COHESION
A Introduction
w hatis thedifferen ce
betw eena pileofstonesami asto ne wall?
betweenlilie sofwords and a goodpiec e of writte n
English?The answe r to both these questions is organizati onand
cohesio n: t heway things areorderedandjoined
together.Like a stonewall, a good piece of writingis
carefullyconstructedand alltheparts are properlylinked ,
not justput next to each other.Phrases are connected
to form sentences; sentencesare joinedtomake
paragraphs;paragraphsarelinked to gether to build a
text.A Here are two versionsof afable from Aesop, onewell
writtenandtheother badlywritten. In terms of
organizationandcohesion,w hat four thingsdoest he
good writerdothatt he other doesn' t?Avi xen"who had four yo u ng cubs wasw alking down
a roado ne dayw hen she mel alion e sswith hercub.
The vi xens ta rte d to boasta bo u t herfamily, say ing
that she had four cu bs, wher ea sthe poor lionessonly
hadone.
'Only one, ' repli edthe lioness, 'buthe'sa lion !'
*vixen-female foxA vixenw aswalkingdowna road one day andhad
fouryou ngcu bs and a vixenmet a li on ess witha cub
a nd avixen s ta rted to boastabouta vixen 'sfamilyand
saida vix en hadfourcu bsa nd a lionessonly had one
c uba nd a lione ss saida lion e ssonly had one cub but
OIlCcu b wa s alio n.
Mastery of cohesion is extensivelytested in the CAE so
thismodu le,as well asdeveloping writing skills,could
alsobe the keyto a greatlyimprovedexam performance.B A bed wit ha vi ew
This isthe firstpartof a story -but the narrativelacks
cohesion. Each idea is writtenin a short, isolated
sentencewhich doesnot connectto the sentencebefore
or after it. Rewrite each oneas asi ng lesentence;
sometimes itwill be necessaryto add a connecting
word.Dividethose six sentencesinto four paragraphs.- Mickand Ke ith were two bed-riddenold
men. Mick and Keithweresharinga room
in an oldpeople' s home. - Mick had the bednextto the window.
Mick usedto describein lovin gdetailto
his friendthe children playingin the
sunshine, the dogsrunnin g in the park and
any reall ynasty stree t fight s. - Keith lovedthe descripti ons. Keithsoon
becamesick withj ealousy. - Thiswenton fo r years. Onenigh t Mick
was veryill. Mick calledout,' Please ,
Keith ,ring for the nurse. Idon 'tthink I'll
last the night.' - His friend reach ed for the alarm, His
friend thought, 'If he dies,I'llget the bed
next to the window.' - He ignored the calls. He pretendedto be
aslee p.
Yournarrative will startlike this:
Mickand Keith wer etw obed - rid den old men shari ng a
roominan oldpeople'sho me.Writingsub-skills • 1 9