Guide the reader from one idea to the next — clearly, and without clutter.
At C1, a strong text rarely reads as a list of separate sentences. Instead, each sentence leans on the one before it, picking up a thread and passing it on. That quality is called cohesion, and it is built less from grand ideas than from a modest toolkit: words that point back to what came before, words that stand in for a whole phrase, and the discourse markers — however, moreover, nevertheless, consequently — that signal exactly how one thought relates to the next.
This unit treats cohesion as a system. You will learn reference (pronouns and demonstratives such as it, this, these, such, the former, the latter), substitution and ellipsis (one/ones, do so, so/not, and leaving out repeated words), and the families of discourse markers that add, contrast, concede and conclude. Above all you will learn to choose the marker that matches the logical relationship you mean — and to use the right register without smothering your prose in connectors. The goal is a text that flows so smoothly the joins are never noticed.
The quietest cohesive device is reference: pointing back to something already mentioned instead of repeating it. A pronoun (it, they) or a demonstrative (this, these, such) links a new sentence to an earlier idea, while the former and the latter let you refer back to two things in order. Reference keeps prose economical — but the link must be unambiguous, or the reader loses the thread.
| Device | What it points to | Example |
|---|---|---|
| this / these | a whole idea in the previous sentence | Sales fell sharply. This alarmed the board. |
| such + noun | the kind of thing just described | The data were patchy. Such gaps weaken any claim. |
| the former / the latter | the first / second of two named items | We can cut costs or raise prices; the former harms morale. |
Rather than repeat words, English lets you substitute a short stand-in or omit the repeated part altogether (ellipsis). One/ones replaces a countable noun; do so (or do it/that) replaces a verb phrase; so and not replace a whole clause after verbs like think, hope, believe. Used well, these devices make writing tighter without losing meaning.
| Device | Replaces | Example |
|---|---|---|
| one / ones | a repeated countable noun | My old phone broke, so I bought a new one. |
| do so / do it | a repeated verb phrase | She agreed to revise it and did so at once. |
| so / not | a whole clause (after think, hope...) | "Will it work?" — "I believe so." / "I hope not." |
Discourse markers are the most visible cohesive device. One family adds a point in the same direction (moreover, furthermore, in addition); another marks a contrast or a concession against the previous idea (however, by contrast, nevertheless, on the other hand). The skill is to pick the marker whose meaning matches the real relationship between your ideas — a contrast marker where the logic actually continues confuses the reader more than no marker at all.
| Marker | Relationship | Example |
|---|---|---|
| moreover / furthermore | adds a further point (same direction) | The plan is costly. Moreover, it duplicates existing work. |
| however / by contrast | signals a contrast with the last idea | The theory is elegant; however, the evidence is thin. |
| nevertheless / nonetheless | concedes a point, then holds your line | The sample was small; nevertheless, the trend held. |
A third family draws a result or conclusion (consequently, therefore, thus, as a result); a fourth orders ideas in sequence (first, subsequently, finally). Whichever you choose, match the register: formal markers (furthermore, consequently) suit an essay, while their casual cousins (plus, so, on top of that) belong to speech. Mixing the two jars the reader.
| Marker | Relationship / register | Example |
|---|---|---|
| consequently / therefore | states a result (formal) | The data were limited; therefore, the claim is tentative. |
| furthermore | adds a point (formal essay) | Furthermore, the method has been widely replicated. |
| plus / on top of that | adds a point (informal speech) | It's cheap, plus it's easy to use. |
Four errors recur even in otherwise strong C1 writing: choosing a marker whose meaning contradicts the logic, mismatching the register, overloading a paragraph with connectors, and a "vague this" whose reference is unclear. Audit your writing against every row.
| Wrong ✗ | Right ✓ | Why? |
|---|---|---|
| The trial was small; therefore, its results are highly reliable. | The trial was small; nevertheless, its results are worth noting. | a small trial does not cause reliability; the logic is concession, not result. |
| The costs rose sharply. Plus, morale collapsed. | The costs rose sharply. Moreover, morale collapsed. | "plus" is conversational; use a formal additive marker in an essay. |
| Firstly, however, moreover, therefore, the plan may, nevertheless, fail. | The plan may nevertheless fail. | stacking markers is exhausting; use one where it clarifies the link. |
| Attendance and funding both fell. This is worrying. | Attendance and funding both fell. This decline is worrying. | a bare "this" is ambiguous; add a noun so the reference is clear. |
| Sales rose in spring; moreover, they fell in autumn. | Sales rose in spring; however, they fell in autumn. | the ideas contrast, so an additive marker sends the wrong signal. |
Two editors discuss a draft report. Read it twice and watch cohesion work as a system: reference points back, substitution avoids repetition, and each discourse marker signals the exact logical relationship the writer means.
Choose the correct answer. — 10 questions, each one is marked instantly. Questions get harder as you go.
Learn the vocabulary of cohesion, then build a spoken argument that flows from point to point.
Argue a position on a debatable topic — for example, "Should cities ban private cars from their centres?" Write 8 sentences and use at least 8 of the words above. Make your discourse markers and reference do real work — do not just list claims.
Sentence starters (you can begin with these):
Değerlendirme öğretmenin tarafından yapılacak. (Your teacher will review your task.)
Read the feature, then work through the five tasks.
Skilled readers prepare before they start. Before you read, think about these three questions (you do not need to write the answers):
Words to spot (from the Speaking section): cohesion · coherence · transition · redundant · concise · ambiguous · seamless · signpost
Consider two texts that convey exactly the same information. The first proceeds as a series of short, self-contained statements, each one grammatically correct yet oddly stranded, so that the reader is left to supply the connections the writer has failed to make. The second moves; its ideas seem to reach forward and backward, anticipating a question and answering it before it is asked. The difference between the two has almost nothing to do with vocabulary or subject matter, and almost everything to do with the invisible machinery that binds isolated sentences into a single, purposeful line of thought.
It is worth distinguishing at the outset between two qualities that are easily confused. Coherence describes the underlying logic of a text — whether the ideas themselves hang together and lead somewhere worth going. Cohesion, by contrast, is the surface machinery that makes that logic visible: the pronouns, the substitutes and the connectors that stitch one sentence to the next. A text may be perfectly coherent in the writer's own mind and yet feel disjointed on the page, simply because the cohesive links have been left unstated; equally, a shower of connectors cannot rescue ideas that were never coherent to begin with. The two qualities work in tandem, and neither can do the other's job.
A well-written argument rarely feels like a heap of separate facts. Instead, its sentences seem to lean on one another, each picking up a thread from the last and passing it on. This quality is called cohesion, and it is achieved less by grand ideas than by a modest set of devices: pronouns that point back, words that stand in for a whole phrase, and the discourse markers — however, moreover, nevertheless — that signal how one thought relates to the next.
Reference is the quietest of these devices. A pronoun such as "it", or a demonstrative such as "this", lets a writer avoid clumsy repetition; consequently, the prose reads faster and feels more controlled. Substitution and ellipsis work in the same way: rather than repeat a noun, a careful writer will use "one", and rather than restate a verb, will simply leave it out. Such economy is not laziness; it is, by contrast, a mark of fluency, keeping the text concise without any loss of meaning.
Discourse markers are the most visible cohesive device, and therefore the most easily misused. Each one encodes a precise logical relationship: "moreover" adds, "however" contrasts, "consequently" draws a result. Choosing the wrong marker — signposting a contrast where the logic in fact continues — confuses the reader far more than using none at all. Register matters too: "furthermore" suits a formal essay, whereas "plus" belongs to conversation, and mixing the two makes the writing feel ambiguous and uneven.
Nevertheless, more is not better. A paragraph in which every sentence opens with a connector quickly becomes exhausting; the markers, instead of guiding, start to shout, and the prose turns verbose. Skilled writers therefore use them sparingly, trusting the reader to follow a clear line of thought. The best cohesion, arguably, is the kind that is never noticed at all: the reader simply glides from one idea to the next, unaware of the seamless architecture holding the whole together.
Understanding the principle, however, is far easier than applying it on the page. Take reference, the subtlest of these devices. Accomplished writers exploit not only "it" and "they" but a whole family of pointing words: "such" gestures back to the kind of thing just described, while "the former" and "the latter" allow two items to be picked up in order without either being named a second time. The danger, always, is ambiguity. A demonstrative left to stand alone — a bare "this" at the head of a sentence — can point back to any of several preceding ideas, and the reader stumbles while deciding which. Anchoring it to a noun, as in "this tendency" or "this distinction", restores the thread at once and makes the reference explicit rather than implicit.
Discourse markers, for their part, fall into a few broad families, and choosing well means first identifying the relationship one actually intends to signal. Some markers add a point in the same direction — "moreover", "furthermore", "in addition"; others concede or reverse it — "nevertheless", "by contrast", "on the other hand"; others again draw out a consequence — "therefore", "thus", "as a result". To reach for a contrast marker where the thought in fact continues, or an additive one where it plainly turns, is to make the link explicit and wrong at the very same moment, which unsettles a reader far more than a link left implicit. A marker must signpost the direction the argument genuinely takes, not the direction the writer half-remembers taking.
Cohesion also operates well above the level of the single sentence. Across a whole paragraph, careful writers sustain a thread by returning to a small set of key terms and their near-synonyms — a quiet chain of related words that keeps reminding the reader what the passage is really about. A further principle governs the order of information within each sentence: it tends to open with something already familiar and to close with something new, so that the fresh element of one sentence becomes the familiar starting point of the next. When this given-to-new rhythm is respected, a paragraph seems to draw the reader gently forward; when it is violated, even faultless sentences feel as though they are pulling against the current.
Because these devices are so effective, they are also easily overused, and the remedy lies in revision rather than in a longer list of connectors. A useful discipline is to reread a draft and strike out every marker that the surrounding sentences already imply; more often than not the logic survives the cut untouched, and the prose breathes more freely for it. What should remain is the handful of signposts that genuinely earn their place — a "however" exactly where the argument turns, a "consequently" precisely where a result would otherwise slip past unnoticed. Cohesion, understood in this way, is quite as much a matter of restraint as of technique, and the temptation to signpost everything is the surest sign of a writer who does not yet trust the reader.
Perhaps the surest way to develop this instinct is to read one's own work aloud. The ear catches what the eye forgives: the small jolt of a missing link, the tedium of the same connector repeated three times in a paragraph, the faint confusion of a pronoun with no clear owner. Over time, the choices that once demanded conscious thought become automatic, and the writer stops assembling sentences one by one and begins, instead, to compose whole passages. That, in the end, is what a mastery of cohesion offers — not a set of rules to be memorised, but the quiet confidence that a reader will arrive exactly where the writer intended, having noticed nothing whatever of the road that carried them there.
Choose the correct answer.
Are these sentences true or false, according to the text?
Complete each sentence with ONE word from the text. Choose the exact cohesive word the writer uses.
Write your answer in your own words. These questions are not marked automatically.
1. Why does the writer argue that cohesion is built more from small devices than from grand ideas?
2. According to the text, what happens when a writer uses too many discourse markers? Do you agree that this is a real danger?
3. The text ends by calling the best cohesion "the kind that is never noticed at all." What do you think this means?
Find these connectors in the text — each one appears at least once: instead, whereas, however, consequently, by contrast, therefore, moreover, nevertheless. (You will reuse these same C1 connectors in the Writing section.) Note them down, then check.
Rewrite a disjointed, repetitive text into smooth, well-linked prose, then drill the cohesion choices with 10 quick questions.
Below is a choppy, repetitive paragraph. Every sentence repeats a noun and the ideas sit side by side with no links, so the logic is left implicit. Your job is to re-tell it as smooth, cohesive prose — use reference, substitution and the right discourse markers to make the relationships explicit.
Sentence starters (you can begin with these):
Değerlendirme öğretmenin tarafından yapılacak. (Your teacher will review your task.)
10 quick questions on cohesion and discourse markers. Each one is marked instantly. Questions get harder as you go.
Write and submit a discursive paragraph that flows through reference, substitution and discourse markers; your teacher will review it.
A good argument needs to flow, and discourse markers are what carry the reader from one idea to the next. At C1 you command a sharper, more formal set — whereas, however, consequently, by contrast, nonetheless and therefore — which let you add, concede, contrast and conclude. Choose the one whose meaning matches your logic, and the whole argument holds together.
| Connector | Use it to... | Example |
|---|---|---|
| however | qualify or contrast the previous sentence | The trend is clear. However, the sample was small. |
| by contrast | set one case sharply against another | Older users are cautious; younger ones, by contrast, are not. |
| consequently | state a measured result or effect | Data were limited; consequently, the claim is tentative. |
| whereas | draw a direct, balanced contrast | The theory is elegant, whereas the evidence is thin. |
| nonetheless | concede a point, then hold your position | The effect is small; nonetheless, it appears real. |
| therefore | draw a cautious conclusion | The data are mixed; therefore, caution is advisable. |
See the difference — the same facts, written two ways:
| Disjointed & repetitive ✗ | Cohesive C1 prose ✓ |
|---|---|
| Remote work saves commuting time. Remote work can weaken teamwork. Some staff feel isolated. Some staff work better at home. Offices are still useful. | Remote work saves commuting time; however, it can weaken teamwork. Some staff feel isolated, whereas others work better at home. Consequently, its effects vary widely, and such variation matters. Nevertheless, offices remain useful for the former group. |
A strong C1 argument is not a run of unlinked sentences. It states a position, builds on it, turns to weigh the counter-case, and lands a conclusion — and at every join a cohesive device carries the reader across. The skeleton stays the same — you change the content, not the shape:
| Part | What to write | Cohesion to reach for |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Position | state your claim clearly | It could be argued that... / reference back with this / such |
| 2. Support | add a reason in the same direction | moreover / furthermore / in addition |
| 3. Concession | turn to a counterpoint or limitation | however / whereas / nevertheless / by contrast |
| 4. Conclusion | draw the result the argument points to | consequently / therefore / thus |
Write a discursive paragraph on a debatable question — for example, "Does artificial intelligence threaten more jobs than it creates?" or a topic of your choice. Write like a careful academic: build one connected chain of ideas, and make every link between sentences clear.
Değerlendirme öğretmenin tarafından yapılacak. (Your teacher will evaluate your writing.)
Mixed questions from the whole unit, then check what you can do.
14 questions: grammar + vocabulary + reading + practice. Each question is marked instantly.
Tick what you can do now. Honest answers help your teacher.
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