Coherence: Leading to A Good Paragraph

 By: TOEFL consultant

Coherence in writing is one of the elements to make a good paragraph. It truly holds each sentence to be easy to understand and smooth instead of sudden jumps from one purpose to another without connecting by clearly logic. There are four approaches to bind between sentences.


First of all, repeating key nouns is the way to refer back to key nouns regarding as their antecedents.

The second, applying pronouns regards as a substitution of key nouns related. Here, presenting examples makes repeating key nouns and using pronoun clearly.

The third, applying transition signals to connect one idea with others like “for example,” “similarly,” or “otherwise.”

The last, organizing the sentence in logical order helps you achieving coherence. It involves chronological order like “all of all,” “the first,” “on Saturday,” “in July,” or else; logical division of ideas such as “first,” “second,” “third,” and so on; and comparison such as “in comparison,” “similarly,” or “just as” or contrast like “on the other hand,” “in contrast,” or “the most difference.”

 

References

Oshima, Alice and Ann Hogue. 1999. Writing Academic English: Third Edition. Pearson Education: New York.