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Cohesion Exercise: Combining and Connecting Sentences (Web Article with Exercises) 

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Cohesion Exercise: Combining and Connecting Sentences (Web Article with Exercises) 

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How to use transition words to combine sentences in order to increase cohesion and make the writing more readable.

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The following exercise will give you an opportunity to apply the techniques for combining sentences effectively discussed in the article Cohesion Strategies: Transitional Words and Phrases. If you haven't practiced sentence combining before, you may also find it helpful to review Introduction to Sentence Combining.

Sentence Combining Exercise

Combine the sentences in each set into two clear and concise sentences, eliminating any needless repetition. As you do so, add the transitional word or phrase wherever you think it fits best to show how one sentence relates to another. Remember that transitions are an important component of cohesion.

After you have completed the exercise, compare your sentences with the original excerpts.

1. Instead
Retirement should be the reward for a lifetime of work.
It is widely viewed as a sort of punishment.
It is a punishment for growing old.

2. Therefore
Since the early years of this century, it has been known that viruses cause cancer in chickens. In more recent years viruses have been shown to cause cancer not only in chickens, but also in mice, cats, and even in some primates. It was a reasonable hypothesis that viruses might cause cancer in humans.

3. Next
We drove the wagon close to a corner post.
We twisted the end of the wire around it.
We twisted the wire one foot above the ground.
We stapled it fast.
We drove along the line of posts.
We drove for about 200 yards.
We unreeled the wire on the ground behind us.

4. Indeed
We know very little about pain.
What we don't know makes it hurt all the more.
There is ignorance about pain.
No form of illiteracy in the United States is so widespread.
No form of illiteracy in the United States is so costly.

5. For this reason
The historical sciences have made us very conscious of our past.
They have made us conscious of the world as a machine.
The machine generates successive events out of foregoing ones.
Some scholars tend to look totally backward.
They look backward in their interpretation of the human future.

6. However
Rewriting is something that most writers find they have to do.
They rewrite to discover what they have to say.
They rewrite to discover how to say it.
There are a few writers who do little formal rewriting.
They have the capacity and experience.
They create and review a large number of invisible drafts.
They create and review in their minds.
They do this before they approach the page.

Sample Answers

After you have completed the ten sets, compare your sentences with the originals below. Keep in mind that many effective combinations are possible, and in some cases, you may prefer your own sentences to the original versions.

1. "Retirement should be the reward for a lifetime of work. Instead, it is widely viewed as a sort of punishment for growing old." -Carll Tucker

2. "Since the early years of this century, it has been known that viruses cause cancer in chickens. In more recent years viruses have been shown to cause cancer not only in chickens, but also in mice, cats, and even in some primates. Therefore, it was a reasonable hypothesis that viruses might cause cancer in humans..." (Cigarette Smoking and Disease 1976).

3. "We do not seek solitude. In fact, if we find ourselves alone for once, we flick a switch and invite the whole world in through the television screen," (Raskin 1968).

4. "We were not irresponsible. On the contrary, we were trained to think that each of us should do something that would be of genuine usefulness to the world," (Smith 1949).

5. "Little girls, of course, don't take toy guns out of their hip pockets and say "Pow, pow" to all their neighbors and friends like average well-adjusted little boys. However, if we gave little girls the six-shooters, we would soon have double the pretend body count," (Roiphe 1972).

6. "We drove the wagon close to a corner post, twisted the end of the wire around it one foot above the ground, and stapled it fast. Next, we drove along the line of posts for about 200 yards, unreeling the wire on the ground behind us," (Fischer 1978).

7. "We know very little about pain and what we don't know makes it hurt all the more. Indeed, no form of illiteracy in the United States is so widespread or costly as ignorance about pain," (Cousins 1979).

8. "Many of our street girls can be as vicious and money-mad as any corporation president. Moreover, they can be less emotional than men in conducting acts of personal violence," (Sheehy 1988).

9. "The historical sciences have made us very conscious of our past, and of the world as a machine generating successive events out of foregoing ones. For this reason, some scholars tend to look totally backward in their interpretation of the human future," (Eiseley 1972).

10. "Rewriting is something that most writers find they have to do to discover what they have to say and how to say it. There are, however, a few writers who do little formal rewriting because they have the capacity and experience to create and review a large number of invisible drafts in their minds before they approach the page," (Murray).

Cigarette Smoking and Disease, 1976: Hearings Before the Subcommittee on Health of the Committee on Labor and Public Welfare. United States Senate, Ninety-Fourth Congress, 1976.

Cousins, Norman. "Pain Is Not the Ultimate Enemy." Anatomy of an Illness As Perceived by the Patient. W.W. Norton & Company, 1979.

Eiseley, Loren. The Unexpected Universe. 1st ed., Harvest, 1972.

Fischer, John. "Barbed Wire." Harper's Magazine, July 1978.

Murray, Donald. "The Maker's Eye: Revising Your Own Manuscripts."

Raskin, Eugene. "Walls and Barriers." The Columbia University Forum Anthology. Atheneum Books, 1968.

Roiphe, Anne. "Confessions of a Female Chauvinist Sow." New York, 30 Oct. 1972.

Sheehy, Gail. "$70,000 a Year Tax Free." Patterns of Exposition. Scott Foresman, 1988.

Smith, Lillian. Killers of the Dream. W. W. Norton, 1949.

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Practice Combining Sentences Using Transitional Words

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The following exercise will give you an opportunity to apply the techniques for combining sentences effectively discussed in the article Cohesion Strategies: Transitional Words and Phrases. If you haven't practiced sentence combining before, you may also find it helpful to review Introduction to Sentence Combining.

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Basic Sentence Combining Exercise (Web Article with Exercises)

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Basic Sentence Combining Exercise (Web Article with Exercises)

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This article explains how to combine sentences when necessary in order to increase cohesion and make the writing more readable.

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This exercise will introduce you to sentence combining-that is, organizing sets of short, choppy sentences into longer, more effective ones. However, the goal of sentence combining is not to produce longer sentences but rather to develop more effective sentences--and to help you become a more versatile writer.

Sentence combining calls on you to experiment with different methods of putting words together. Because there are countless ways to build sentences, your goal is not to find the one "correct" combination but to consider different arrangements before you decide which one is the most effective.

Let's consider an example. Start by looking at this list of eight short (and repetitive) sentences:

She was our Latin teacher.

We were in high school.

She was tiny.

She was a birdlike woman.

She was swarthy.

She had dark eyes.

Her eyes were sparkling.

Her hair was graying.

Now try combining those sentences into three, two, or even just one clear and coherent sentence: in the process of combining, omit repetitive words and phrases (such as "She was") but keep all of the original details.

Have you succeeded in combining the sentences? If so, compare your work with these sample combinations:

Our Latin teacher in high school was a tiny woman. She was swarthy and birdlike. She had dark, sparkling eyes and graying hair.

When we were in high school, our Latin teacher was a tiny woman. She was swarthy and birdlike, with dark, sparkling eyes and graying hair.

Our high school Latin teacher was a swarthy, birdlike woman. She was tiny, with dark, sparkling eyes and graying hair.

Our Latin teacher in high school was a birdlike woman, tiny and swarthy, with graying hair and dark, sparkling eyes.

Remember, there's no single correct combination. In fact, there are usually several ways to combine sentences in these exercises. After a little practice, however, you'll discover that some combinations are clearer and more effective than others.

If you're curious, here is the sentence that served as the original model for this little combining exercise:

Our high school Latin teacher was a tiny, birdlike woman, swarthy, with sparkling dark eyes, graying hair.
(Charles W. Morton, It Has Its Charm)

An unusual combination, you might say. Is it the best version possible? As we'll see in later exercises, that question can't be answered until we look at the combination in the context of the sentences that precede and follow it. Nevertheless, certain guidelines are worth keeping in mind as we evaluate our work in these exercises.

After combining a set of sentences in a variety of ways, you should take the time to evaluate your work and decide which combinations you like and which ones you don't. You may do this evaluation on your own or in a group in which you will have a chance to compare your new sentences with those of others. In either case, read your sentences out loud as you evaluate them: how they sound to you can be just as revealing as for how they look.

Here are six basic qualities to consider when you evaluate your new sentences:

1. Meaning. As far as you can determine, have you conveyed the idea intended by the original author?

2. Clarity. Is the sentence clear? Can it be understood on the first reading?

3. Coherence. Do the various parts of the sentence fit together logically and smoothly?

4. Emphasis. Are keywords and phrases put in emphatic positions (usually at the very end or at the very beginning of the sentence)?

5. Conciseness. Does the sentence clearly express an idea without wasting words?

6. Rhythm. Does the sentence flow, or is it marked by awkward interruptions? Do the interruptions help to emphasize key points (an effective technique), or do they merely distract (an ineffective technique)?

These six qualities are so closely related that one can't be easily separated from another. The significance of the various qualities-and their interrelationship-should become clearer to you as you continue to work on this skill.

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Introduction to Sentence Combining Exercises - Example Combinations

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This exercise will introduce you to sentence combining-that is, organizing sets of short, choppy sentences into longer, more effective ones. However, the goal of sentence combining is not to produce longer sentences but rather to develop more effective sentences--and to help you become a more versatile writer.

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Directed Learning: Cohesion (Web Article)

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Directed Learning: Cohesion (Web Article)

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This article provides simple, easy to read examples of sentences that are not cohesive and ways to revise them.

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Does my paragraph flow?
In cohesive writing, ideas seem to flow from one sentence to the next. Making your ideas flow is not rocket science. It just takes realizing that your reader is more comfortable when you present familiar information before new information. We call this the OLD + NEW formula, and sentences in English usually follow this order; new ideas build on previously stated ideas. This creates flow.

Read the two paragraphs below. Which one flows better?

1. Costa Rica is one of the most beautiful countries in the world. The southern part of Costa Rica is characterized by dense rain forests, which contain some of the world's most unusual wildlife. Hoping to get a bird's eye view of these animals, tourists take zip lining tours through the top canopy of the rain forest. Located in Central America, it borders Nicaragua to the north and Panama to the south. Some of the interesting creatures found in these forests include tree frogs, white-faced monkeys, and sloths.

2. Costa Rica is one of the most beautiful countries in the world. Located in Central America, it borders Nicaragua to the north and Panama to the south. The southern part of Costa Rica is characterized by dense rain forests, which contain some of the world's most unusual wildlife. Some of the interesting creatures found in these forests include tree frogs, white-faced monkeys, and sloths. Hoping to get a bird's eye view of these animals, tourists take zip lining tours through the top canopy of the rain forest.

Paragraph 2 flows better because it follows an OLD info + NEW info pattern. The first sentence introduces the topic of Costa Rica and its relation to the world. The second sentence tells its location in the world. The third sentence continues with more details on a specific part of Costa Rica (the southern part) that was mentioned in the second sentence and so on. The more closely related the topics between one sentence and the next are, the more the paragraph will flow.

When you want to introduce new information that hasn't previously been mentioned, that is usually an indication that you need to start a new paragraph, or you need a transition word to tell the reader you are moving on to a new topic. For example, let's say you want to add the following sentence to the paragraph above about Costa Rica's exports: Costa Rica's top three exports are bananas, pineapples, and coffee. You might want to add a transition sentence before it such as In addition to its natural beauty, Costa Rica's arable land provides the country with its main sources of revenue. The top three exports are bananas, pineapples, and coffee.

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LibGuides: Writing : Cohesion: Does my Paragraph Flow?

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Does my paragraph flow? In cohesive writing, ideas seem to flow from one sentence to the next. Making your ideas flow is not rocket science. It just takes realizing that your reader is more comfortable when you present familiar information before new information.

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How to Write Clearly: Cohesion and Coherence (YouTube Video)

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How to Write Clearly: Cohesion and Coherence (YouTube Video)

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This video explains the differences between cohesion and coherence and then walks us through restructuring a paragraph to increase cohesion and coherence, making the paragraph make more sense and increase readability. The video is 4:44 long.

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How to Write Clearly: Cohesion & Coherence

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This video breaks down how you can use adverbs, conjunctions, and pronouns to help create cohesion, or logical flow in your writing. The video is 1:41 long.

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This web article provides some practical examples of good and bad cohesion in writing. It also explains some "cohesive devices" or things you can do to make sure your writing is cohesive.

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Cohesive writing is writing that creates clear and logical relationships among ideas. We often describe writing that cohesively ties ideas together in a seamless way as writing that "flows" and writing that doesn't as "choppy."

While cohesion may be achieved by a variety of means, we address two particularly effective strategies here: 1) the known-new contract and 2) metadiscourse.

1. The known-new contract

The known-new contract identifies a way of ordering ideas or information that communicates what is already known before introducing a new topic.

For example, if someone says to you, all of a sudden and without any context, "It is broken," you will have to ask that person "What is?" Because no known information has been introduced, the subject of the sentence, "it," doesn't have a clear referent. If, however, the person had said, "Do you remember the vase that I like? It is broken," you would understand the relationship between "the vase" and "it."

In this case, "the vase," which is new information in the first sentence, becomes the known information in the second sentence (referred to by "it"). The next sentence will likely, then, still be about the vase and its condition, and not, for example, about a different topic. It is easier to follow the information presented like this:

Do you remember the vase that I like? It's broken. It fell off the table.

than if it is presented like this:

Do you remember the vase that I like? It fell off a table and now it's broken. My aunt had one just like it.

In the second example, the third sentence ("My aunt had one just like it.") introduces an unexpected subject (my aunt) as well as an unclear reference to "it," which in this case could refer to the table or the vase. By following a regular sequence of known information preceding new information, as in the first example, you make it easier for readers to follow your train of thought.

Perhaps one of the most helpful features of the known-new contract is that it applies at the sentence, paragraph, and chapter level. It's an all-purpose strategy for organizing ideas and presenting information. It may also help to picture it in this way:

[known . . . new] → [known (i.e., what was new in the previous sentence, or paragraph, or chapter) . . . new] → [known . . . new] → [known . . . new] . . .

Let's take a look at this strategy in practice. The following passage comes from a student's essay:

Hard work and perseverance will lead to socioeconomic success in the USA. However, "limited English proficient students were found to be more disadvantaged economically than other students" (Porter 23), and without a high school education, the doors to equality remain closed for many immigrants. Herein rests the importance of education in the American culture. High profile jobs are available only to educated individuals with English fluency.

In this passage, the writer covers a lot of territory, beginning with "hard work and perseverance," moving quickly on to "'limited English profiency standards,'" and eventually to "the doors to equality." Even though these topics appear in a paragraph that focuses on a single theme-the relationship between economic success and English proficiency-as subjects of individual sentences, they bear no relationship to one another. This weakness is most apparent when we get to the sentence that begins with "herein." At this point in the passage, most readers will question what "herein" refers to: Is it one or all of the previously mentioned topics? As a result of this ambiguity, the writer's argument remains embedded in several sentences that never quite cohere, and readers move away from the passage never having clearly understood what the writer was trying to say.

Establishing the known-new contract

There are a variety of ways to establish the known-new contract in your writing:

1.1 pronouns

Pronouns stand in for nouns that come before them. We call these nouns antecedents. By establishing a clear relationship to their antecedents, pronouns can help create cohesion. For example:

William Faulkner's work illustrates a narrative technique called stream of consciousness. A device that reveals a character's thoughts and feelings as they occur, stream of consciousness attempts to replicate the internal workings of the mind. When put into practice, it can be a powerful narrative feature.

In this example, repetition and pronoun use help maintain the subject thread "stream of consciousness."

1.2 synonyms or near synonyms

Synonyms are words that share similar meaning. Using synonyms to refer to known information and to avoid repeating the same word multiple times is an effective strategy for establishing cohesion. For example:

Rats are dirty animals. These large rodents live in damp and dark places . . .

In these two sentences, "rats" and "these large rodents" refer to the same group of animals.

1.3 passive voice

Passive constructions can help establish cohesion if the subject in the passive voice represents known information from a previous sentence. For example:

Sue was a great student. Unfortunately, she was hit by a car and was unable to finish the quarter.

as opposed to

Sue was a great student. Unfortunately, a car hit her, and she was unable to finish the quarter.

In the first version, the pronoun "she" refers to known information ("Sue") from the previous sentence. This version follows the known-new contract. However, the second version violates the known-new contract because the topic jumps to "the car" instead of staying with "Sue", and "the car" is new information that has not been introduced before. This shift gives the writer's sentences a choppy quality that the first example avoids by abiding by the known-new contract. For more on passive voice, click here.

2. Metadiscourse

Metadiscourse refers to signal words and phrases that explicitly link sentences and paragraphs together by indicating relationships among ideas. Examples of such relationships include:

2.1 contradiction, which may be indicated by:but, however, nevertheless, although, on the other hand, etc.

2.2 cause-effect: as a result, consequently, etc.

2.3 reason-conclusion: therefore, because, hence, etc.

2.4 elaboration: in other words, to put it simply, that is to say, etc.

2.5 addition: additionally, moreover, furthermore, besides, etc.

Signal words sometimes require careful use of punctuation, so take a moment to familiarize yourself with how careful punctuation can help you avoid creating comma splices, fused sentences, or sentence fragments. Click here for more about sentence structure.

Conclusion

In this section we introduced strategies for establishing cohesion in writing: the known-new contract and metadiscourse. Both strategies figure prominently in writing that communicates directly and logically with readers.

Back to Grammar in College Writing

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Cohesive writing is writing that creates clear and logical relationships among ideas. We often describe writing that cohesively ties ideas together in a seamless way as writing that "flows" and writing that doesn't as "choppy." While cohesion may be achieved by a variety of means, we address two particularly effective strategies here: 1) the known-new contract and 2) metadiscourse.

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Cohesion in Writing Definition (Graphic/Image)

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Cohesion in Writing Definition (Graphic/Image)

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This is a graphic that defines "cohesion" and some of its key aspects.

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Cohesion in Writing Definition (Graphic/Image)

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Cohesion in Writing Definition (Graphic/Image)

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This is a graphic that defines "cohesion" and some of its key aspects