COHERENCE

COHERENCE

Coherence is another element of a good paragraph. Besides unity, coherence is also important for a writing. Coherence means that the sentence must hold together each other, the movement between one to another must be smooth and logical. There must be no sudden jump from a sentence to sentence. So the reader will understand the whole writing. There are four ways to make a coherence paragraph/writing, the first is repeating keys nouns, the second is using pronouns, the third is using transition signals, and the last is arranging the sentence into logical order.

The first way is repeating key nouns, this is one of the easiest way to reach coherence. By repeating the key nouns, the reader will understand what the text is about. Usually the key nouns are the main subject of the text or sometimes the title of the text.

The second way is using pronoun, this is also easy to do to reach coherence. When the writer uses pronoun (him, it, her, me, etc.) to change the subject or object, make sure the pronoun is right in same person or thing and same number. If the writer use “him” at the first sentence, do not use “me” in the next sentence if it’s  for the same person. And also if the writer writes a singular pronoun in a sentence, do not use a plural pronoun in the next sentence  if it’s for the same person too, unless if the writer wants to talk about another person.

e.g. “I want to meet Joni tonight, He will come to my house” -> Right

e.g. “I want to meet my friends, He will come tonight” -> Wrong

e.g. “I want to meet my friends, One of my friends is Joni, He will come tonight” -> Right

The third way is using transition signals, it is very useful for reader when to stop, move forward, turn etc. it also helps the reader to understand the time you give something in the text (an example, a comparison, a result, etc.). Using transition signal can as a guide to a reader which makes the text easier to read. There are two types of transition signals, they are sentence connector and clause connector. Sentence connector is divided into two parts which are transition phrases (in addition, on the other hand, for example, in conclusion, etc.) and conjunctive adverb (furthermore, thus, therefore, however, etc. Clause connector is also divided into two parts, they are coordinating conjunctions (and, but, yet, so, etc.) and subordinating  conjunctions (although, if, unless, whereas, etc.). There are also others transition signals that aren’t included into any type (in spite of, such as, despite of, etc.). All of the transition signals are very important to reach coherence.

The last way is arranging in logical order, by using it for a paragraph or a text, we can reach coherence. You may arrange the text and decide the type of logical order, but it depends of the topic and purpose. A paragraph can be contain more than one type logical order. For deciding the type of logical order, we can see from the transition signals. There are several common types of logical order such as chronological order, logical division of ideas,  and comparison/contrast.

In conclusion, besides reaching unity, reaching coherence on a text/paragraph is very important. The writer should know and use these four ways on his/her writing for a good result of writing.