|
Grammar Hotline >>> Writing & Grammar Resources
Cohesion: Connecting the Known to the New
One can read a coherent paragraph much easier than one that is not unified. The sentences in a coherent paragraph 'stick' together; they are interwoven or flow into each other and are easily read as a unit and not as an assortment of separate sentences. Sentence cohesion can be improved by strengthening the ties between the known information and the new.
Normally, the sentence's known information is in its first half, and its new information is in its second half. This type of 'known-new' sentence, which is sometimes referred to as the "known-new contract," increases the paragraph's cohesion and helps the reader feel as if he or she is on familiar ground at all times. Also, repeating key words and their variations, like pronouns (words used in place of nouns) and synonyms (words with similar meanings),in your paragraphs helps to strengthen coherence.
Notice in the following example how each of the developmental sentences starts out with known information, then adds new:
TOPIC (MAIN IDEA)
The film director's desire for a more flexible and mobile instrument that would enable the camera to move freely about the set led to more sophisticated machinery.
DEVELOPMENT (SPECIFIC INSTANCES)
1. One such device is the crab dolly, a steel cart mounted on heavy pneumatic tires.
2. This type of dolly can be steered noiselessly and abruptly and contains a pedestal upon which the camera is placed.
3. The pedestal can be raised and lowered during the shot.
The previous paragraph illustrates the known-new contract. It is unified and coherent: each sentence adds new information to the previous sentence. Notice how the sentences' known information is in the first half of the sentence and their new information is in the second half of the sentence. Thus, if an unrelated sentence that does not follow this known-new pattern is added, the paragraph's unity and coherence would be weakened considerably.
(Adapted from Dean Memering's and Frank O'Hare's THE WRITER'S WORK: GUIDE TO EFFECTIVE COMPOSITION. 1st ed. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1980. Lee R. Bobker's Elements of Film.)
back to top
| 
CCNU Connect
