4 Paragraph cohesion Learning objectives ● ●
To understand how to use paragraphs and a range of linking connectives to organise ideas. To decide on the best order for a set of paragraphs.
Exploring skills Paragraphs help us introduce a new point or topic, or a different time, place or person, and to develop and expand on previous ideas. Read how this student describes the build-up to a holiday.
I had been looking forward to our holiday for weeks. Each day I crossed off a date on the calendar. I mooched around the kitchen getting under mum’s feet. I sat and stared out of the window at our street. The hours dragged by, but eventually it was time for us to go. I crossed off the last day on the calendar and went to bed even though I couldn’t sleep. The next morning, the bus ride to the airport was dreadful: we had roadworks, a demonstration and even a herd of cattle that wouldn’t move! I thought we weren’t going to make it. Finally, we made it to Check-in. As we queued up I could see the look of relief on dad’s face. At the desk, the assistant looked at us blankly when we handed over our passports and ticket printout. ‘Your flight is tomorrow, not today,’ she said, pointing to the date on our tickets. 1 Note down how this text is held together by cohesion. Consider: ●
the different topics or information in each paragraph ● how time or sequence phrases help ● how the content is organised. For example, why is ‘airport’ not mentioned again once ‘Check-in’ appears in paragraph 3?
Building skills
topic sentence introduces idea that this is about holidays and writer’s feelings details within the paragraph develop the topic linking phrase (connective) relating to time topic sentence introduces terrible bus ride sequence word (connective) relating to feelings and time topic sentence introduces where this part of narrative takes place
Key y term ms cohesion: how a paragraph is knitted together and linked to other paragraphs around it. Topic sentences, connectives and linking phrases all help to make a text cohesive.
2 Add a further paragraph to the text above. Use one of the following situations and a topic sentence to make the situation clear: the ride back in the bus ● Mum and Dad arguing back at the flat ● the next morning. ●
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Section 1 Building Key Skills
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