learn ways to improve the cohesion and coherence of your writing.

• Put new information last
• Use passive voice judiciously
• Make sure the first and last sentences of a paragraph match

Principle 1: Put new information last

Ideas or characters that have not yet appeared in your manuscript are called New information . New means unfamiliar . “Old information” is something familiar to the reader, either because it’s background knowledge or because you’ve already introduced it. Your sentences will contain both new and old information — think carefully about where you put them. Most readers will find your writing more clear if you consistently begin sentences with familiar (old) information and conclude sentences with unfamiliar (new) information .

What happens when you begin a sentence with new information? Your reader gets a new idea without any context. He or she may try (incorrectly) to link this information to the previous sentence. After reading the rest of the sentence, the reader may have to revise his or her understanding. If you do this too much, it makes your writing confusing because it lacks cohesion. Going backwards like this slows the reader down and takes energy. Beginning sentences with old information makes writing cohesive. It also allows you to put new, important information in the position of emphasis at the end of the sentence.

Imagine these sentences in an article about farming:

Farmers try to provide optimal growing conditions for crops by using soil additives to adjust soil pH. Garden lime, or agricultural limestone, is made from pulverized chalk, and can be used to raise the pH of the soil. Clay soil, which is naturally acidic, often requires addition of agricultural lime.

It is difficult to see at first, but the second and third sentences have the same problem: they begin with new information. If we separate the sentences and color the old information and the new information it becomes easier to notice:

Farmers try to provide optimal growing conditions for crops by using soil additives to adjust soil pH . Garden lime, or agricultural limestone, is made from pulverized chalk, and can be used to raise the pH of the soil . Clay soil , which is naturally acidic, often requires addition of agricultural lime .

Now, let’s follow the reader through this paragraph. When the reader begins sentence #2, reading “Garden lime…”, there is little context; the reader may guess “limes” are a crop we will now discuss, or that it is a “soil additive”. There are at least two possible connections to the previous sentence, and readers will be split. At the end of the sentence, we are given the context and the connection: “raise the pH”. This backward-glance at the end of the sentence causes the reader to backtrack, costing concentration.

The third sentence is also problematic. It begins with “Clay soil…”, similarly without context. The reader may then think “clay soil” as another additive, perhaps one that lowers the pH? At the end of the sentence ( requires…lime ), you finally get the connection back to the previous sentence and the context for “clay soil,” but this causes the reader to backtrack.

To solve the problem, we can try swapping the new and old info. Here’s one possible revision:

Farmers try to provide optimal growing conditions for crops by using soil additives to adjust soil pH. One way to raise the pH of the soil is an additive made from pulverized chalk called garden lime or agricultural limestone. Agricultural limestone is often added to naturally acidic soils, such as clay soil.

In the revision, each sentence leans forward to new information at the end, instead of tying backward at the end. This makes the sentences easier to read, because the reader doesn’t need to jump around in thought process.

When your sentences “glue”, your writing is said to be cohesive . If your sentences are regularly beginning with unfamiliar concepts, your writing won’t be very cohesive. This is where the passive can be so useful: if it improves cohesion. More on that in the next principle.

Putting new information last also helps with emphasis: readers naturally emphasize the ideas at the end of the sentence. Putting the new, important information at the end will help inform the readers of what you intend to emphasize.

Revision Technique

Read through your manuscript carefully. In each sentence, underline any pieces of new information (unfamiliar to the reader at this point in the manuscript). Make sure your sentences begin with an appropriate backwards link, and not with an unfamiliar concept.

Principle 2: Use passive voice judiciously

Sentences are in passive voice when the subject in the sentence is the object of the action. For example:

Using passive can have two important consequences:

1. The order of the subject and verb are switched. (First passive example above)

Active: Dog → Ball Passive: Ball → Dog

2. The doer of the action can be omitted. (Second passive example above)

Active: Dog → Ball Passive: Ball → ???

Passive voice isn’t inherently bad. It can actually be quite useful. The problem is that some writers incorrectly think passive voice is inherently scientific . In fact, some students are taught that passive voice is more objective . Really, the way you write doesn’t make your experiments any more objective; instead, your results should speak for themselves.

For whatever reason, many scientists rely on passive voice excessively. But scientific journals would rather you use active voice:

Nature journals like authors to write in the active voice… -Nature

Choose the active voice more often than you choose the passive… -Science

Why? Here are some possible consequences of relying on passive voice:

1. Ambiguous characters

A consequence of passive voice is that the actor can be omitted, which is common in scientific writing. Sometimes this makes sense, other times is causes confusion. It’s OK to omit the actor if it is self explanatory, understood, or unimportant. For example, passive voice can be effectively used in a methods section to focus the reader on the method (instead of on the actor). It is not OK to omit the actor if there are multiple possibilities, leaving your reader to guess. For example:

The DNA was sequenced using the n-terminus method (Smith et al. 2004).

In this example, who sequenced the DNA? Is the paper being cited because Smith et al. did the sequencing, or because they invented the n-terminus method? Any time you leave multiple possibilities, you divide your readers. Some readers will misinterpret your intent.

2. Dangling modifiers

When you write passive sentences, be careful not to dangle your modifiers! From an editorial in Science :

Our chief objection to the passive voice is that it sometimes seems to make authors forget to watch for dangling modifiers.

A dangling modifier is a modifying phrase whose implicit subject does not match the explicit subject of the clause it modifies. Dangling modifiers are common errors in scientific writing. If you want to learn more, I wrote a focus article on dangling modifiers .

3. Wordiness

All else being equal, shorter writing is better: it takes less time to read and it uses less space. These are important things to consider in scientific writing. Readers benefit from less reading (it takes less time), and scientists are also regularly subject to journal space constraints. Whatever else is true of passive voice, it is a fact that passive voice tends to increase length (however slightly). When every word counts, active voice can help keep writing concise.

Advantage of passive voice

The key use of passive voice is that it switches the order of a sentence. This is hugely important in light of principle 1 in this lesson. Use passive voice when it moves the old information to the front and new information to the back (see Principle 1). Guide your writing with the rule “Put new information last” instead of the rule “Always use passive voice.” Use the passive as needed to keep the flow, and always provide the actors if there is a possibility of confusion .

The point of this principle is not to eliminate passive voice, but to increase your awareness. Choose passive voice for a reason, not because you think it “sounds scientific.” There’s a lot more to be said about passive voice. If you’re interested in a more in-depth treatment of the active/passive voice discussion, I wrote a focus article on passive voice in science writing .

When you revise for new/old information placement, use active/passive switching to keep the placement of information consistent with expected structure.

Principle 3: Make sure the first and last sentences of a paragraph match

This principle is called coherence . Usually, when readers refer to the “flow” of writing, they are referring either to coherence, or to cohesion (Principle 1). When writing is coherent , it stays on topic in expected units. Readers usually expect thoughts to be expressed in paragraph units . A single paragraph corresponds to a single thought. Each sentence in the paragraph should support that main point.

Just because your sentences stick together by including appropriate backwards links, it doesn’t mean your writing is coherent. Here is an example of a paragraph that is cohesive, but lacks coherence:

My favorite animal is the domestic cat. Cats were domesticated almost 10,000 years ago in ancient Mesopotamia. Mesopotamia is a name that literally means “the land between two rivers,” taken from Greek. The Greek language is one of the oldest written languages, and its alphabet forms the basis of many other writing systems, including Latin. Latin …

This paragraph has great cohesion (one sentence leads to another), but it wanders through topics. Coherence is a paragraph-level principle (which makes it difficult to provide examples for).

Test for coherence: Read the first and last parts of each paragraph. Do the topics match? To be more thorough, make sure each sentence in a paragraph supports the main point of that paragraph.

At the beginning of a paper wanting to emphasize detecting positive selection:

Detecting positive Darwinian selection at the DNA sequence level has been a subject of considerable interest.

Readers naturally emphasize the end of sentences. What do we want to emphasize? Probably it would be better to emphasize either “positive selection” or “DNA sequence level”, depending on the point of the paper. Here are some possibilities:

One subject of considerable interest has been detecting positive Darwinian selection at the DNA sequence level.

One subject of considerable interest at the DNA sequence level has been detecting positive Darwinian selection.

The first revision seems better in a discussion of positive selection that wants to emphasize testing at the DNA sequence level (as opposed to testing at the protein level, or some other level). The second revision seems suited to a discussion of several characteristics of DNA, of which one to emphasize is positive Darwinian selection.

Improvements are expected in the predictive power of all the scores being computed on multispecies alignments.

This example has two passive-like verbs: are expected and being computed . If we try to eliminate those, we might get a more direct revision:

Our method will improve the predictive power of all multispecies alignment scores.

A survey is given of differential expression analyses using the linear modeling features of the package.

I believe this sentence is the result of a reliance on passive voice. The phrase survey is given of is difficult to parse. It gets more difficult because the using phrase can refer either to survey or analyses . It’s not immediately apparent which the author means. Depending on what the author meant to say, we could revise like so:

We use the linear modeling features of the package to survey differential expression analyses.

We survey differential expression analyses that use the linear modeling features of the package.

Using sarkosyl to induce nuclear run-on, the transcriptionally inactive b-globin gene in mature erythrocytes was demonstrated to harbor high levels of Pol II at 5′ proximal regulatory regions.

This example relies on passive voice and ends up with a dangling modifier . If we simply eliminate the passive in the main clause, we can get a revision like this:

Using sarkosyl to induce nuclear run-on, Smith et al. showed that the transcriptionally inactive b-globin gene in mature erythrocytes harbors high levels of Pol II at 5′ proximal regulatory regions.

We identified genes that are differentially expressed between species. A phylogenetic tree based on the number of differentially expressed genes between species recapitulates their known phylogeny.

The second sentence begins with “a phylogenetic tree”, which is new information in this context, while “differentially expressed genes” is old information. Also, because of the complex subject, most of the words in the second sentence are between the subject and verb:

A phylogenetic tree based on the number of differentially expressed genes between species recapitulates their known phylogeny.

Let’s try to simplify the subject, bring the simple subject closer to the verb, and put new information last:

We identified genes that are differentially expressed between species. The number of differentially expressed genes can be used to build a phylogenetic tree that recapitulates the known phylogeny.

In the revision, the second sentence has now a backwards link to the previous sentence (old info.), instead of starting with a new concept. In addition, the subject is less complex, and the subject-verb distance has been reduced ( phylogenetic tree is now near recapitulates ).

lesson2.pdf

Continue to lesson 3

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Cohesion & Coherence

What this resource is about:.

This resource defines both cohesive and coherent writing and explains how to write cohesively and coherently.   

Creating Cohesive and Coherent Paragraphs  

Cohesive writing is “based on how each sentence ends and the next begins” (Williams & Bizup, 2017, p. 65). Each sentence should, in terms of their content , connect to the sentences surrounding it.  

Here are a few tips for composing cohesive paragraphs:  

     "1. Begin sentences with information familiar to your readers.

      2. End sentences with information that readers cannot anticipate.

      3. Begin sentences with information that readers will find simple; end with information they will find complex”              (Williams & Bizup, 2017, p. 67).  

Coherent writing is “based on how all the sentences in it cumulatively begin” (Williams & Bizup, 2017, p. 65). The ideas of the sentences in the passage ought to be related in topic and structured so the reader increases their understanding within each sentence and between sentences.  

Here are a few tips for composing coherent paragraphs:  

• Analyze: Find the subjects (or noun phrases) of your sentences.
• Assess: Do these subjects reference related ideas? Will your reader see this relatedness of ideas? Are they referencing your “actors” (subject) doing the main “actions” (action verb)?
• Rewrite: Rewrite your paragraphs so that you answer ‘yes’ to the questions above (Williams & Bizup, 2017)

Example paragraphs

To illustrate the difference between noncoherent and coherent writing, consider these paragraphs. Subjects are bolded both paragraphs.  

• "Consistent ideas toward the beginnings of sentences, especially in their subjects, help readers understand what a passage is generally about. A sense of coherence arises when a sequence of topics comprises a narrow set of related ideas. But the context of each sentence is lost by seemingly random shifts of topics. Unfocused, even disorganized paragraphs result when that happens" (Williams & Bizup, 2017, p. 71).
•   “ Readers  understand what a passage is generally about when  they  see consistent ideas toward the beginnings of sentences, especially in their subjects.  They  feel a passage is coherent when  they  read a sequence of topics that focuses on a narrow set of related ideas. But when  topics  seem to shift randomly,  readers  lose their context of each sentence. When  that  happens,  they feel they are reading paragraphs that are unfocused and even disorganized” (Williams & Bizup, 2017, p. 71-72).  

The subjects in the second paragraph are only ‘readers’ and ‘topics,' whereas the subjects in the first paragraph are more scattered. By unifying the subjects of your paragraphs to one or two kinds of subjects, you can write coherently. By following these tips, writers may establish a flow of information that helpfully and logically organizes information for the reader.  

The purpose of these aspects of writing is to think about, understand, and write for your readers. You can improve the clarity and organization of your writing by knowing the differences between concrete versus abstract language and making your paragraphs cohesive and coherent.  

Source: Williams, J.M., & Bizup, J. (2017). Style: Lessons in clarity and grace (12th ed.). Pearson Education Inc.  

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Coherence & cohesion.

Coherence and cohesion are essential for aiding readability and idea communication.  Coherence is about the unity of the ideas and cohesion the unity of structural elements.  One way to do this is through the use of cohesive devices: logical bridges (repetition), verbal bridges (synonyms), linking words, and clear back referencing.  If these types of devices are missing in the text, it not only becomes more difficult to read the text, but also to understand its contents since the reader must guess how the various parts of the paragraph or text are connected, which will involve re-reading sentences or larger sections more than once.

With logical bridges, the same idea of a topic is carried over (repeated) from sentence to sentence, and successive sentences can be constructed in parallel form. With verbal bridges, key words or synonymous words can be repeated, pronouns can replace nouns and transition words (as shown below) can be used.   In the paragraph below, words and phrases that serve to increase the coherence of the paragraph are highlight and underlined. As this sample paragraph indicates, coherence and cohesion in a paragraph is established by combining more than one device.

A more direct way of emphasizing the inherent logic of a paragraph is through the use of linking words and phrases which mark transitions within and between sentences. The table below gives a sample of such linking words and groups them based on the connection they illustrate/indicate.

Back referencing is another effective device for creating coherence, but this device must be used carefully because it can cause confusion rather than create clarity. Consider whether or not the use of back referencing is clear in the following example.

It is perfectly acceptable to use back referencing, just be sure to make it clear. One way to do this, as exemplified in the remarks above, is to add a summary word to the back reference (e.g. this situation, where situation is the summary word). Using a summary word specifies the back reference, often making it much clearer.

Coherence vs. Cohesion

What's the difference.

Coherence and cohesion are two essential elements in effective writing. Coherence refers to the logical and clear flow of ideas within a text. It ensures that the information presented is organized and connected in a way that makes sense to the reader. On the other hand, cohesion focuses on the linguistic devices used to connect different parts of a text. It involves the use of transitional words, pronouns, and repetition to create a smooth and seamless reading experience. While coherence ensures the overall unity and clarity of a piece of writing, cohesion enhances the connectivity and fluency of the individual sentences and paragraphs. Both coherence and cohesion are crucial for creating well-structured and easily understandable written works.

Further Detail

Introduction.

When it comes to effective writing, two key concepts that play a crucial role in enhancing the quality and readability of a text are coherence and cohesion. While these terms are often used interchangeably, they have distinct attributes that contribute to the overall clarity and organization of a piece of writing. In this article, we will delve into the differences and similarities between coherence and cohesion, exploring their individual characteristics and highlighting their importance in creating well-structured and engaging written content.

Coherence refers to the logical and consistent flow of ideas within a text. It ensures that the information presented is connected and easily understandable for the reader. Achieving coherence involves organizing thoughts and concepts in a way that allows the reader to follow the writer's intended message without confusion or ambiguity.

One of the key attributes of coherence is the presence of clear and well-developed topic sentences. These topic sentences act as a roadmap for the reader, guiding them through the main ideas of each paragraph. By clearly stating the main point, the writer establishes a foundation for the subsequent sentences, ensuring that they are relevant and contribute to the overall coherence of the text.

In addition to topic sentences, the use of appropriate transitions and logical connectors is crucial in maintaining coherence. These words and phrases help to establish relationships between ideas, making the text more cohesive and easier to follow. Examples of such transitions include "furthermore," "however," and "in contrast," which signal shifts in thought or provide additional information.

Furthermore, coherence can be enhanced through the use of consistent verb tenses and pronoun references. By maintaining a consistent grammatical structure, the writer avoids confusion and ensures that the reader can easily identify the subject and understand the intended meaning.

Overall, coherence is essential in creating a well-structured and comprehensible piece of writing. It allows the reader to navigate through the text smoothly, understanding the writer's message and the relationships between ideas.

While coherence focuses on the overall flow and logical progression of ideas, cohesion refers to the linguistic and grammatical elements that bind the text together. It ensures that the sentences and paragraphs are connected in a way that makes the writing cohesive and coherent.

One of the primary attributes of cohesion is the use of cohesive devices, such as pronouns, conjunctions, and lexical repetition. These devices help to establish connections between sentences and paragraphs, creating a sense of unity and continuity in the text. For example, the use of pronouns like "it" or "they" allows the writer to refer back to previously mentioned concepts, avoiding unnecessary repetition and maintaining a smooth flow of ideas.

Another important aspect of cohesion is the consistent use of referencing and substitution. This involves using words or phrases that refer back to previously mentioned ideas or concepts. By doing so, the writer ensures that the reader can easily follow the train of thought and understand the relationships between different parts of the text.

Furthermore, the use of lexical repetition, or the repetition of key words or phrases, can contribute to cohesion. By repeating certain terms, the writer reinforces the main ideas and creates a sense of unity throughout the text. However, it is important to use repetition judiciously to avoid monotony or redundancy.

In summary, cohesion plays a vital role in creating a well-connected and coherent piece of writing. By utilizing cohesive devices and maintaining consistency in referencing and substitution, the writer ensures that the text flows smoothly and is easily understood by the reader.

While coherence and cohesion are closely related and both contribute to the overall quality of a text, they differ in their focus and application. Coherence primarily deals with the logical organization and flow of ideas, ensuring that the text is easy to follow and understand. On the other hand, cohesion focuses on the linguistic and grammatical elements that bind the text together, creating a sense of unity and continuity.

Coherence is achieved through the use of clear topic sentences, appropriate transitions, and consistent verb tenses and pronoun references. It ensures that the ideas are logically connected and that the reader can easily navigate through the text. Cohesion, on the other hand, is achieved through the use of cohesive devices, referencing and substitution, and lexical repetition. It ensures that the sentences and paragraphs are connected in a way that makes the writing cohesive and coherent.

While coherence is more concerned with the overall structure and organization of the text, cohesion focuses on the linguistic and grammatical aspects that contribute to the text's unity. Both coherence and cohesion are essential for effective writing, as they work together to create a well-structured and engaging piece of text.

Importance of Coherence and Cohesion

Coherence and cohesion are crucial elements in effective writing for several reasons. Firstly, they enhance the readability and comprehension of the text. By ensuring that the ideas are logically connected and the sentences flow smoothly, coherence and cohesion make it easier for the reader to understand the writer's message.

Secondly, coherence and cohesion contribute to the overall persuasiveness and impact of the writing. A well-structured and cohesive text is more likely to convince and engage the reader, as it presents a clear and organized argument or narrative.

Furthermore, coherence and cohesion help to establish the writer's credibility and professionalism. A text that lacks coherence and cohesion may be perceived as disorganized or poorly thought out, diminishing the writer's authority on the subject matter.

Lastly, coherence and cohesion facilitate effective communication. Whether it is an academic essay, a business report, or a creative piece, a well-coordinated and cohesive text ensures that the writer's ideas are effectively conveyed to the reader, fostering understanding and engagement.

In conclusion, coherence and cohesion are two essential components of effective writing. While coherence focuses on the logical organization and flow of ideas, cohesion deals with the linguistic and grammatical elements that bind the text together. Both coherence and cohesion contribute to the overall clarity, readability, and impact of a piece of writing.

By understanding and implementing the principles of coherence and cohesion, writers can create well-structured and engaging texts that effectively convey their intended message. Whether it is an academic paper, a professional report, or a creative piece, coherence and cohesion are indispensable tools for achieving clarity, readability, and impact in writing.

Comparisons may contain inaccurate information about people, places, or facts. Please report any issues.

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The Bridge: Cohesion and coherence

These two terms are often confused and, on initial training courses, sometimes conflated but they are different and need different treatments both in terms of analysis and in the classroom.

• Both cohesion and coherence refer to how texts, whether spoken or written, make sense through internal connections.
• Both cohesion and coherence refer to both sense connections and language connections. but
• Cohesion describes the way linguistic and meaning connections are made within a text without reference to the knowledge the reader / hearer brings or the wider context in which the text is set.
• Coherence refers to how sense is made of a text within cultural conventions and in terms of meanings which maybe internal to the text or may refer to the reader / hearer's knowledge of the world or the context in which the text is set.

Some examples will help make this clear, with any luck.

Cohesion is achieved in two main ways and this guide will cover only the main ones.  For more detail, follow the links at the end.

• using pronoun references:     When he found it , the shop was closed for the weekend     When my brother arrived, he went straight to the kitchen     There's the 47 bus.  That 's the one we need!     Have you got anything larger?  This is too small.
• using pro-forms for verbs:     Is Mary here.  I think so .     It may rain but I hope not .
• using conjunctions and conjuncts:     It was raining so I stayed in     She came because she wanted to meet his brother     The costs are spiralling out of control.  Nevertheless , the government will press ahead.
• omitting an item that is understood (elision):     The first problem is serious, the second even more so     John came home, cooked a meal and went out     The doctor said I should take more exercise and I will
• repeating an item:     His son went to university with my son
• using synonyms:     Two lorries broke down but only one truck was towed away
• using hypernyms (superordinates)     Two lorries broke down but only one vehicle was towed away
• using vague terms     The paint pot leaked and the stuff was all over the bench

For more, see the guides linked below, especially if terms like hypernym are slightly mysterious to you.

Coherence depends less on explicit linguistic connections and more on how texts are linked in terms of meaning and logical progression. Coherence may be maintained, as we saw above by the writer / speaker and the hearer / reader sharing knowledge that it outside the text.

• Cultural knowledge:     We needed a dignitary to do the deed and persuaded the Prince to open the new library There are many princes in the world but in this text, it is clear that both writer and reader / speaker and hearer know which prince is the reference, hence the capital letter on Prince .  In this case there is only one prince in question.
• Institutional knowledge:     The head has said that the children must go to class in silence In this case, the parties to the text know that the head referred to is the head of a particular school.
• Personal information:     I'd like to help but you know my back won't bear it In this case, the fact that the writer / speaker has a bad back is known to both participants.
• Topic sentences:     This essay concerns the use of recreational drugs.  The most common of these is marijuana. Many well-written paragraphs will begin with a topic sentence which leads the reader to be able to predict the content of the paragraph.  In fact, reading only the topic, often the first, sentence of every paragraph in a text is a good way quickly to get its gist.
• Topicalising:     That restaurant?  No, you wouldn't like the food. English has few grammatically sound ways of topicalising but other languages routinely place the topic at the beginning of clauses whatever its grammatical function.
• Conjunctions:     Well, we have to buy the tickets and then we'll be able to jump the queue at the door. Conjunction allows the text producer to signal a wide range of internal connections including addition, concession and condition.  These are sense relations so belong under the topic of coherence but they also figure above under cohesion because they represent internal grammatical connections, too. There are guides on this site to all aspects of conjunction.
• Conjuncts:     The first thing is to make sure the surface is free from grease.  Secondly, gently score the surfaces.  Finally, apply the glue. As the name implies, conjuncts usually refer to previous clauses, making the sense and grammatical connections clear.
• Text staging:     This happened to me in France.     I was trying to hitchhike from Paris to Nice and ...     In the end, it all worked out well but next time I'll take the train! Different text types will exhibit different information staging.  Here, the example is a recount with a scene setting, a description of what happened and a coda expressing the writer / speaker's response to the events.
• Tense forms are usually kept consistent so a text that begins in the present tense usually stays there and a narrative which uses past tenses will normally not stray into other tenses.
• Certain lexical items will predictably form chains in texts so a text about health will general include a chain of illnesses and complaints along with a chain concerned with health professionals and yet another with a chain of treatments and cures. This phenomenon is to do with the field in which the text maker is operating (the register).

As you can see, cohesion and coherence, while being closely linked and showing some overlap are qualitatively different. Trying to tackle both areas at the same time in a classroom is not a recipe for unalloyed success.

If that's all clear enough to you, you can go on to the guides below (on the right).  If you still feel slightly confused, try the links on the left.

The Bridge Content: Tense and aspect | Phrases | Modality | Word order | Clause patterns | Conjunction | Verbs | Adverbials | Nouns | Prepositional phrases | Adjectives | Determiners | Deixis | Cohesion vs. coherence

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• December 25, 2020

Cohesion and Coherence in Writing

Cohesion and coherence are often mentioned together because they are the two pillars of a well-written piece of writing. Without them, your work won’t make any sense to your readers. But what are they exactly? What is the difference between them? How do we achieve good cohesion and coherence? If you are trying to find the answers to these questions, you are at the right place.

What is cohesion?

Imagine a high-rise building. How is it made? Bricks, wood, and many other materials are put together to build it. In other words, all those materials become one large unit to make it happen. That’s what cohesion in writing is about. If your words and sentences stick together, they will form an essay or an article (our high-rise building). That said, not every word and sentence can be used with another word or a sentence. That’s why there are two main types of cohesion: Grammatical Cohesion and Lexical Cohesion .

Grammatical cohesion

As the name suggests, this type of cohesion deals with the grammatical relations between text elements. More precisely, it is about referencing, substitution, ellipsis, and conjunction.

Referencing

Referencing means to refer back to something or someone that you have mentioned earlier in your essay. This can be done in several ways:

By using pronouns like I , you , he , them , us , mine , this , those … :  

• Alice loves hiking. She is also interested in rock climbing.
• A severe storm is expected to hit the town. This is the reason why people have turned to panic buying at grocery stores and pharmacies.

By using comparative references to talk about identity, similarities, or differences:

• Some animals like snakes and scorpions are venomous. Being too close to such animals is therefore unwise.
• Yesterday, someone on the street came up to me and asked for my autograph. He thought that I was Mark Wahlberg. Surprisingly, the same thing happened today.

Substitution

Simply put, substitution means to replace a word or phrase with another one to avoid repetition. The three most common words for this purpose are one, ones, and different forms of the verb do.

• I asked him which car he liked, and he pointed at the blue one.
• We had a stupid competition to see who could drink a bottle of milk faster. Jack finished before I did.

Ellipsis refers to the omission of a word or part of a sentence because the meaning is clear even without them. Since those parts are replaced with no other word(s), we can also call it substitution by zero .

Sentence with poor cohesion: I’d like to visit New York, but I can’t afford to visit New York.

Sentence with good cohesion: I ‘ d like to visit New York, but I can’t afford to.

Sentence with poor cohesion: Teenagers play online games as often as they can play online games.

Sentence with good cohesion: Teenagers play online games as often as they can.

Conjunction

The last type of grammatical cohesion is conjunction. It shows the relationship between a sentence and the one following or preceding it. This is usually done by using conjunctives (e.g., firstly, moreover, in addition, for example, nevertheless, on the other hand, however, in conclusion …).

• This is a simple process. However, there are dangers.
• It’s very expensive to live in New York. For example , I pay $1250 for a one-bedroom apartment.

Lexical Cohesion

Lexical cohesion refers to the meaningful relationship between the words in your sentences. There are two main forms of lexical cohesion: Repetition and Collocation.

Repeating keywords, phrases, and ideas throughout your work helps your readers follow the main threads more easily. Take a look at the example below to understand how it works.

My roommate is an annoying person. I am annoyed each time I have to shut the ice-covered windows that John, my roommate, insists on opening every night even during the winter.

Question: My English teacher once said that if we repeat a word, our cohesion score will go down. Is he wrong?

Answer: Well, word or phrase repetition is like adding salt to food. You can do it with the right amount, but if you repeat a word a lot, yes, it will have a negative effect on the quality of your writing. Let me clarify this point using our example.

Poor cohesion because of the excessive use of the word “ annoy” : In the early morning I am easily annoyed by my roommate. I am annoyed each time I have to shut the ice-covered windows that John, my roommate, insists on opening every night even during the winter. Another annoying habit of his is that he smokes cigarettes at home, which makes life unbearable to me. And last but not least, I am annoyed by the fact that he doesn’t care about his dandruff problem, and I have to cope with the white tornado swirling around the apartment.

Question: So what is the solution to this problem?

Answer: appropriate synonyms or more specific words !

Synonyms or near-synonyms are words that convey almost the same meaning. That said, you should always be careful because, in most cases, you can’t just replace a word with another. For example, many people believe that the words annoying and irritating are synonyms and can be used interchangeably, but the truth is that these two words cannot be used in that way 100% of the time. As for our example above, we can replace some of the repeated words with others that are close to the original ones but also more precise.

Better cohesion because of the use of synonyms or more precise vocabulary: In the early morning I am easily annoyed by my roommate. I am annoyed each time I have to shut the ice-covered windows that John, my roommate, insists on opening every night even during the winter. Another infuriating habit of his is that he smokes cigarettes at home, which makes life unbearable to me. And last but not least, I am disgusted by the fact that he doesn’t care about his dandruff problem, and I have to cope with the white tornado swirling around the apartment.

We could also take one more step and add more variety to our writing by using different parts of speech if we had to use a word more than once:

My roommate is a really annoying person. I am annoyed every morning that I have to shut the ice-covered windows that John, my roommate, insists…

Note: As you can see, I started the paragraph with the main idea (the roommate being annoying) and then provided vivid examples to support that while repeating the idea that the roommate is an annoying person. I used the same word , its synonym, and a word that conveys a close but more precise meaning. This is how you use repetition to your advantage.

Collocation

Collocation is how some words are often used together or a particular combination of words used in this way. For example,  “take a shower” is a typical collocation in English. These word combinations make your work sound natural; therefore, it is best to learn new words with their collocations. For non-native learners, the best way to learn them is to use a good online dictionary.

• Yesterday, I received an avalanche of emails .
• Unfortunately, domestic violence increased during the pandemic.

Other factors contributing to a good cohesion

Thematic development.

By now, we know that cohesion is all about sticking together. Thematic development refers to how a sentence prepares the reader for the next. To understand how it works, take a look at the example below:

People should consider doing unpaid community service from time to time. Such voluntary work creates a feeling of happiness among them and boosts their self-esteem . Experiencing those feelings on a daily basis  helps people have a higher sense of life satisfaction.

Notice how the second part of each sentence forms the theme/main subject of the next sentence . In other words, if you pay attention, you will see that the sentences are connected to each other like a chain.

Note: Although this kind of paragraph development results in very good cohesion, it is not always possible to develop your ideas this way. On such occasions, conjunctives are what you need to use.

Consistency in point of view

Point of view refers to the angle from which you want to present ideas. Do you want to tell the reader that those ideas are your opinions? Do you want to speak directly to your readers and give them some tips and advice? Or do you just want to present facts? In order to have good cohesion in your work, you need to choose the appropriate one and stick to it; otherwise, you’ll just cause confusion, and that is the worst thing that can happen to a piece of writing.

There are three main points of view that you can use in your writing:

First person: In this point of view, you use pronouns like I, my, me, we, our, and us to present your opinion. It is suitable if you are writing a personal letter or an opinion essay.

While I agree that healthcare and education must be the government’s first priority, I also believe that space exploration should be considered as the second.

Second person: In this point of view, you structure your work around the pronouns you and your. Use this point of view if you want to speak directly to your readers or give them some pieces of advice. As you can see, this paragraph is written in the second-person point of view.

Third person: This is the most formal point of view. You should use this in formal or academic writing. It uses the pronouns he, she, it, and they. Writers usually choose this one to present facts and not opinions.

When it comes to news editing, a variety of factors influence the process. First of all, the political affiliations of the editors or the owners of the media company play a major role in selecting the news items to be broadcast. They would like to promote their favorite political parties…

Consistency in tense

Use the past tense if you are referring to past events (e.g. I took a trip to Vancouver last summer, and I really enjoyed it), but if you are presenting facts and opinions, it is better to use the present tense. What’s more important is that you stick to one tense throughout your essay and avoid switching your tense unless it’s necessary.

Change can sometimes be a difficult thing to accept. No matter how big or small, sadly, many of us fear it.

Note: Sometimes, it is necessary to refer to past events. Take a look at the example below:

Change can sometimes be a difficult thing to accept. No matter how big or small, sadly, many of us fear it. Having said that, we should always remember that a change may sometimes bring about better opportunities in life. For example, when I was ten years old , my family moved to a new house. I was upset at first because I didn’t want to lose my friends, but my old friends and I figured out a way to hang out from time to time. Plus, we had such great neighbors that I made some new friends. Now I’m 15 and no more scared of changes.

Notice how the writer helped the reader understand which part is in the past and which is in the present by using time indicators. 

What is coherence?

Coherence is achieved when it is easy for the reader to follow the ideas and sentences in your writing. In other words, if the reader can easily move from one sentence to the other or from one paragraph to the next, the work is then coherent. One quick way to assess the coherence of a piece of writing is to read it and see if you can understand everything in one try. If you had to read the paragraph twice or more, it’s probably because it is not coherent. The following are some methods that you can use to improve your work’s coherence:

Improve your cohesion

Earlier in this article, we discussed cohesion and the ways that can help you improve it. Without cohesion, you cannot achieve coherence. So read those tips carefully and implement them in your writing. You’ll soon see a significant improvement in the quality of your work. However, cohesion is not enough to achieve coherence. A piece of writing can have cohesion but lack coherence. This is why you also need to follow other rules to create an easy-to-read essay.

Use transitional words or phrases to link ideas, sentences, and paragraphs.

Readers must always know where they are in the paragraph. Use transitional or linking devices at critical locations, not in front of every sentence , to help the reader know how your points are connected and understand where you are moving from explanation to example or from pros to cons. Using conjunctives, which are already mentioned in this article, can help you with this.

Bad coherence: Australia is home to many unusual animals. The platypus is a mammal but lays eggs.

In this example, the reader may think that the second sentence is a new idea, but it is strange jumping so fast from one idea to the next. So he or she hesitates to think about what is going on. That hesitation is a sign of poor coherence.

Good coherence: Australia is home to many unusual animals. The platypus, for example , is a mammal but lays eggs.

Now the reader knows that the second sentence is an example for the first one. There’s no need to stop and think because the flow of ideas is smooth.

Use parallel structures

Simply put, if you are writing about a list of things, all the items should take the same grammatical form.

Not parallel : I like to watch TV, playing soccer, and to eat pizza.

Parallel: I like to watch TV, play soccer, and eat pizza.

Parallel: I like watching  TV, playing soccer, and eating pizza.

Not parallel : A new athletic program is both worthwhile and a necessity.

Not parallel because worthwhile is an adjective, but necessity is a noun.

Parallel: A new athletic program is both worthwhile and necessary.

Now both of them are adjectives (the same grammatical form).

Not parallel: You can see birds on the ground, in the trees, and flying.

Not parallel because on the ground and in the trees are prepositional phrases, but flying is an adjective.

Parallel: You can see birds on the ground , in the trees , and in the air.

Now all of them are prepositional phrases.

Final Note : If you want to improve your writing skills, you should practice writing regularly. Also, make a habit of reading high-quality materials like magazines, novels, or online articles from reputable sources. If you do these, you will be on the right track and see improvement in your writing skills.

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EnglishPost.org

Cohesion and Coherence: Features of Better Writing

There are several characteristics that make up a good piece of writing in a foreign language class.

Two fundamental features of good writing are Cohesion and c oherence.

Coherence  means the connection of ideas at the idea level, and cohesion means the connection of ideas at the sentence level.

Table of Contents

What’s the Difference Between Cohesion and Coherence?

What’s cohesion in writing, what’s coherence in writing, cohesion and coherence in writing .

Cohesion and coherence are two essential characteristics of good writing.

Coherence refers to the “rhetorical” aspects of your writing, which include developing and supporting your argument, synthesizing and integrating readings, organizing and clarifying ideas.

The  cohesion  of writing focuses on the “grammatical” aspects of writing. 

Cohesion  is the grammatical and lexical linking within a text or sentence that holds a text together and gives it meaning.

From a language point of view a text uses certain conventions that help to make a text cohesive.

The topic of the text enables the writer to select from a lexical set of related words.

We can also use grammatical features to allow the reader to comprehend what is being referred to throughout the text.

Let’s look at these in a little more details.

We can repeat key content words throughout the piece of writing. This helps the reader know who or what is being referred to.

Writers also use similar related words that form part of a lexical chain . 

An example of this is when describing a festival, the writer may use words such as celebration , party and festivity, or fancy dress , costumes and masks. Reference words (such as it, they or them) also may be part of a lexical chain .

A good writer tends to use the same tense to hold the text together. This helps to make the text more comprehensible for the reader, rather than jumping from one tense to another.

Writers use linking words to allow the reader to predict the information that is coming also helps the reader. These might be related to time; e.g. ‘an hour later’ or sequence ; e.g. ‘before that’.

Words are sometimes left out because the meaning is clear from a previous sentence or clause.

This is called ellipsis . For example, “I love horror movies!” might get an answer “I don’t.” which is short for “I don’t like horror movies.”

From a communicative point of view however, we need to examine the overall communicative aspect of a piece of writing. This involves other skills which relate to the overall organization and message of the text.

A written text usually has some kind of logic or coherence which allows the reader to follow the intended message.

This may reflect the writer’s reason for writing or their line of thought. If a written text lacks these features it may cause a strain on the reader.

Writing also involves knowledge of the genre o f texts (writing in such a way that is typical of the style, construction and choice of language, for example: email writing).

When we understand the audience and purpose of the text we are writing we can use the conventions of genre to make it easy to read.

The final consideration for a writer is the register or the actual language we use with a particular group of people .

For example, when writing an academic essay, we use formal language related to the topic and assume it is shared by the intended recipients.

In this video, we will look at the elements that create strong cohesion and coherence that will make your writing stronger, better, and easier for the reader to follow.

Manuel Campos

I am Jose Manuel, English professor and creator of EnglishPost.org, a blog whose mission is to share lessons for those who want to learn and improve their English

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Flow and Cohesion

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Our Writing Center gets a lot of students who are concerned about the  flow  of their writing, but this can mean a lot of different things. When we talk about "flow" we mean  cohesion  or how ideas and relationships are communicated to readers. Flow can involve the  big-picture  (how parts of the essay fit together and the way the sequence of these parts affect how readers understand it) and the  sentence-level  (how the structure of a sentence affects the ways meanings and relationships come across to readers). This page has an overview of ways to think about revising the  flow  of an essay on both of these levels.

Big-Picture Revision Strategies

Reading out-loud.

Oftentimes, you can identify places that need some extra attention sharing your writing with a friend, or reading it out loud to yourself. For example, if it's hard to actually say a sentence at a normal conversational pace, this might indicate that there's something you can change about the structure that will make it easier to say (and probably, easier to understand). A few more tips:

• When you read out-loud, make sure to  slow down . If you are talking too fast, you might fill-in gaps or otherwise not notice things you want to change. You also want to give yourself time to process what you're saying  as you say it.
• If there's nobody around, there are also many computer programs that can convert text to speech and read to you, including  Microsoft Word .
• Take notes while you read. While you might want to fix things as you read, if you're worried about flow, it's also good to read your essay all the way through so that you can hear how parts fit together. If you don't want to interrupt your reading, you can take notes by doing things like putting a checkmark in the margins, using a highlighter, or making a list on a separate sheet of paper.

Structure and Sequence

Sometimes issues of flow and cohesion might actually be structural. It's good to reflect on the structure of an essay, the order of the different parts, and how they all fit together. If you want to revise the structure of your essay, consider trying one of the following activities.

Sign-Posting and Transitions

A great way to help readers comprehend the flow of ideas is include things like sign-posts and transitions. A sign-post is basically just language to point out different parts of the essay for readers in order to help them navigate your ideas. For example,  strong topic sentences  are a good as sign-posts because they tell readers what upcoming paragraphs are going to be about.  Transition sentences  can help readers understand how the ideas you were just discussing in a previous paragraph relate to what's coming up with the next paragraph. Here are a couple questions that can help you brainstorm sign-posting statements. After you brainstorm, you can then revise these sign-posting sentences so they fit better with your writing.

• Try starting a sentence by writing "In this paragraph, I will discuss..." After you complete this sentence, you can then revise it to make it fit better with your writing.
• "In the previous paragraph I discuss [purpose of paragraph 1] and this helps better understand [purpose of paragraph 2] because..."
• This paragraph supports my argument because..."
• While I discuss [previous idea or concept] above, I will now talk about [new idea or concept] because..."

Revision on the Sentence-Level

Verbs, or stuff we do.

A sentence seems clear when its important actions are in verbs. Compare these sentences where the actions are in bold and the verbs are UPPERCASE:

Because we  LACKED  data, we could not  EVALUATE  whether the UN  HAD TARGETED  funds to areas that most needed assistance. Our  lack  of data PREVENTED  evaluation  of UN  actions  in  targeting  funds to areas most in  need  of  assistance .

Nominalization

Turning a verb or adjective into a noun is called a “nominalization.” No element of style more characterizes turgid writing, writing that feels abstract, indirect, and difficult, than lots of nominalizations, especially as the subjects of verbs.  

Our request IS that you DO a review of the data.     vs. We REQUEST that you REVIEW the data.    

Try this:  when editing, underline the actions in your sentences.  Are those actions in the form of verbs?  If not, you might try rewriting your sentences to turn those actions into the main verbs in the sentence.

Active and Passive Verbs

Some critics of style tell us to avoid the passive everywhere because it adds a couple of words and often deletes the agent, the “doer” of the action.  But in fact, the passive is sometimes the better choice.  To choose between the active and passive, you have to answer two questions:

• The president  was rumored  to have considered resigning.
• Those who  are found  guilty can  be fined .
• Valuable records should always  be kept  in a safe.
• Because the test  was not done , the flaw  was not corrected .
• The weight given to industrial competitiveness as opposed to the value we attach to liberal arts   will determine  our decision.  
• Our decision  will be determined   by the weight we give to industrial competitiveness as opposed to the value we attach to the liberal arts .

Try this:   We need to find our passive verbs before we can evaluate whether or not to change them.  While you’re editing, try underlining all the “to be” verbs, since these are often paired with other verbs to make passive constructions.  The verbs you’re looking for are: am, are, is, was, were, be, become, became.  Once you’ve identified these verbs, check to see if they are necessary, or if the sentence would be clearer or stronger without them.  Example:  “There is one explanation in the story…” vs “The story explains…”

Writing is more coherent when readers are able to make connections across sentences and paragraphs. On the sentence level, this can include when the last few words of one set up information that appears in the first few words of the next.  That’s what gives us our experience of flow.

• Begin sentences with information familiar to your readers.  Readers get that information from two sources:  first, they remember words from the sentence they just read.  Second, readers bring to a sentence a general knowledge of its subject.  In a paper on black holes, for example, readers would find references to “astronomers”  familiar, even without prior mention.
• End sentences with information that readers cannot anticipate.  Readers prefer to read what’s easy before what’s hard, and what’s familiar and simple is easier to understand that what’ new and complex.  

Compare these two passages:

Try this:  While editing, check for these words: this, these, that, those, another, such, second, or more. Writers often refer to something in a previous sentence with these kinds of words. When you use any of those signals, try to put them at or close to the beginning of the sentence that you use them in.

Here are some tips to help your writing become more precise and cut out extra words.

• Delete what readers can infer.  This can include redundant categories like “period of time,” “pink in color,” or “shiny in appearance.

• Can you make sense of the negatives in this sentence?

Except when you have failed to submit applications without documentation, benefits will not be denied.

This handout contains excerpts from Joseph M. Williams'  Style: Ten Lessons in Clarity and Grace ( New York: Longman, 2000).

Encyclopedia

Writing with artificial intelligence, coherence – how to achieve coherence in writing.

• © 2023 by Joseph M. Moxley - Professor of English - USF

Coherence refers to a style of writing where ideas, themes, and language connect logically, consistently, and clearly to guide the reader's understanding. By mastering coherence , alongside flow , inclusiveness , simplicity,  and unity , you'll be well-equipped to craft professional or academic pieces that engage and inform effectively. Acquire the skills to instill coherence in your work and discern it in the writings of others.

Table of Contents

What is Coherence?

Coherence in writing refers to the logical connections and consistency that hold a text together, making it understandable and meaningful to the reader. Writers create coherence in three ways:

• logical consistency
• conceptual consistency
• linguistic consistency.

What is Logical Consistency?

• For instance, if they argue, “If it rains, the ground gets wet,” and later state, “It’s raining but the ground isn’t wet,” without additional explanation, this represents a logical inconsistency.

What is Conceptual Consistency?

• For example, if you are writing an essay arguing that regular exercise has multiple benefits for mental health, each paragraph should introduce and discuss a different benefit of exercise, all contributing to your main argument. Including a paragraph discussing the nutritional value of various foods, while interesting, would break the conceptual consistency, as it doesn’t directly relate to the benefits of exercise for mental health.

What is Linguistic Consistency?

• For example, if a writer jumps erratically between different tenses or switches point of view without clear demarcation, the reader might find it hard to follow the narrative, leading to a lack of linguistic coherence.

Related Concepts: Flow ; Given to New Contract ; Grammar ; Organization ; Organizational Structures ; Organizational Patterns ; Sentence Errors

Why Does Coherence Matter?

Coherence is crucial in writing as it ensures that the text is understandable and that the ideas flow logically from one to the next. When writing is coherent, readers can easily follow the progression of ideas, making the content more engaging and easier to comprehend. Coherence connects the dots for the reader, linking concepts, arguments, and details in a clear, logical manner.

Without coherence, even the most interesting or groundbreaking ideas can become muddled and lose their impact. A coherent piece of writing keeps the reader’s attention, demonstrates the writer’s control over their subject matter, and can effectively persuade, inform, or entertain. Thus, coherence contributes significantly to the effectiveness of writing in achieving its intended purpose.

How Do Writers Create Coherence in Writing?

• Your thesis statement serves as the guiding star of your paper. It sets the direction and focus, ensuring all subsequent points relate back to this central idea.
• Acknowledge and address potential counterarguments to strengthen your position and add depth to your writing.
• Use the genres and organizational patterns appropriate for your rhetorical situation . A deductive structure (general to specific) is often effective, guiding the reader logically through your argument. Yet different disciplines may privilege more inductive approaches , such as law and philosophy.
• When following a given-to-new order, writers move from what the reader already knows to new information. In formal or persuasive contexts, writers are careful to vet new information for the reader following information literacy laws and conventions .
• Strategic repetition of crucial terms and your thesis helps your readers follow your main ideas and evidence for claims 
• While repetition is useful, varying language with synonyms can prevent redundancy and keep the reader engaged.
• Parallelism in sentences can provide rhythm and clarity, making complex ideas easier to follow.
• Consistent use of pronouns avoids confusion and helps in maintaining a clear line of thought.
• Arrange your ideas in a sequence that naturally builds from one point to the next, ensuring each paragraph flows smoothly into the next .
• Signposting , or using phrases that indicate what’s coming next or what just happened, can help orient the reader within your argument.
• Don’t bother repeating your argument in your conclusion. Prioritize conciseness. Yet end with a call to action or appeal to kairos and ethos .

Recommended Resources

• Organization
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Brevity - Say More with Less

Clarity (in Speech and Writing)

Coherence - How to Achieve Coherence in Writing

Flow - How to Create Flow in Writing

Inclusivity - Inclusive Language

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How Coherence in Writing Facilitates Manuscript Acceptance

Coherence is an essential quality for good academic writing . In academic writing, the flow of ideas from one sentence to the next should be smooth and logical. Without cohesion, the reader will not understand the main points that you are trying to make. It also hampers readability. Cohesion necessarily precedes coherence. There is a difference between cohesion and coherence: cohesion is achieved when sentences are connected at the sentence level, whereas as coherence is achieved when ideas are connected. In addition, cohesion focuses on the grammar and style of your paper.

What is Coherence in Writing?

Coherence also means “clarity of expression” and it is created when correct vocabulary and grammar are used. After all, the goal of writing is to benefit the readers. Without both coherence and cohesion, the readers may detect choppiness in the text and feel as if there are gaps in the ideas presented. Needless to say, texts without coherence are difficult to read and understand. It defeats the whole purpose of writing, which is to relay ideas in a clear and efficient manner. There are strategies that you can use to ensure coherence and cohesion in academic writing.

Examples of Cohesive and Non-Cohesive Paragraphs

Paragraph coherence and cohesion results in paragraph unity . To ensure that your paragraphs have unity, there are two things to keep in mind: it must have a single topic (found in the topic sentence) and sentences provide more detail than the topic sentence, while maintaining the focus on the idea presented. The paragraph below shows a lack of unity:

Non-cohesive sample: Dogs are canines that people domesticated a long time ago. Wolves are predecessors of dogs and they help people in a variety of ways. There are various reasons for owning a dog, and the most important is companionship.

Cohesive sample: Dogs are canines that people domesticated a long time ago, primarily for practical reasons. Even though dogs descended from wolves, they are tame and can be kept in households. Since they are tame, people have various reasons for owning a dog, such as companionship.

Notice that the ideas in the non-cohesive sample are not arranged logically. The sentences are not connected by transitions and give the readers new ideas that are not found in the topic sentence. Thus, the paragraph is hard to read, leaving readers confused about the topic. On the other hand, the cohesive sample has ideas arranged logically. All ideas in this sample flow from the topic sentence. In addition, they give more details about the topic while maintaining their focus on the topic sentence.

Establishing Coherence

It is important to focus on coherence when writing at the sentence level. However, cohesion smoothens the flow of writing and should be established. There are various ways to ensure coherent writing :

• Write sentences that flow by varying the lengths and structures, the use of correct punctuation, and broadening your word choices
• Use simple transitions, such as “in addition, additionally, furthermore, therefore, thus, on the contrary, by the same token, at the same time, in other words, etc.”
• Repeat your keywords but be careful of excessive repetition
• Repeat sentence structures, which is used as a rhetorical technique rather than cohesion to highlight parallelism between sentences
• Ensure thematic consistency
• Start every sentence or paragraph with information that hints at the content of the next sentence

Academic writing is improved by coherence and cohesion. Without coherence and cohesion, readers will become confused and eventually disinterested in the article.  Your ideas then become lost and the primary objective of writing is not achieved.

Tips and Strategies

There are six ways for creating coherence, which you will find useful while polishing your manuscript. Creating coherence is not as difficult as it seems, but you will need the right tools and strategies to achieve it.

• >Lexis creates cohesion using synonyms, hyponyms, and superordinates. The use of lexical chains creates variety in writing and avoids monotony.
• Reference creates cohesion by using possessive pronouns (e.g. your, their, etc.), pronouns (e.g. she, me, etc.), and determiners (e.g. those, these, etc.).
• Substitution, which is the use of a different word in place of a previously mentioned word (e.g. “I bought a designer bag today. She did the same.”)
• Ellipsis is the removal or omission of words because their meaning is implied through context (e.g. “He goes to yoga classes in the afternoon. I hope I can too.”)
• Cohesive nouns are also called umbrella nouns because they summarize many words in one.
• Conjunctions include words that list ideas (e.g. first, next, then, lastly, etc.)

Academic writing should be concise, coherent, and cohesive. Maintaining these three qualities involves using a number of strategies to impart ideas to the reader. After all, that is the whole point of any type of writing.

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rich info, thank you.

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21 Coherence Examples

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Dr. Chris Drew is the founder of the Helpful Professor. He holds a PhD in education and has published over 20 articles in scholarly journals. He is the former editor of the Journal of Learning Development in Higher Education. [Image Descriptor: Photo of Chris]

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Coherence refers to the qualities of consistency, harmony, and logical connection within a set of ideas or elements.

To be coherence means to make seamless connections between ideas and use an understandable flow during communication.

The term can be applied to many concepts, including:

• The storyline in a novel
• A person’s debate speech
• A politician’s policy platform

The more coherent something is, the easier it is to logically follow and understand. The degree of coherence in an idea also often serves as an indicator of its efficiency or effectiveness.

In order to be coherent, you may need to plan-out how you will communicate an idea, write drafts, organize your thoughts, and pay attention to the logic and flow of your key points.

Coherence Examples

1. demonstrating cause and effect.

A story that is coherent will clearly explain the chain of events in the story. One way to do this is to demonstrate cause and effect.

To explain it another way, imagine if something happened in a story that seems odd, and there’s no explanation as to why or how it happened. You would be left feeling as if the story was incoherent .

So, clearly explaining cause and effect allows a reader to follow the chain of events or ideas logically, enhancing overall understanding and agreement with your points.

See Also: Cause and Effect Examples

2. Using Logical Reasoning

The use of logical reasoning is a powerful way to enhance coherence in your communication.

Logical reasoning is the act of drawing conclusions based on premises that are true, and it operates under the guiding principles of sound logic. This enhances your credibility and the value of your ideas.

Imagine, for example, if someone told a story and there were points within it that were illogical . This, in itself, will be an incoherent story!

See Also: The Types of Fallacy

3. Avoiding Fallacies and Heuristics

Resorting to fallacies and heuristics tends to tarnish a part of the coherence of your communication.

Fallacies are mistakes or errors in reasoning, while heuristics are mental shortcuts people take that can sometimes lead to faulty decision making.

For instance, allowing logical fallacies such as the strawman argument, where the argument’s viewpoint is misrepresented to weaken it, obstructs the coherence by distorting the logical reasoning.

Staying clear from such tendencies ensures that your position is firmly anchored in solid reasoning, thus increasing the coherence of your message.

See Also: The Multiple Types of Fallacy

4. Staying on Topic

Veering off the topic is perhaps the most common way that my students fail to maintain coherence in their essays.

Imagine trying to understand a text where the author jumps randomly from topic to topic with no clear connection. This would be hard to follow and would seem incoherent.

And yet, too often, students will start a paragraph talking about one concept and end it on a completely random tangent. Avoid this, and you’ll be on track to greater coherence.

5. Using Clear Language

Sometimes, lack of clarity in word choice can make something incoherent. Take, for example, talking to a toddler. The toddler is trying to communicate something, and you have to strain very hard to understand their baby talk. Their incoherence is rooted in their inability to speak clearly.

Similarly, jargon or overly complex language can lead to confusion and misinterpretation, damaging the coherence of your message.

6. Organizing Ideas Logically

Sometimes, the most straightforward way of improving the coherence of student essays is to simply think a little harder while essay planning about what to say first, second, and third.

Consider, for example, why one idea would come before another. Oftentimes, we need to use basic ideas like defining terms before we move on to analyzing them. By simply paying attention to how you organize your points, you can make your work appear much more coherent.

7. Using Clear Transitions Between Ideas

Strong coherence can be achieved through effective use of transitions between ideas. Imagine you’re being told a story, and suddenly, without any warning, the topic changes. You’re left confused and it feels like the story is jumping around.

This happens without clear transitions.

But a well-placed transition clearly shows the link between the two ideas, meaning the reader can follow along easily.

You can use transitions for contrast, like “however”, “by contrast” and “on the other hand”. These simple transition words can help the reader or listener understand the relationship between the first and second ideas you’re presenting.

8. Using Relevant Examples

When you provide relevant examples in your writing, you increase the coherence of your message because examples help people to understand you better.

Picture trying to understand a complex idea, and the person teaching you tries to clarify it using an example that is relevant to you. This, often, is when you have that ‘lightbulb moment’ and finally understand the idea.

Providing examples directly tied to your main idea help elucidate your point, making the message clear and coherent for the audience.

9. Addressing and Debunking Counterarguments

Addressing and debunking counterarguments can underpin the logic of your own point of view, and therefore, improve the coherence of your arguments.

Consider presenting an idea without addressing the possible counterarguments that might arise against it. It can lead to a feeling of imbalance or a lack of full perspective.

However, by addressing those counterpoints openly, you demonstrate that you consider your position from multiple perspectives, lending your argument a sense of robustness, wholeness, and ultimately, coherence.

10. Using Consistent Tone and Style

Having a consistent tone and style is key to maintaining coherence in your text.

Visualize reading a serious political commentary article and, midway through, it starts using humor and colloquial language. It would feel disjointed, disrupting the reader’s understanding.

By maintaining a consistent tone and style throughout your text, you ensure a smooth, coherent experience for the reader, making your message more accessible and easier to understand.

My Full List of Ways to be Coherent

• Demonstrating Cause and Effect
• Using Logical Reasoning
• Avoiding Fallacies and Heuristics
• Staying on Topic
• Using Clear Language
• Organizing Ideas Logically
• Using Clear Transitions Between Ideas
• Using Relevant Examples
• Addressing and Debunking Counterarguments
• Using Consistent Tone and Style
• Remaining Consistent in your Worldview
• Structuring Sentences Clearly
• Using Analogies to Clarify Complex Ideas
• Clearly Linking Sub-Points to the Main Topic
• Using Consistent Terminology
• Using Signposting
• Providing Context for Ambiguous Statements
• Avoiding Overly Complex Sentence Structures
• Using Visual Aids (like charts or graphs) Appropriately
• Summarizing Points Periodically
• Avoiding Contradictions
• Proofreading for Clarity

Coherence vs Cohesion

Coherence and cohesion are both essential elements in effective writing. Coherence is about the higher-level ideas and arguments, while cohesion is about the syntax and grammar of the writing at the sentence level.

While the terms are interconnected and overlap, they are different concepts:

• Coherence refers to the logical and consistent interconnection of ideas in a piece of writing. This concept is about the ideas and the arguments that are being made connecting logically to create a clear, easy-to-follow narrative.
• Cohesion is about the grammatical and linguistic elements of writing that make it readable and understandable. It involves things like transitions, reference words, and sentence structure. It refers to the way you connect sentences and paragraphs to each other through various linguistic and grammatical devices.

A piece of writing can have one without the other. It is possible to have a text that is cohesive with excellent syntax, yet lacks coherence because the ideas aren’t logically connected. Similarly, a text’s ideas could theoretically be logically interconnected (coherent) while the syntax and grammar that connects the sentences are lacking (cohesive).

See More: Cohesion Examples

Coherence is the backbone of clear and effective communication. Its role in organizing ideas, synthesizing information, and facilitating understanding can’t be overemphasized. Lacking coherence can make even the most profound ideas seem jumbled and difficult to comprehend. Therefore, for students, we need to keep our focus on maintaining coherence in our communication style in order to achieve clarity, precision, and persuasive power. Through this, you’ll see your grades grow!

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