Cohesion is one of the most important aspects of effective writing. Simply put, cohesion means that a piece of writing has a logical structure and that each idea is connected to the purpose or aim. It also means that each sentence connects to the one before it and the one after it. If your writing is longer, it means that each paragraph makes sense in relation to the others, and it is in a position that helps the reader clearly and completely understand the whole text.

There are several things that you can do to improve the cohesion of your writing.

Repetition of keywords

One of the simplest ways to make your writing cohesive is by repeating keywords or using similar words throughout the text. Read the following passage:

Visiting an art gallery is a great activity if you want to better understand and appreciate art. If you have never visited an art gallery before, you may not know how to get the most out of your time there. While there is no right or wrong way to experience an art gallery, there are a few easy steps you can take before, during, and after your visit that will help make sure you have a positive, memorable experience.

As you can see, the words visit, art gallery, and experience are repeated throughout the passage. Sometimes they are repeated exactly, and sometimes they are repeated in slightly different forms. In the vocabulary sections of many of the reading and listening lessons of this course, you will have seen words being transformed in this way; check back through some of those lessons to see this in action.

Replacement


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Exercise

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