The cohesion component

1. Universidad de Carabobo. Facultad de Ciencias de la Educación. Escuela de Educación.
Departamento de Idiomas Modernos. Pedagogía de la Gramática.
THE CREATION OF TEXTURE
The Cohesion Component
The concept of cohesion implies the relationship that exist among the elements within the text. It
occurs where the interpretation of some element in the discourse is dependant on that of another. One
presupposes the other in the sense that one element cannot be effectively decoded except by recourse
to the other.
There are five different types of cohesion: reference, substitution, ellipsis, lexical cohesion and
conjunctions.
I. Reference
There are certain items in every language that have the property of reference, items which instead of
being interpreted semantically in theit own right make reference to something else for their
interpretation. Halliday and Hasan (1976) distinguish between exophoric or situational reference and
endophoric or textual reference.
Exophoric: referent outside the text.
Endophoric: referent inside the text.
- Anaphoric
- Cataphoric
Types of references
1. Personal: reference by means of function in speech situation, through the category of
person.
Reference items:
 Personal pronouns
 Possessive determiners
 Possessive pronouns
2. Demonstrative: reference by means of location (space & time) on scale of proximity.
 Near: these, this, here, now.
 Far; those, that, there, then.
 Neutral: definite article “the”

2. 3. Comparative: reference by means of identity or similarity.
 General comparisons:
a. Identity: same, identical, equal, identically.
b. Similarity: similar, similarly, likewise, so, such,
c. Difference: other, else, different, another, differently.
 Particular comparison
a. Quantity or quality: more, fewer, less, better, so, as, comparative adjectives,
equally, such as.
II. Substitution
It is a relation between linguistics items such as words or phrases. It is a process which
implies the replacement of one item by another. Whereas reference is a relationbetween
meanings (a relation on the semantic level), substitution is a relation on the lexico-
grammatical level.
Types of substitution
Since substitution is a grammatical telation in the wording rather than in meaning, its
types are defined grammaticallyrather than semantically. The criterion is based on the
grammatical function of substituted item. In English, the substitute may function as a
noun, as a verb or as a clause. There are three types:
1. Nominal: Nouns (one, ones, same)
Examples:
- Mary likes the blue car and I like the red one
- A: I´ll have two fried eggs with French bread, please.
B: I´ll have the same, please.
2. Verbal: Verbs (do)
Example:
A: Does Mary like baseball?
B: No, but Peter does.

3. 3. Clausal: Clauses (so, not)
Example:
A: Everyone seems to think he´s guilty.
B: If so, no doubt he´ll offer to resign.
A: Would you like cats if you were me?
B: Well, perhaps not
III. Ellipsis
Ellipsis occurs when something that is structurally necessary is left unsaid. It is a relation
within the text, and in great majority of instances the presupposed item is present in the
preceding text, that is to say, ellipsis is normally an anaphoric relation.
Look at the difference among reference, substitution and ellipsis:
1. This is a fine hall. I´m proud to be lecturing in it (Reference)
2. This is a fine hall. I´ve never lectured in a finer one (Substitution)
3. This is a fine hall. I´ve never lectured in a finer (___) (Ellipsis)
Types of Ellipsis
a. Nominal: The head of the nominal group is omitted.
Examples:
Do you want some wine?
No, thanks. I don´t want any (___)
Would you like another apple?
No, that was my third (____)
I like to hear on of yours verses
O.K, I have twelve (____) more.
b. Verbal: one or more words of a verbal group can be omitted. A verbal group
whose structure fully represents all its not elliptical.
Examples:
Have you been swimming?
Yes, I have (___________)
Jane should have been told, but I don´t think she has (________)
Is John going to come?

4. He should (____) if he wants to be taken into account.
Is Sue there?
*Yes, she (____)
In this example it is impossible to have ellipsis;the verb is fully represents its
systematic features.
c. Clausal: It always implies verbal ellipsis, but it goes beyond the elision of the
elision of the verbal group to involve the omission of:
1. Modal element: the subject of the clause together with some element of its
verbal group.
Example: What are you doing?
(____) painting the walls.
2. Prepositional element: some element of the verbal group as well as its
complements or adjuncts.
Example: Who was talking about Paula?
Charles was (_________)
3. A whole clause: the subject as well as the verbal group of the clause are
omitted.
Example:
I kept quite because Mary gets very embarrassed if anyone mentions Peter´s
name.
I don´t know why (___________)
The Duke was / going to plant some roses in the garden yesterday.
Modal element
(subject +finite
element of the
verbal group)
Prepositional element
(the remainder of the verbal group:
complements and adjuncts)

5. IV. Lexical cohesion
It is a cohesive effect achieve by the selection of vocabulary. Lexical relations are the
semantic relationships among words.
Types
Reiteration: it involves the repetition of a lexical item by using the same word, a
synonym, a superordinate or a general word.
Collocation: it is a co- occurrence of lexical items. It is a form of lexical cohesion
expressed by any lexical items which have the tendency to share the same lexical
environment.
V. Conjunction or Conjunctive elements
Conjunctive elements establish a relationship between sentences and paragraphs, but it
does not mean they follow a fixed order. They are not like reference or substitution, that
follow fixed rules about the items to be referred or substituted. Conjunctions are going
to depend on a transitory relationship among the ideas of a text (they subordinate o
coordinate). It is to give coherence to a whole text.
Conjunctive relations:
A. Additive: they establish an additive relation. For example: besides, by the way, and,
moreover.
B. Adversative: they establish an opposed relation. For example: yet, however, though,
but.
C. Causal: they establish a cause and effect relation. For example: so, hence, for this
reason, because of, because.
D. Temporal: they establish a temporal or transitory relationship. For example: then,
meanwhile.