Cohesion and Coherence: Making Your Writing Flow
5-Minute English Lab · C1 Advanced
🏆 Cohesion and Coherence: Making Your Writing Flow
⏱ 5 minutes · PWP · Writing Skills
From my own experience: When I wrote my first CELTA assignment, my tutor marked it: ‘Ideas are good — but where is the thread? I lose you between paragraphs.’ That was the day I understood that having good ideas is not enough. They must connect. Cohesion is the stitching that holds a piece of writing together.
By the end of this 5 minutes, you can:
distinguish cohesion from coherence and apply six cohesive devices to produce connected, reader-friendly academic writing.
Language Focus:
Reference: it, this, they, suchSubstitution: one, do soEllipsis: implied wordsLexical cohesion: synonyms, hyponymsConjunction: because, although, whenParagraph coherence: one idea per paragraph
Quick Explanation
Coherence = logical organisation of ideas (macro level — does the argument make sense?)
Cohesion = linguistic connections between sentences and clauses (micro level — do the words point to each other?)
A text can be coherent but not cohesive (good ideas, no connectors) or cohesive but not coherent (lots of connectors, no clear logic). Both are needed.
Six cohesive devices:
- Reference: The teacher explained the rule. She then checked understanding. (she = the teacher)
- Substitution: The first method was effective. The second one less so.
- Ellipsis: He couldn’t attend, but she [could].
- Lexical cohesion: The lesson began. The class was quiet. Students listened carefully. (synonymous chain)
- Conjunction: Although motivation is key, it alone is insufficient.
- Theme/rheme structure: End each sentence on new information; start the next sentence from that new information.
Practice
Task 1: Identify the cohesive device
Name the device used in each pair:
1. ‘The report was submitted. It covered three areas.’ · 2. ‘Some students prefer PPP. Others prefer TBL.’ · 3. ‘The method proved effective. This effectiveness was noted in all three studies.’
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Task 2: Improve cohesion
Rewrite these sentences to improve cohesion. Use reference, substitution or lexical cohesion:
Language learning takes time. Language learning requires practice. Language learning is rewarding. Language learning is worth the effort.
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Task 3: Coherence check
Read this paragraph. Is it coherent? Identify the problem:
Motivation is a key factor in language learning success. The history of language teaching includes many methods. Students who are motivated tend to achieve better outcomes. However, some methods are more effective than others.
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