Chapter 2 Unity and Coherence

Chapter 2Unity and Coherence

UnityAn important element of a good paragraph is unity. Unity means that a paragraph discusses one and only one main idea from beginning to end. For example, if your paragraph is about the advantages of owning a compact car, discuss only that. Do not discuss the disadvantages.

The second part of unity is that every supporting sentence must directly explain or prove the main idea. For example, in a paragraph about the high cost of prescription drugs in the United States, you could mention buying drugs from pharmacies outside the United States as an alternative, but if you write several sentences about buying drugs outside the United States, you are getting off the topic, and your paragraph will not have unity.

Study the book and check the exercises on pages 19-20-21

CoherenceAnother element of a good paragraph is coherence. The Latin verb cohere means "hold together." For coherence in writing, the sentences must hold together; that is, the movement from one sentence to the next must be logical and smooth. There must be no sudden jumps. Each sentence should flow smoothly into the next one.

There are four ways to achieve coherence:

• 1. Repeat key nouns.2. Use consistent pronouns.3. Use transition signals to link ideas.

• 4. Arrange your ideas in logical order.

The easiest way to achieve coherence is to repeat key nouns frequently in your paragraph. Read the model paragraph about gold to see how it uses this technique to smooth the flow of sentences. The key noun in this paragraph is gold. Circle the word gold and all pronouns that refer to it.

Repetition of Key Nouns

SAMPLE with Coherence

You should have circled the noun gold seven times, the pronoun it twice, and the pronoun its three times. (The word it in sentence 5 refers to coin, not gold, so you should not have circled it.)There is no fixed rule about how often to repeat key nouns or when to substitute pronouns. You should repeat a key noun instead of using a pronoun when the meaning is not clear.Throughout the following paragraph, the word gold has been replaced by pronouns, making the paragraph much less coherent.

Consistent Pronouns

When you use pronouns, make sure that you use the same person and number throughout your paragraph. Don't change from you to he or she (change of person) or from he to they (change of number).

For example, how can pronouns eliminate repetition in the following passage?

• Jamie enjoys playing the clarinet. Jamie plays the clarinet every evening. Jamie ’s brother becomes annoyed when Jamie practices.

• When the passage is revised using pronouns, it conveys the same information much more concisely.

• Jamie enjoys playing the clarinet. She practices it every evening. Her brother becomes annoyed when she practices.

Transition SignalsTransition signals can be categorized into three groups by grammatical function. The three groups are:

• sentence connectors (including transition phrases and conjunctive adverbs) ,

• clause connectors (including coordinating conjunctions and subordinating conjunctions), and

• mixed group called others.

Transition Signals

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Meaning/ Function

Sentence Connectors

Clause ConnectorsOthers (Adjectives,

Verbs, and Prepositions)

Coordinators Subordinators

To introduce similar additional idea

alsobesidesfurthermorein additionmoreovertoo

andnor(“and not)

anotheran additional

To compare things alsolikewisesimilarlytoo

andboth ... andnot only ... but alsoneither ... nor

asjust as

as ... aslike/ alikejust likesimilar tobe alikebe similar

To introduce an opposite idea, and to contrast things

howeverin contrastinsteadin/ by comparisonneverthelessnonethelesson the other handon the contrarystill

butyet

althougheven thoughthoughwhereaswhile

despitein spite ofcompared to/ withbe different (from)be dissimilarbe unlikediffer (from)

Transition Signals


Meaning/ Function

Sentence Connectors




To introduce an example

for examplefor instance

such asan example of

To emphasize in fact To explain and restate

indeedthat is

To introduce an alternative

otherwise or ifunless

To signal chronological order

first, second, etc.first of allthen, nextnow, then, soonlast finallymeanwhilegraduallyafter thatsince then

afterasas soon asbeforesinceuntilwhenwhile

the first, the secondthe next, the last, the finalbefore lunchafter the warsince ....in the year ...

Transition Signals


Meaning/ Function

Sentence Connectors




To indicate order of importance

above allfirst and foremostmore/ most importantly/ significantlyprimarily

a more importantthe most importantthe second most significantthe primaily

To introduce a cause or reason

for becausesinceas

result frombe the result ofdue tobecause ofthe effect ofthe consequence ofas a result ofas a consequence of

To introduce an effect or result

accordinglyas a resultas a consequenceconsequentlyhence, thustherefore

So result incausehave an effect onaffectthe cause ofthe reason for

Transition Signals


Meaning/ Function

Sentence Connectors




To conclude all in all,in brief,in conclusion,in short,in summary,indeed,

It is clear that ...We can see that ...The evidence suggets that ...These examples show that ...

PracticeCircle all the transition signals in the following paragraphs.

Check your coursebook pages 30-31-32-33-34

Logical Order• In addition to using transition signals and repeating key nouns and

pronouns, a fourth way to achieve coherence is to arrange your sentences in some kind of logical order.

• Your choice of one kind of logical order over another will, of course, depend on your topic and your purpose. You may even combine two or more different logical orders in the same paragraph. The important point to remember is to arrange your ideas in some kind of order that is logical to a reader accustomed to the English way of writing.

• Some common kinds of logical order in English are chronological order, logical division of ideas, and comparison/contrast.

Chronological order is order by time-a sequence of events or steps ina process. The model paragraph on how to grow an avocado tree (check your coursebook page 33) uses time order to organize the steps.

In logical division of ideas, a topic is divided into parts, and each part is discussed separately.

In a comparison/contrast paragraph, the similarities and/or differences between two or more items are discussed.

Sources:

http://www.starkstate.edu/public/system/uploads/files/Writing-Center/Pronoun-consistancy.pdf

http://www.slideshare.net/edibrata/essay-writing-unity-and-coherence-7968332








Chapter 2 Unity and Coherence

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