ADEQUATE-INADEQUATE COHESION, COHESION, BETWEEN COHERENCE AND COHESION, IDENTIFYING PARAGRAPH WITH ADEQUATE-INADEQUATE COHESION

How to write paragraph with adequate and inadequate cohesion?

In the last lesson, I have explained to you about adequate and inadequate unity, and how to write paragraph in that way. But, how about adequate cohesion? And how the way to write a paragraph in adequate cohesion? In this lesson, we are going to know how to write paragraph with adequate cohesion properly.

But, before we go further, do you know what cohesion is? Cohesion, we can say that is the property of flow and connection in a written text that stems from the linguistic links among its surface elements.

A paragraph has good cohesion when each sentence is clearly linked to the next. Readers must feel that they move easily from one sentence to the next, that each "coheres" with the one before and after. How the way? Individual sentences can have connections within them. A word that connects parts of a sentence is called a conjunction. The common coordinating conjunctions are: ‘and', 'but', 'or', 'yet', 'nor'. There are also subordinating conjunctions. These establish the relationship between a dependent clause and the rest of the sentence. A few common examples are: 'as', 'because', 'whereas', 'in order that', 'since', 'although'.

Sentences within a paragraph are also linked together. There are various ways of linking one sentence to another and make it in adequate cohesion:

• Use repetition of important words,
• Use substitution of pronouns (e.g. 'it', 'this', 'these'),
• Use substitution by synonyms (words with nearly the same meaning)
• Use linking words or phrases which show the relationship between ideas, e.g. 'however' indicates a contrast, 'in addition' gives more information (see below for more examples),
• Use grammatical words, especially articles, e.g. 'the' may refer back to a specific noun previously mentioned.

So, from the explanation above, we can get the conclusion that to write a paragraph with adequate cohesion we have to give more attention to the property of flow and connection in a written text that stems from the linguistic links among its surface elements. While, inadequate cohesion paragraph is a paragraph which has an alignment form but the content is insufficiently. So, Make sure that we write the paragraph well and properly.

 

Know More about COHESION

We have already known about the way how to write paragraph with adequate cohesion properly from the previous explanation. Am I right? Well, talking about cohesion, have we known it well? If you have understood well, CONGRATULATION! But if you have not understood, this writing will help you much. In this writing, we would like to learn more about cohesion in writing paragraph. Getting know about the definitions, and all aspects about it are what we will do.

Cohesion is "the glue that sticks a sentence to another in a paragraph or a paragraph to another in a text." Cohesion refers to how a group of sentences "hang together." Sometimes, to achieve better cohesion we have to "violate" other writing "rules" we think are sacrosanct.

Cohesion, or coherence, is the intangible glue that holds paragraphs together. Having good coherence in a writing project means that your ideas stick together and flow smoothly from one sentence to the next, so that readers of your work can easily understand where you are taking them. Without cohesion, a written work can seem choppy and may not flow well; a lack of coherence challenges the reader and can hurt comprehension, thus rendering your attempt at communication ineffective at best. 

We will look at cohesion within paragraphs, but the basics below, along with organizational devices like headings, help to link sentences, paragraphs and sections coherently in longer, complex writing projects. Here are four main components of cohesion:

1.      RELEVANCE

A simple way to build cohesion or flow between sentences is to look at the meaning of a sentence and compare it to the point of the next sentence. They should be related yet not the same. If the two sentences are not closely related, you will lose the readers‟ attention, because they will have to guess where you are going. If the two sentences are identical, you are not adding any new information to your work, and the reader will be annoyed.

2.      ORDER

Writers should always ask themselves “Is this sentence relevant to the idea of this paragraph?” Every paragraph should have a main idea (typically stated in a topic sentence). To maintain cohesion, all sentences within a paragraph should relate to this main idea. Common ways to order sentences: Chronological, Cause and Effect, Clarification (first sentence is broad, general statement, and the following sentences explain it with details), and Compare/Contrast.

3.      LINKING/TRANSITION WORDS

Transition words can help a paragraph flow more smoothly. For cohesion within and between paragraphs – The transition words and phrases below are an abbreviated list of transition terms.

Addition: also, again, besides, furthermore, in addition, likewise, moreover, as well as Result:  thus, therefore, as a result, consequently, for this reason, hence, otherwise, subsequently 

Generalizations: typically, as usual, for the most part, generally, usually, in general

Introducing Examples: for example, for instance, as an illustration, as an example, in this case

Emphasis: above all, chiefly, especially, particularly, significantly, most importantly, primarily

Similarity: comparatively, correspondingly, likewise, similar, together with, combined with

Exception: aside from, barring, besides, except, excluding, exclusive of, other than, outside of Restatement: in essence, in other words, namely, that is, in short, to put it differently 

Contrast /Compare: in contrast, conversely, instead, on the other hand, on the contrary, rather, similarly, yet, but, however, still, nevertheless, in contrast, comparatively, likewise

Order (time): at first, to begin with, at the same time, now, the next step, in turn, later on, meanwhile, next, then, soon, later, while, earlier, simultaneously, afterward, before, prior, last, meanwhile

Summary:  in brief, in conclusion, in short, in summary, in the final analysis, finally

4.      REPEATITION OF THE KEY WORDS

Repeating key terms related to the main idea of the paragraph makes an invisible rope for readers to follow. However, do not repeat words for the sake of repetition; the reader needs to occasionally be reminded of your focus, not beaten over the head with unnecessary repetition.

In short, a text can be cohesive through the use of the following devices:

1.      Repetition. In sentence B (the second of any two sentences), repeat a word from sentence A.

2.      Synonymy. If direct repetition is too obvious, use a synonym of the word you wish to repeat. This strategy is call 'elegant variation.'

3.      Antonymy. Using the 'opposite' word, an antonym, can also create sentence cohesion, since in language antonyms actually share more elements of meaning than you might imagine.

4.      Parallelism. Repeat a sentence structure. This technique is the oldest, most overlooked, but probably the most elegant method of creating cohesion.

5.      Transitions. Use a conjunction or conjunctive adverb to link sentences with particular logical relationships.

 

Getting know the DIFFERENCES between COHERENCE and COHESION

We have known clearly about cohesion from the explanation above. By reading the previous explanation, do you remember something? May be when you read cohesion, you think that it is coherence. The words sound like they ought to mean the same thing. Do you think so? If so, are cohesion and coherence same? If not, what makes them different? In this lesson, we will also learn about the differences between cohesion and coherence.

The Differences between Coherence and Cohesion
Coherence	Cohesion
Integration of the meaning	Integration of form or structure
its constituent sentences follow on one from the other in an orderly fashion so that the reader can make sense of the entire text	Cohesion describes the way in which a text is tied together by linguistic devices, such as And so we see . . . , Additionally . . . , Therefore . . . , However . . . and On the other hand . . .
The text is easy to read and understand because the text follows a certain kind of logical order and the organization of ideas is systematical and logical.	Cohesion is "the glue that sticks a sentence to another in a paragraph or a paragraph to another in a text."
There is no repetition.	There is repetition.
Coherence means the connection of ideas at the idea level.	Cohesion means the connection of ideas at the sentence level.
Coherence refers to the “rhetorical” aspects of your writing, which include developing and supporting your argument (e.g. thesis statement development), synthesizing and integrating readings, organizing and clarifying ideas	The cohesion of writing focuses on the “grammatical” aspects of writing.

 

Identifying adequate and inadequate cohesion
 

We have studied about adequate and inadequate cohesion. Now we are going to practice what we have learned. We will try to analyze a paragraph under the title “Introduction of Mine” by putting underline and giving different color on each paragraph that shows adequate or inadequate cohesion.

 

Introduction of Mine

 

My name is Riris Harwiyati. Most of my friends call me Riris or Cuplis. I am Muslim. I am young and religious woman. I am undergraduate student of Muhammadiyah University of Metro. I have not been a successful person, but I am still 19. I was born on January 28^th_, 1995 in Margototo, located in Metro Kibang, East Lampung. I live in that beautiful safe place. My body is skinny and small. Even though I am not tall, but I have well build body. My height is 151 cm, and I am 35 kg. I have round face with two black small eyes, thin eyebrows, small thin lips and one mole under my left eye, my left cheek beand on my tiny nose. My skin is bright brown. It shows that I am Javanese. I like to wear big clothes and big veil. So, I look like a school boarding house student, or even junior high school student, thus many people who have not known me argue that I am childish but so religious. The best thing of mine is singing. So, singing is my hobby. My friends said that I am good at it. I feel happy when I am singing a song. I love to sing English songs, because it helps me to increase my skill in English. One that I love of singing, it can reduce my stress of doing assignments and facing my boring time. It can show my feeling too. I can sing every time I want to do.  Besides I like reading a book, watching movie, memorizing surah and new vocabulary, writing something or sleeping in my spare time. I prefer novels and fiction books to subject book to be my list in reading. I love to watch English animation and fantasy films, such as Harry Potter, Kungfu Panda, etc. I am still new in writing. Hopefully I can publish my own book someday.

 

Notices: Underline one shows adequate cohesion.

              The green one indicate the cohesion marker.

             Without underline shows inadequate cohesion.

Why they can be included of Adequate Cohesion?

Cohesion	Reason
My name is Riris Harwiyati. Most of my friends call me Riris or Cuplis.	The second sentence still have correlation with the first sentence because it gives additional explanation of the first sentence.
I am Muslim. I am young and religious woman.	The connection of idea at the sentence level are same. That is Islam and Muslim.
I have not been a successful person, but I am still 19.	There is conjunction “but” as the marker of cohesion.
I was born on January 28th, 1995 in Margototo, located in Metro Kibang, East Lampung. I live in that beautiful safe place.	“that” shows the previous sentence is cohesive with the next sentence.
My body is skinny and small. Even though I am not tall, but I have well build body.	“even though” as the additional of previous sentence and “but” shows the contrast.
My skin is bright brown. It shows that I am Javanese.	“it” shows that it refers to the previous word.
I like to wear big clothes and big veil. So, I look like a school boarding house student, or even junior high school student, thus many people who have not known me argue that I am childish but so religious.	Those sentences show cause and effect. There are cohesion markers.
The best thing of mine is singing. So, singing is my hobby. My friends said that I am good at it. I feel happy when I am singing a song. I love to sing English songs, because it helps me to increase my skill in English. One that I love of singing, it can reduce my stress of doing assignments and facing my boring time. It can show my feeling too. I can sing every time I want to do.	There are some cohesion markers, such as so, that, it, and because. They are totally cohesion sentences because they show their function to build the paragraph well.
Besides I like reading a book, watching movie, memorizing surah and new vocabulary, writing something or sleeping in my spare time.	“besides” indicates that this sentence is cohesive with the previous sentence. It gives additional information.

 

Well, that is all from me about the way how to write paragraph with adequate and inadequate cohesion, the complete explanation of cohesion, the differences between coherence and cohesion, and the identifying paragraph with adequate and inadequate cohesion. I hope it can give the readers more understanding about adequate and inadequate cohesion and coherence. Is it clear enough, isn’t it? Finally, Happy Learning! Enjoy Writing!