[7] Grammar Review: Cohesion 1 & 2

                                                                                  COHESION

It is important when you are producing material on the test that you use a variety of methods of creating cohesion.  You should be sure that you know how to use repeated and rephrased key ideas, pronouns and determiners, and transition expressions to create cohesion.

 

                                               1: USE REPEATED AND REPHRASED KEY IDEAS

One way to make your written and spoken English more cohesive is to use repeated and rephrased key ideas.  Look at the following example of repeated and rephrased key ideas used for cohesion.

Example

I think that the most important characteristic in a friend is honesty.  If someone is a friend, then he or she must be honest. 

I can trust someone only if he or she is truthful.  If a friend of mine does not tell me the truth, then he or she can no longer be considered a friend.

In this example, the key idea honesty is repeated as honest and rephrased as truthful and truth to make the passage cohesive.

EXERCISE 1  : Fill in the blank in each pair of sentences with one of the words from the box above the pair of sentences to make the sentences cohesive.  You should use each answer one time only.

chance

competitor

energy

outcome

pleases

shocked

speaks

1.       I am happy you have the opportunity to go there.  It _________  me that you have been given such a  ______ 

2.       She is quite a dynamic speaker.  She always _______  with a large amount of  _______  

3.      The results of the competition were entirely unexpected.  The  _____  was  ____   by the  _______ 

acts

brief

determined

positive

problems

remarks

resolved

 

1.       The lawyer made a short statement.  His  ____  were quite ______ 

2.       The problems are not insurmountable.  The _________  can be ___ _____ __   

3.       If you look at his actions in a negative way, you might say that he is stubborn.  Conversely, if you look at the way he _______   in a ________ way, you might say that he is  ___________  

answers

complex

eventually

explanation

finish

indicated

succinct

 

1.     She said that she would get it done sometime.  She  ______  that she would  _____  it   ______ 

2.     I do not want you to ramble on and on in your responses.  Your  ______  should be   _____  

3.    You have explained this in an overly simplistic way.  You really need a more ________.  ___________ 

animated

appreciates

concept

discussion

episode

involved

novel

reasons

1.      Your idea is quite innovative.  It is a __________  _________

2.      This professor seems to welcome lively debate.  He ______  __________  ________

3.      Can you explain why you took part in this incident?  Can you give me your  _______   for being  __________   in this __________  ?

                                                    2: USE PRONOUNS AND DETERMINERS

Another way to make your written and spoken English more cohesive is to use pronouns and determiners to refer back to previous ideas.  Some pronouns and determiners that can be used for cohesion are listed in the following table.

PRONOUNS					DETERMINERS
SUBJECT	OBJECT	POSSESSIVE	REFLECTIVE	DEMONSTRATIVE	POSSESSIVE	DEMONSTRATIVE
Me you I have she Item we you they	Yo you him her Item us you them	mine yours his hers   ours yours theirs	myself yourself himself herself itself ourselves yourselves themselves	this that these those	my your his her its our your their	this that these those

 

Look at the following example showing pronouns and determiners used for cohesion.

Example

A certain student worked very hard on a project.  He did all of the work on it by himself, and his professor was very pleased with this work.

In this example, the pronoun He refers to the noun student, the pronoun it refers to the noun project, the pronoun himself refers to the noun students, the determiner his refers to the noun student, and the determiner this refers to the noun work. These pronouns and determiners help to make the passage cohesive.

EXERCISE 2  : Fill in each blank in a passage with one of the pronouns or determiners from the box above the passage to make the passage cohesive.  You should use each answer one time only.

 

her

herself

she

them

this

this

 

1.     A researcher has been conducting a study on the causes of a certain disease.  She has been conducting   ______   study by  ________ .  Up to now,   ________ has determined several possible causes of the disease and has decided to focus on the most promising of  ________ .  Though  _________   research has not yet yielded a conclusive result, the researcher hopes   _________  will happen soon.

 

It

mine

our

our

ourselves

ourselves

this

we

your

 

 You and I have __________ work cut out for  _________ .  You have to finish _______   part of the project, and I have to finish  _________  .  Then when we have each finished  ________   own parts of the project, _______ can get together to finish ______.  We have to take it upon _________   to get  _________   project done.

 

their

them

themselves

themselves

these

they

they

 

3.     Some students have a huge assignment to complete by Friday.  However, _____   students have procrastinated for quite some time, and now  _____  are in a bit of a fix, so   ______  only hope of finishing the assignment on time is for  ______  to stay up all night for the next two nights to get it done.  The students have gotten  _______   into this situation, and now _____   will have to work very hard to get   _________   out of it.

 

he

he

he

him

himself

his

his

it

this

 

 A particular student is regretting that he signed up for a particular course.  Unfortunately,  ________   signed up for   _____  course because  _____  thought that _____ could be quite interesting.  It did not take long for  ______ to figure out that  ______   reasoning had been rather faulty.  He told  ______  that _____ needed to be more careful in ______ decision making in the future.