While both cohesion and coherence play crucial roles in creating clear and unified texts, they are not the same thing. Imagine cohesion as the threads that connect words and sentences, holding them together, while coherence is the woven pattern they form, making sense of the whole piece.
Cohesion
- Focuses on the surface level: how sentences are grammatically and lexically linked.
- Achieved through:
- Grammatical devices: pronouns, anaphora, ellipsis, conjunctions, transition words.
- Lexical devices: repetition, synonyms, antonyms, collocations.
- Example: “The dog chased the cat. It (the cat) climbed a tree.” (Pronoun “it” links the sentences.)
Coherence – the basics
- Focuses on the deeper meaning: how ideas and information hang together logically and make sense to the reader.
- Achieved through:
- Logical flow of ideas: cause-and-effect, chronological order, compare-and-contrast.
- Shared knowledge and assumptions: background information, context, reader expectations.
- Topic relevance: all content contributes to the central theme.
- Example: “The dog chased the cat, but it (the cat) cleverly outsmarted it by climbing a tree. After all, cats are known for their agility.” (Sentence explains why the cat climbed the tree and connects to the theme of cats’ abilities.)
Coherence – advanced
- Text coherence primarily relates to how ideas are organized throughout the text. Choosing the most appropriate rhetorical (or reasoning) patterns can oftentimes be the difference between a coherence and incoherence text. Rhetorical patterns include the following:
- most important to the least important (or vice versa)
- general to the specific
- theoretical to the practical
- chronological
- process
- spacial
- categorical
- compare and contrast
- cause-and-effect
- chain reasoning
- etc.
- Text cohesion relates to referencing. Referencing relates to anaphoric, cataphoric, and exophoric referencing (Wikipedia).
- Anaphoric reference occurs when the writer refers back to someone or something that has been previously identified, to avoid repetition. Some examples: replacing “the taxi driver” with the pronoun “he” or “two girls” with “they”. Another example can be found in formulaic sequences such as “as stated previously” or “the aforementioned”.
- Cataphoric reference is the opposite of anaphora: a reference forward as opposed to backward in the discourse. Something is introduced in the abstract before it is identified. For example: “Here he comes, our award-winning host… it’s John Doe!” Cataphoric references can also be found in written text.
- Exophoric reference is used to describe generics or abstracts without ever identifying them (in contrast to anaphora and cataphora): e.g. rather than introduce a concept, the writer refers to it by a generic word such as “everything”. The prefix “exo” means “outside”, and the persons or events referred to in this manner are never identified by the writer.
- Note: Exophoric references only become non-cohesive if the referent is beyond the scope of understanding of the target audience.
Examples of Cohesion without Coherence
- “The blue car sped down the road. The toaster was broken. However, I prefer orange juice.” (Grammatical links exist, but ideas are unrelated.)
- “He woke up. He ate breakfast. He brushed his teeth. He left the house. He remembered he forgot his keys. He went back inside.” (Chronological order, but lacks purpose or context.)
Examples of Coherence without Cohesion
- “The silence in the abandoned library was deafening. Whispers seemed to echo from dusty shelves, memories clinging to the air like cobwebs. Fear crept in, a cold tendril winding its way down my spine.” (Vivid imagery and strong thematic connection, but lacking obvious grammatical links.)
- “First, the revolution ignited in the hearts of the people. Then, the flames of defiance roared through the streets. Finally, the tyrant’s reign crumbled to dust.” (Clear cause-and-effect structure, but lacking transition words.)
Remember: Effective writing achieves both cohesion and coherence. Strong grammatical connections build the framework, while logical flow and clear meaning add substance and depth. Think of it as weaving a tapestry: each thread (cohesion) matters, but ultimately, the picture (coherence) is what captivates the viewer.
By understanding the nuances of these terms, you can craft texts that are not only grammatically sound but also engaging and meaningful for your readers.
