Lesson 17 - Creating Cohesion

LESSON 17 - CREATING COHESION


The sentences in a paragraph should 'stick together'. In order to create this cohesion, we must use connectors. These connectors are also called transition or signal words. They include words like -

First, Second, Third, While, During, At, Then, Next, After, Before, Meanwhile, Soon, Later, Immediately, As soon as, About, Afterward, When, Finally, Until, Yesterday, and so on.

Look at an example that doesn't use these transition words:

Carl went to school. He walked into the classroom. His classmates laughed at him. They pointed at him. He didn't know why they were laughing at him. He looked down. He saw that he was wearing his bedroom slippers. He laughed.

Now look at same example that uses transition words:

Yesterday, Carl went to school. As soon as he arrived, he walked into the classroom. Immediately, his classmates laughed at him. At the same time, they pointed at him. During all this while, he didn't know why they were laughing at him. Finally, he looked down. Then he saw that he was wearing his bedroom slippers. Soon, he laughed too.

The first example sounds choppy and disconnected. The second example is more connected and cohesive because of the use of transition words.


HOMEWORK 17


Rewrite the following passages, using transition words:

1. Sally and Peter decided to go out. They went to a nice restaurant for dinner. They went to the cinema to watch a scary movie. They went to the park for a walk. Peter sent Sally home. He went home.

2. Roy didn't know the answers to his exam. He didn't know what to do. He thought about what his mother would say if he failed his exam. He looked at his friend's exam paper. His teacher saw him. She grabbed his paper and wrote a huge zero in red ink on the front page of his paper.