If cohesion and coherence is a new area for you, you're recommended to look at the post Cohesion and Coherence (1) before trying the activities here.
The following extracts come from the July 2011 edition
of National Geographic magazine or November 2011 edition
of Scientific American. Analyse the cohesive ties each extract contains,
then check your own answers against the suggested answers which you will find at the end - scroll down the page. Look up any terms which you don’t understand in the ELT Glossary
NB: I
suggest spreading this activity over at least five days, doing no more than one
extract per day. When you come back to do the next extract, review the
answer(s) to what you did before, noting anything you missed so that you are
aware of it if it occurs again.
Extract 1
Six miles outside the town of
Decorah, Iowa, an 890-acre stretch of rolling fields and woods called Heritage
Farm is letting its crops go to seed. It seems counter-intuitive, but then
everything about this farm stands in stark contrast to the surrounding acres of
neatly sown corn and soybean fields that typify modern agriculture.
Extract 2
The popularity of the video game
Angry Birds, in which feathered friends launch themselves at pigs that have
stolen their eggs, may have some people wondering: Do birds get mad in the real
world? Indeed they do - especially when their nests are threatened.
Extract 3
Critics of Martinez's theory point
out that it is rare in archaeology for someone to announce they are going to
find something and then actually find it. "There is no evidence that
Cleopatra tried to hide her grave or would have wanted to." says Duane
Roller..
Extract
4 (Start of first paragraph of the article)
This does not look good. A mysterious piece of metal is
lying on the seabed of the bay of Griefswald, about eight kilometers northeast
of the north German state of Lubmin. A thick layer of rust and mussels encases
the barrel-shaped object. The combined forces of water, salt and marine animals
have been taking their toll for some time now. But what exactly is
it?
The serene waters of Sky Pond, one of
the most popular tourist attractions in northeastern Asia, belie the fact
that it is nestled inside the crater of one of the region's most dangerous
volcanoes - a peak known as Changbai Mountain to the Chinese and Mount Paektu
to the Koreans. That 2,744-meter-tall volcano, which straddles the border
between China and North Korea, last erupted in 1903 but has shown signs of
awakening in recent years.
Suggested Answers
Extract 1
Six miles
outside the town of Decorah, Iowa, an 890-acre stretch of rolling fields and
woods called Heritage Farm is letting its crops go to seed. It seems
counter-intuitive, but then everything about this farm stands in stark contrast
to the surrounding acres of neatly sown corn and soybean fields that typify
modern agriculture.
1) Lexical cohesion : items related to the
lexical fields of a) the countryside - fields, woods, -
and b) the related field of farming - farm, crops, go to seed, sown, corn, soybean.
2) Coherence created by connective expressions : but then indicates
a relationship of concession between the preceding and following propositions.
3) Grammatical cohesion
a) the (town) - cataphoric reference
to Decorah. The definite article expresses shared information and alerts
the reader to the fact that the identity of "town" mentioned must be
retrievable from the text. No town has yet been mentioned but it is named immediately
afterwards, so that the reader equates the two words.
b) its - gender neutral possessive
determiner. Anaphoric reference to "Heritage Farm".
c) It - subject pronoun. Anaphoric
reference to the proposition in the previous sentence (ie letting crops go to
seed)
d) this - demonstrative determiner.
Indicates anaphoric reference to the "same" farm mentioned previously
- ie heritage Farm
e) that - relative pronoun.
Anapghoric reference to acres of neatly sown corn and soybean fields
4) Ellipsis of "which is"
in : ...and woods (which is) called Heritage Farm
Extract 2
The popularity
of the video game Angry Birds, in which feathered
friends launch themselves at pigs that have
stolen their eggs, may have some people wondering : Do birds
get mad in the real world? Indeed they do - especially
when their nests are threatened.
1) Lexical cohesion :
a) Items in the lexical field of ornithology - birds,
feathered, eggs, nests
b) Synonyms - angry, mad - used to avoid
repetition of the same word, making the text more interesting.
2) Grammatical cohesion
a) the (video game) Cataphoric
reference to "Angry Birds", placed in apposition to the
phrase. The definite article expresses shared information and alerts the
reader to the fact that the identity of the "video game"
mentioned must be retrievable from the text. No game has yet been mentioned but
it is named immediately afterwards, so that the reader equates the two phrases.
b) which - relative pronoun used for
anaphoric reference to "things" - here the video game Angry Birds.
c) themselves - 3rd person plural
reflexive pronoun. Anaphoric reference to "feathered friends"
d) that - relative pronoun -
anaphoric reference to pigs.
e) their - 3rd person plural
possessive pronoun. Anaphoric reference to "feathered friends".
f) do - operator for present simple
verbs. Substitutes for "get mad in the real world" to avoid
repetition.
g) their - 3rd
person plural possessive pronoun. Anaphoric reference to "birds"
Extract 3
Critics of Martinez's theory point out that it is rare in
archaeology for someone to announce they are going to find something and then
actually find it. "There is no evidence that Cleopatra tried to hide her
grave or would have wanted to." says Duane Roller.
Lexical cohesion
The coherence of the statement in
sentence 1 and the opinion expressed in sentence 2 mean that, by
implication, Duane Roller is understood by the reader as being one
of the previously mentioned Critics of Martinez's theory.
Grammatical cohesion
1. Anaphoric Reference
a) they - genderless singular 3rd
person subject pronoun, refers back to someone.
b) it (at end of sentence 1)
3rd person singular object pronoun referring back to something.
c) her - 3rd person singular feminine
possessive determiner, refers back to Cleopatra
2. Cataphoric Reference
it (in it is rare): impersonal 3rd person
subject pronoun, refers forward to the idea for someone to announce they
are going to find something and then actually find it. -
ie what is rare
3. Ellipsis
a) After a co-ordinating conjunction (and, but,
or) everything in a previous clause which would be repeated in the
following clause(s) can be ellipted:
Sentence 1 - after and : and
then (it is rare in archeology for someone) to actually
find it.
Sentence 2 - after or :
or (that Cleopatra) would have,...
b) After a catenative verb, if the following verb is
identical to a previous one, it can be omitted .
Sentence 2 : or would
have wanted to (hide her grave)
Extract 4 (Start of first paragraph of the article)
This does not look good. A mysterious
piece of metal is lying on the seabed of the bay of Griefswald, about eight
kilometers northeast of the north German state of
Lubmin. A thick layer of rust and mussels encases the barrel-shaped object.
The combined forces of water, salt and marine animals have been taking their
toll for some time now. But what exactly is it?
1) Grammatical cohesion
a) This: Proximal demonstrative. Cataphoric (forward pointing) reference to
the mysterious piece of metal specified in sentence 2.
b) The x 4 - the seabed/ the bay / the north German state of Lubmin / the combined forces: Definite article. Cataphoric
reference. “the” alerts the reader to the fact that the following noun
phrase will be shared knowledge, and that the bay/state/forces being
referred to will be specified in the following post-modifying prepositional
phrase.
c) The (followed by barrel shaped object): Anaphoric (backward pointing) reference to the mysterious
piece of metal. The use of the definite article alerts the reader to the
fact that the noun phrase is shared knowledge, and a contextually synonymous
noun phrase can be found in the previous text.
d) Their: 3rd person plural possessive determiner. Anaphoric
reference to The combined forces of water, salt and marine animals.
e) It: third person singular object pronoun referring to things.
Anaphoric reference to the mysterious piece of metal/barrel shaped object
equated previously.
NB: Note how the fact that the two
pronouns (in d and e) above are singular or plural “narrows down”
the possible referents that the reader has to choose from.
2) Coherence created by connective
expressions
But: Sentence adverb indicating
concession – ie a change in direction of the discourse. The previous text has
described the object. Sentence 5 indicates the writer will now go on to
identify it.
3) Lexical Cohesion
a)
Lexical items connected with the sea: seabed, mussels, water, salt
b)
Lexical items connected with materials : metal, rust
c)
Geographical indications: eight kilometers northeast,
north German,
Extract 5
The serene waters of Sky Pond, one of
the most popular tourist attractions in northeastern Asia, belie the fact
that it is nestled inside the crater of one of the region's most dangerous
volcanoes - a peak known as Changbai Mountain to the Chinese and Mount Paektu
to the Koreans. That 2,744-meter-tall volcano, which straddles the border
between China and North Korea, last erupted in 1903 but has shown signs of
awakening in recent years.
1. Grammatical cohesion - cataphoric reference:
(line 1) "The serene waters of Sky
Pond,": The indicates shared knowledge
between writer and reader. Hee the reader finds out which "serene
waters" are referred to only by the postmodification in the noun
phrase - ie those of Sky Pond. The same thing happens with the instances
of the in
(l.1) "one of the most popular
tourist attractions in northeastern Asia";
(l.1) "the fact that it is
nestled inside... etc";
(l.2) "the crater of
one of ...etc"
(l.3) "the border between China
and North Korea"
2. Grammatical cohesion - Anaphoric reference:
(l.2) it - subject pronoun replacing full noun
phrase; refers back to Sky Pond (l.1)
(l.2) the region - as the indicates shared knowledge, the
reader interprets the region as referring back to northeastern
Asia (l.1).
(l.3) That - demonstrative
determiner. indicating the volcano described afterwards is the one already
described in the text as Changbai Mountain/ Mount Paektu.
(ls. 3-4)
(l.4) which - relative pronoun acting as subject
and referring back to the volcano mentioned in the previous noun phrase.
3. Grammatical Cohesion: Ellipsis
(l.3) ^^known as Changbai Mountain -
reduced relative clause (omission of relative pronoun and verb BE) - which
is
(l.3) and ^^^^Mount Paektu - ellipsis after
co-ordinating conjunction (and) of words identical in the
preceding clause - which is known as
(l.4) but ^^^^^has shown signs - again, ellipsis
after co-ordinating conjunction (but) of words identical in
the preceding clause - That 2,744-meter-tall volcano
4. Grammatical Cohesion : Apposition
Juxtaposition of phrases naming/describing the same thing:
Sky Pond, one
of the most popular tourist attractions in northeastern Asia
(ls. 2-3 ) one of the most popular tourist attractions in
northeastern Asia - a peak...
5. Lexical cohesion: Lexical field
Lexis in the field of mountains and volcanoes - mount, mountain,
peak, volcano, crater, erupt etc often intended to be understood
as synonyms in order to avoid constant repetition. Other words are also
interpreted as synonyms. including the personification of the volcano seen in
the use of awakening (l.4) to prevent the repetition of erupting.
