Reading: Understanding Text Structure, Cohesion & Coherence
C1 Lesson 2: How Cohesion is Achieved in Complex Texts
Before You Read 🧠
Key Vocabulary
Understanding these advanced concepts is crucial for analyzing text at a C1 level.
Analyzing Cohesion in Different Genres
Skilled writers use different techniques to create cohesion depending on their purpose. Let's compare an academic text and a literary text.
Text 1: An Academic Text
The recent urbanization of provincial towns like Kampot presents a complex set of challenges. The primary issue is the strain on public infrastructure, which was designed for a much smaller population. Consequently, services such as waste management and electricity supply are often inadequate. A second challenge involves the social fabric; this rapid urban growth can lead to a loss of community identity. The former issue, infrastructure, can potentially be solved with sufficient investment; the latter, a loss of social cohesion, is a more intractable problem.
Cohesion Analysis:
- Discourse Markers: The author uses a formal marker, "Consequently," to signal a logical result.
- Lexical Cohesion: The author avoids repetition by using a chain of related terms ("urbanization" → "urban growth").
- Advanced Referencing: The author efficiently refers back to the two challenges using "the former" (infrastructure) and "the latter" (social cohesion).
Text 2: A Literary Description
The rhythm of life by the Kampot river is dictated by the water. In the morning, there is a quiet energy as fishermen prepare their nets, their movements practiced and precise. By midday, this activity subsides, replaced by a sleepy stillness as the sun beats down. Then, as dusk descends, a new vitality emerges; the riverfront awakens with the chatter of families and the hum of evening markets. This daily ebb and flow is the town's constant, gentle pulse.
Cohesion Analysis:
- Lexical Cohesion: Instead of formal connectors, the author creates flow with a chain of related words describing the level of activity: "energy" → "activity subsides" → "stillness" → "vitality emerges" → "awakens".
- Advanced Referencing: In the final sentence, the phrase "This daily ebb and flow" refers back to and summarizes the entire sequence of changing activity described in the paragraph.
Practice What You Learned 🎯
Quiz: Analyze the Cohesion
Read the text below and answer the question.
"The government is considering two main strategies to boost the economy: increasing foreign investment and supporting local small businesses. The former promises rapid growth but risks creating inequality, while the latter may be slower but builds a more resilient local economy."
In this text, what does "the former" refer to?
- A. The local economy
- B. Supporting local small businesses
- C. Increasing foreign investment
→ Answer: C. "The former" refers to the first of the two items mentioned in the preceding sentence, which is "increasing foreign investment."
Key Vocabulary Reference
- Cohesion The quality that makes a text's ideas flow smoothly and logically.
- Cohesive Devices The specific words, phrases, and grammatical structures that create cohesion in a text.
- Lexical Cohesion Creating flow by using chains of words with related meanings (e.g., synonyms).
- Parallelism Using the same grammatical structure for related ideas to create rhythm.
- The former / The latter 'The former' refers to the first of two things just mentioned; 'the latter' refers to the second.
Your Reading Mission ⭐
Cohesion Analysis!
Find a C1-level English article (an editorial or feature article is best). Choose one or two paragraphs to analyze.
- Read the paragraph(s) carefully.
- Identify and write down at least three different cohesive devices the author uses.
- Label each one (e.g., "Discourse Marker," "Lexical Chain," "Advanced Referencing").
This will train your brain to see the "invisible glue" that holds advanced writing together.