Page 297 - English - Teaching Academic Esl Writing

COHESION ANDCOHERENCE 283
• In most cases, sentence topics are their grammatical subjects, and the rest of the sentence provides information about (comments on) the topic.
For example:
Unlike many lower animals that use their noses to detect mates, predators, and
tion about the topic—new]. Nevertheless,\the sense of smell\\Subject = topic—re- peated/old information] in humans is\incrediblysensitivejjinformation about the thoupmica—nsn[esuwb]j.e(cAt=dtaoptiecd]dforonmotdMepoernridso,n2t0h0e2ir)senseofsmellforsurvival[informa-
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Repeating short and specific sentence subjects/topics creates a co- hesive text particularly in sentences with long predicate phrases (see examples in Strategies for Teaching at the end of the chapter). For L2 writers, to simplify the construction of a cohesive chain, the next sentence should repeat at least one word from the preceding sentence or provide its lexical/ semantic substitute (e.g., a near syn- onym or pronoun).
The third sentence similarly repeats or substitutes one word from the second sentence to create an identifiable cohesive chain.
For example, in Excerpt (3), the cohesive chain is relatively easy to iden- tify, and several cohesive chains are developed simultaneously without in- terfering with one another. Chain [1]moves from coastal erosion to it and then to east coast and west coast, coastal erosion, coastal area, and coastal areas, as well as related (and repeated) nouns shoreline and shorelines. Environment andsociety[2]isconnected tocitiesandvillagesand thentolocalpeople.Cohe- sive line[3] begins with changes and moves to changed, different, and adjust, and line [4] connects fishing to make their living, fishing, and their jobs (also connected to local people by means of the pronoun their in their living, their traditional ways, and their jobs).
(3)Coastalerosion[1]isaproblemthroughouttheUnitedStates,and it[1]occurson theeastcoastandthewestcoast[1].Thecoastalerosion[1]willdirectlyinfluence theenvi- ronment and society[2] in the coastal area [1]. Cities and villages[2] that are located in coastalareas[1]willexperiencechanges3 intheshapeoftheshoreline[1].Whenshore- lines[1]havechanged[1]shapes.fishing4 intidepoohandfromboatswillalsoneedto becomedifferent[3]. So,thelocalpeople[2]whomaketheirliving[4]byfishing[4]willalso have to adjust[3] their traditional ways of doing theirjobs® every day. (Excerpted from a student paper on Ffeople and Environment: Coastal Erosion.)
Although the text in (3) is slightly repetitive, it is highly cohesive and uni- fied. The technique of repeating a word from the immediately preceding sentence is easy to use for L2 writersat most levels of language proficiency.
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