WritingCoherentParagraphs写作连贯的段落

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WritingCoherentParagraphs

Definition.Aparagraphiscoherentwhenitssentencesarerelatedtoeachother.Rememberthatthe

purposeofasentenceistocommunicatetheobjectivesofapieceofwriting.Sentencesservelittle

purpose,therefore,unlesstheyhavesomethingtodowiththeothersentencesinaparagraph.Paragraphcoherenceexistswheneachsentenceinaparagraphservesapurposeandthereadersknowwhatthat

purposeis.

Therelatednessofsentencescomesfromcoherencetechniques(seebelow).Ifthesetechniquesareabsent,sentencesmayseemonlyrandomlyormarginallyrelevanttotheparagraph.Anincoherentparagraph

ramblesfromideatoidea,withnosignthatthewriterhasthoughtaboutwhatcommunicativepurposesits

sentencesserve.

CoherenceandPurpose.Consequently,atsomepointawritermustknowthepurposeofeachparagraph

shehaswritten.Paragraphclassification(seetheseparatehandout)aidsindeterminingparagraphpurpose(thefunctionandrhetoricalstrategyclassificationsareparticularlyrelevant).

Thecoherencetechniquesinaparagraphshouldmirrorthewriter'sintellectualizationofthatparagraph'spurpose.Ifawriterdoesn'tknowthepurposeofaparagraph,coherencetechniquesmaynotwork.

However,ifawriterdoesn'tknowthepurposeofaparagraph,awritercantrytoapplycoherence

techniquesasawayoffiguringoutwhatthatparagraph'spurposeis.Itispossible,Iamarguing,touse

coherencetechniquesself-consciouslytointerrogateone'sownwriting.Inotherwords,intryingto"fake"coherencebymechanicallyapplyingthesetechniques,awritermayachieve"real"coherence.Thewriterwillbeforcinghimselftothinkaboutwhatheistryingtowriteandalsoforcinghimselftolookatwhat

hehasactuallywritten.Recognizingthediscrepancybetweenthoughtandwordisakeymomentinfixing

weaknessesincoherence.

Paragraph-to-ParagraphCoherence.Furthermore,paragraphsmustbecoherentwithrespecttoeachother.Eachparagraphmustcontributetoapieceofwriting'sobjectives,andthereadermustunderstandthe

relationshipbetweenadjacentparagraphstoknowthereasonforeachparagraph'sexistence.Ifanessaycontainsaseriesofparagraphswithnoindicationofwhyoneparagraphfollowsanother,theessayis

incoherent.Tocreatecoherencebetweenparagraphs,usethesamecoherencetechniquesasforcoherencewithinparagraphs.

TheWritingProcess.Coherenceresultsfromstrenuousrevision.Duringdrafting,writersoughttohaveasenseofwhatparagraphsmightassistinfulfillingthewriters'communicativeobjectives,especiallyinthesenseofwhatideasthewrittenworkmustexpress.Intheearlystages,however,thewritermayonlyhaveatenuousgraspofwhatpurposesherparagraphsserve,andevenwhatordertheparagraphsshouldbein.Irecommendthatwritersestablishcoherencebetweenparagraphsbytheendoftherevisionstage.Writersshouldpayattentiontocoherencewithinparagraphsduringrevising,butcoherencewithinparagraphs

mightnotbefullydevelopeduntiltheeditingstage.

CommonCoherenceTechniques

1.Use2.Use3.Use

4.Use

transitionalexpressions.

pronouns

deliberaterepetition.

parallelism.

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1.TransitionalExpressions

Transitionalexpressionsarewordsandphrasesthatindicateconnectionsamongideas.Theiruseiscrucialinwriting.Particularlyinargumentativewriting,thewritershouldconsiderissuesrelatedtocritical

thinking(suchassoundnessofarguments,fallacies,andflawsinpremises).Trynottousethesame

expressionsinthesamepieceofwriting(especiallyifthetextisshort).Athesaurusmaybehelpfulincomingupwithrelevanttransitionalexpressions(butavoidweirdones).Elegantuseoftransitionstakespractice,butinelegantuseisbetterthannouse.

Commontransitionalexpressions(othersarepossible)

Relationship

Expressions

Addition

also,inaddition,too,moreover,and,besides,furthermore,equallyimportant,then,finally,aswell,further,indeed,infact,;[semicolon

Alternative

either…or,ifonly,instead,insteadof,inthatcase,neither..nor,otherwise,ratherthan,unless,whether.…or,or,inotherwords

Causation

asaresultof,because,dueto,for,onaccountof,since

Comparison

similarly,likewise,inthesameway,notonly…butalso,as…as[e.g.,asbigasahouse]

Concession

ofcourse,tobesure,certainly,granted

Contrast

but,yet,however,ontheotherhand,nevertheless,nonetheless,conversely,incontrast,bycontrast,still,atthesametime,although,despite,evenif,whereas,bycomparison

Degreeor

Extent

forthemostpart,so…that[e.g.,sheissoloudthatshedoesn'tneedamicrophone],tosomeextent,tosomedegree,toacertainextent,such…that[e.g.,itissuchalongwaythatIcan'twalk],inpart,partly

Example

forexample,forinstance,thus,asanillustration,namely,specifically,suchas,colon],inthat

Place

inthefront,intheforeground,intheback,inthebackground,attheside,adjacent,nearby,inthedistance,here,there

Purpose

sothat,to,soasto,inorderto,insuchawayasto

Result

therefore,thus,asaresult,so,accordingly,asaresult,itfollowsthat,consequently

Summary

hence,inshort,inbrief,insummary,inconclusion,tosumup

Time

Sequence

first,second,third,next,then,finally,afterwards,before,soon,later,meanwhile,subsequently,immediately,eventually,currently

EXAMPLE[fromGeorgeOrwell's"PoliticsandtheEnglishLanguage"]:

Inprose,theworstthingonecandowithwordsistosurrendertothem.Whenyouthinkofaconcreteobject,youthinkwordlessly,andthen,ifyouwanttodescribethethingyouhavebeenvisualizing

youprobablyhuntabouttillyoufindtheexactwordsthatseemtofitit.Whenyouthinkof

somethingabstractyouaremoreinclinedtousewordsfromthestart,andunlessyoumakea

consciousefforttopreventit,theexistingdialectwillcomerushinginanddothejobforyou,attheexpenseofblurringorevenchangingyourmeaning.Probablyitisbettertoputoffusingwordsaslongaspossibleandgetone'smeaningasclearasonecanthroughpicturesorsensations.

Afterwardsonecanchoose--notsimplyaccept--thephrasesthatwillbestcoverthemeaning,andthenswitchroundanddecidewhatimpressionone'swordsarelikelytomakeonanotherperson.

2.Pronouns

Usepronounstoconnectspecifiednounsinearliersentencestothecontentoflatersentences.

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EXAMPLE:[thefirsttwoparagraphsofLenoreKeeshig-Tobias'"HeWasaBoxerWhenIWasSmall"]

Histhunderingragesaremostvivid,histearssubtle.Watchingandfeelingforthem,butunabletobridgethegap,Ilearnedtolove,hatehimallinthesamebreath.Nooneeverknewthis.Theysaw

akidinlovewithherfather.

HewasaboxerwhenIwassmall.Peoplesayhewasgoodandwouldhavemadeithadhestartedyounger,buthehadawifeandgrowingfamilytoprovidefor.Amateurboxingpaidnothing,buthe

lovedit.Ithinkhemusthavebeenabouttwenty-twothen.Heclaimsthatweweretooyoungtohaveseenhimfight,butIremember.

[Notethatthepronoun"he"createscoherencebetweenthetwoparagraphsaswell.]

3.DeliberateRepetition

Repeatakeytermorphraseifthattermorphaseiscentraltotheideasinaparagraph.Toestablish

coherenceinthisway,synonymsofthatkeytermarenotuseful.Furthermore,theshorteraparagraphis,thelessoftenawritershoulduserepetition(sincetoomuchrepetitioncanbemonotonousandwordy).

Butdeliberaterepetitioncanbeanuncomplicatedwayofindicatingthecentralityofanideatoa

paragraph.Thistechniqueoftenoccurstogetherwithparallelism(see4.below).

EXAMPLE[fromMarieNelson'sBeowulfsBoastWords"]

ButletusbeginasBeowulfbegins,withthesituationinthelandoftheDaneswhenBeowulfarrives.Asreaderswillremember,allpromisersdonotfollowthroughbydoingwhattheysaytheywilldo.AsHrothgarexplainstoBeowulf,whohasjustarrived,histrusted"oretmecgas"oftenpromisedto

waitforGrendel'sattackinthemeadhall.

4.Parallelism

Parallelism(orparallelstructure)istheuseofgrammaticallyequivalentsyntaxinadjacentsentencesor

withinsentences.Therepeatedrhythmofparallelstructuresnotifiesthereaderthattheideasinparallel

structuresarerelatedtoeachanother.Likedeliberaterepetition,overuseofparallelismcanattimescausemonotonyandwordiness:butconsistentparallelismisextremelyeffectiveinpromotingcoherence,andIrecommenderringonthesideofoveruseinthiscase.Indeed,lackofparallelismattimescreates

ungrammaticalstructures.

EXAMPLE

WEAK:Jameswasnotonlyaprolificnovelistbutwroteessays,too,andalsoseveralplays.STRONGER:Jameswasnotonlyaprolificnovelistbutalsoanessayistandaplaywright.

EXAMPLE[fromWinstonS.Churchill'sspeechontheevacuationatDunkirk("WarsAreNotWonbyEvacuations")]

EventhoughlargetractsofEuropeandmanyoldandfamousstateshavefallenormayfallintothe

gripoftheGestapoandalltheodiousapparatusofNazirule,weshallnotflagorfail.Weshallgoontotheend,weshallfightinFrance,weshallfightontheseasandoceans,weshallfightwith

growingconfidenceandstrengthintheair,weshalldefendourisland,whateverthecostmaybe,weshallfightonthebeaches,weshallfightinthelandinggrounds,weshallfightinthefieldsandin

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thestreets,weshallfightinthehills;weshallneversurrender,andevenif,whichIdonotfora

momentbelieve,thisislandoralargepartofitweresubjugatedandstarving,thenourEmpirebeyondtheseas,armedandguardedbytheBritishfleet,wouldcarryonthestruggle,until,inGod'sgood

time,theNewWorld,withallitspowerandmight,stepsforthtotherescueandliberationoftheold.

Exercise

Identifythecoherencetechniquesinthesetwoparagraphs.(Underlinethetechniqueandwriteinthemarginthenameofthetechnique.)

AsGeneRoddenberry'sJamesT.Kirk,WilliamShatnerwastheembodimentof

Kennedy-erasensitivemacho:articulate,reasonableandcommanding,butalwaysgametobussanintergalacticbabeorbustaKlingonjaw.IfitwastheroleofalifetimeforShatner,thatwas

nothisdecisiontomake.Fans,andtheparticularpropertiesofthetelevisionmedium,would

makeitforhim.Alow-ratingsearnerfromthegetgo,StarTrekneverthelessbegantobuilditsunprecedentedlyrabidfan-basealmostinstantly.Itwasorganizedfanpressurethatconvinced

NBCtoleavetheshowonforathirdseason,anditwaseventuallyfanpressurethatmade

WilliamShatnerrealizethat,iftherewasanythingworthclingingonto(sotospeak)fora

lifetime,itwastheroleofJimKirk.

ItfirsthithiminNewJerseyin197