COHESION IN ENGLISH
The following are two definitions of COHESION:
“The pattern of relations between structures and lexical items which combine together to form a text.
Pronouns like she, conjunctions like but, and linking adverbs like therefore have a particular role in
cohesion”. (LSGSWE, p. 455)
“The concept of cohesion is a semantic one; it refers to relations of meaning that exist within the text
and that define it as a text. Cohesion occurs where the interpretation of some element in the discourse is
dependent on that of another. The one presupposes the other, in the sense that it cannot be effectively
decoded except by recourse to it” (Halliday and Hasan, 1976:4).
According to Halliday and Hasan (1976) 1 there are 4 main types of cohesion in texts:
1. reference
2. ellipsis and substitution
3. conjunction
4. lexical cohesion.
1. REFERENCE is “the relation between an element of the text and something else by reference to
which it is interpreted in the given instance” (Halliday and Hasan 1976.108). In other words, this
means that some words don’t have any meaning by themselves, but need to refer to other items inside
or outside the text.
For example in this text:
“My friend Matt and I had arrived at the Activity Centre on Friday evening. On Saturday
morning we met the other ten members of our group. Cameron had come along with two
friends, Kevin and Simon, while sisters Carole and Lynn had come with Amanda. We had
come from various places and none of us knew the area”.
The first occurrence of WE is referred to “my friend Matt and I”, whereas the second WE refers to
Matt, I, Cameron, Kevin, Simon, Carole, Lynn , Amanda and other people. In this case, reference is
anaphoric, since it refers back to something previously mentioned in the text.
But reference can also be cataphoric, when it refers forward to something mentioned in the text. An
example is given by the following text:
“Secondly, based on their own experience and knowledge, peers are often able to identify
areas where a writer’s intended meaning is unclear or not conveyed.”
In this case their refers forwards to peers.
1
Halliday, M.A.K. and Hasan, R., (1976), Cohesion in English. London: Longman.
Personal pronouns such as WE, SHE, HER and demonstrative pronouns such as THIS, THAT, THOSE
are often used as reference items.
2.1 SUBSTITUTION is the use of words such as "do", "so" or "one" to replace a word or group of
words mentioned previously. For example, look at the use of “so” in the following clause
Ex: “Canadians in London are not the most conspicuous of London’s minorities but, if you
want to experience Canadian beer, food, sports matches and conversation you can do so at
the Maple Leaf at 41 Maiden Lane in Covent Garden”.
2.2 ELLIPSIS (see also LSGSWE:8.5) is the omission of a word or group of words, the meaning of
which can be understood from the text.
Ex. “Have you closed the door?
Yes, I have”.
In this case “closed the door” is omitted.
3. CONJUNCTION refers to the use of conjunctions (coordinators and subordinators) to link
clauses, and linking adverbials to link sentences.
Ex. of coordinator AND:
“There are now over 700 million motor vehicles in the world - and the number is rising by
more than 40 million each year”.
Ex. of linking adverbial:
“Girls were more likely than boys to perceive themselves as well behaved and hard working
… . Furthermore, girls were more likely than boys to say that they intended to remain in
education beyond the school leaving age.”
“Finally, in this context students become the audience and as such develop the ability to
evaluate a text critically using defensible criteria.”
4. LEXICAL COHESION refers both to the repetition of lexical items or to the use of words
belonging to the same lexical set.
Does anyone else have any hobbies from which they derive a sense of pride? My greatest
hobby, actually it's more like my greatest passion, is Cricket. It's a sport played in quite a few
countries, India included. It's not that well known in the US. Some of my greatest moments of
joy have come on the Cricket field. I used to play the game professionally … Engineering just
took up an awful lot of time, and I couldn't conjure the time to continue playing. I hope to
someday play professionally again.