1 Cohesive Writing

Chapter 2 “Reference”

Text 1:
Once upon a time there lived in a certain village a little country girl, the
prettiest creature who was ever seen. Her mother was excessively fond of
her; and her grandmother doted on her still more. This good woman had a
little red riding hood made for her. It suited the girl so extremely well that
everybody called her Little Red Riding Hood.
One day her mother, having made some cakes, said to her, "Go, my dear,
and see how your grandmother is doing, for I hear she has been very ill.
Take her a cake, and this little pot of butter."1

Text 2:
Once upon a time there lived in a certain village a little country girl, the
prettiest creature who was ever seen. Little girl’s mother was excessively
fond of little girl; and little girl’s grandmother doted on little girl still more.
Little girl’s grandmother had a little red riding hood made for little girl.
Little red riding hood suited little girl so extremely well that everybody
called little girl Little Red Riding Hood.
One day little girl’s mother, having made some cakes, said to little girl,
"Go, mother’s dear, and see how little girl’s grandmother is doing, for I
hear grandmother has been very ill. Take grandmother a cake, and a little
pot of butter."

Question 1: What is difference between text 1 and text 2?

Question 2: What words exist in text 1 that are absent in text 2?

Question 3: Which one is easier to understand?

1
Little Red Riding Hood; Charles Perrault
 2 Cohesive Writing

Text 3:
Once upon a time, a good many years ago, there was a traveler, and he set
out upon a journey. It was a magic journey, and was to seem very long
when he began it, and very short when he got half way through.
He travelled along a rather dark path for some little time, without meeting
anything, until at last he came to a beautiful child. So, he said to the child,
"What do you do here?" And the child said, "I am always at play. Come
and play with me!"

What are the meanings of the underlined parts?

How did you identify its meaning?

Reference
These words, instead of being interpreted semantically on their own, refer
or point to something else for their interpretation. The meaning retrieved
here is called the referential meaning. Continuous existence of reference
in a text ends up in the cohesion of that texts.
Therefore, reference is one of the most common cohesive devices in
English language.

Exercise 1) which sentences contain the cohesive device of reference?

a) Alexander the great bequeathed upon his son his kingdom.
b) We have to study about 30 books this term. These books are difficult
to read.
c) The bigger house was difficult to clean for the servant.
d) Ronaldo is a great player. He has won 5 Ballon d’Ors.
e) Honesty is always the best choice. It is something everyone must
remember.
f) There are about 30 students in Mr. Anderson’s class. The class is very
crowded.

Which of these sentences contain cohesive devices? ……………………

 3 Cohesive Writing

Is sentence “a” cohesive? Why? ……..

Alexander the great bequeathed upon his son his kingdom.

This sentence is NOT cohesive.

Cohesion is not structural. It takes place in the clause level or the text
level.

Example:
The king was extremely ill; therefore, his son was ready to claim the
crown.
In this coordinate clause, “his” refers to “the king”, and is thus cohesive.

Exercise 2) Take a look at the following sentences. What does each

underlined word refer to?

a) Although I phone her every week, my mother still complains that I

don’t keep in touch often enough.

b) Michael went to the bank. He was annoyed because it was closed.

c) “They are late again; can you believe it?”

d) “One of those, please”

Reference to text; Reference to situation

In a and b in exercise 2, the referent of pronouns her, he, and it can be found
inside the text. Therefore, no extra knowledge is needed for decoding their
meaning. On the other hand, they and those in c and d cannot be clearly
 4 Cohesive Writing

understood just by reading the text. Hence, both interlocutors must be

present in the context of situation in order to decode the message stated in
the sentence. There are examples of endophora and exophora.

Endophora: Endophora is the use of a word or phrase in a text to refer to

something within the immediate text. An endophoric reference is a
reference in a text to something else inside the text.
Exophora: Exophora is the use of a pronoun or other word or phrase to
refer to someone or something outside the text. Contrast with endophora.
Exophoric pronouns, says Rom Harré, "are those which are disambiguated
for reference only if the hearer is fully apprised of the context of use, for
instance by being present on the occasion of utterance."

Cataphora:
Consider sentences a and b in exercise 2 again. What is the referent of her
in a?
Refer forward

Although I phone her every week, my mother still complains that …..

This situation, where reference is made to something which occurs later in

text, is called Cataphora.
A cataphoric reference occurs when a word or phrase references a thing
or idea mentioned later in the text.

Anaphora:
Now take a look at b. What do he and it refer to?

Refer backward

Michael went to the bank. He was annoyed because it was closed.

 5 Cohesive Writing

In this sentence, both pronouns refer to words which occurred in the prior
sentence. This is an example of anaphora.
An anaphoric reference occurs when a word or phrase references a thing
or idea mentioned earlier in the text.

Summary:

Reference

Exophora Endophora

Anaphora Cataphora

Exercise 3) Identify the type of reference (Endophora, Anaphora,

Cataphora, Exophora).

a) Before she returned at 7 o'clock, Mary went out for drinks.

b) As he entered the room, the man caught everyone’s attention.

c) John lied, and that upset his family.

d) That man over there says that women need to be helped into
carriages.

e) When I looked at the dog, it barked at me and ran off.

 6 Cohesive Writing

Types of reference
Exercise 4) Identify reference in the sentences below.

a) There was a brief note from Susan. She just said, “I am not coming
home this weekend.”

b) I like the lions and I like the polar bears. These are my favorite.

c) They have given us special places on the front row. Would you prefer
the other seats?

A. Personal Reference
B. Demonstratives
C. Comparatives

A. Personal Reference
Exercise 4) Underline the examples of reference in the sentences below.
a) Ariston was busily painting. He stood in a little room with three
smooth walls.
b) Sarah has recently bought a red Ferrari. Her car is fabulous.
c) My father bought the shop and the building next door. Now, the whole
block is his.
 7 Cohesive Writing

Ariston was busily painting. He stood in a little room with three smooth
walls.

In this sentence, instead of repeating the subject, a pronoun has been used.
This ends up in connecting sentences together and creating cohesion.
Personal pronouns: All subjective and objective pronouns (I, you,
he, she, it, we, they, me, him, her, them, us) which exist in the text
and link sentences together are categorized under the heading of
personal pronouns.

Sarah has recently bought a red Ferrari. Her car is fabulous.

In this sentence, the pronoun her refers to Sarah and the phrase her car
represents the car which Sarah owns. Instead of repeating the name Sarah,
the possessive determiner her has been used.
Possessive determiners: These are determiner which express
possession. They include: my, your, his, her, their, our, its.

My father bought the shop and the building next door. Now, the whole
block is his.

In this sentence, the pronoun his refers to my father and all the belongings
of my father mentioned at the beginning of the sentence.
Possessive pronouns: We can use a possessive pronoun instead of
a full noun phrase to avoid repeating words. Possessive pronouns
include: mine, yours, hers, his, its, theirs, and ours.
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Personal Reference
Personal pronoun

Possessive determiners

Possessive pronouns

Exercise 5) Determine the type of personal reference in each of the

sentences below. Then answer the questions.
1) Elon Musk is one of the most successful entrepreneurs around the

world. His net worth exceeds 190 billion US Dollars. It makes him

the richest man on the planet Earth. SpaceX, Tesla, Starlink, and

Twitter are all his.

2) Mahatma Gandhi is an Indian hero. India would never have gained

its independence if it wasn’t for him. It was his greatest legacy.

3) When Alex entered the office, he realized that his boss and one of

his colleagues were having a discussion. He tried to see what it was

about. He went close to the door and overheard his boos saying “ I

will fire that damn Alex today.”

 9 Cohesive Writing

4) My mother was ironing her clothes before the big party.

5) I told him that her friend had left without saying goodbye.

Do all the sentences above have cohesion? ………………………..

Cohesion is not structural. It shouldn’t be grammatical. In fact, it must

be based on meaning. In other words, reference should be present
between two sentences or different clauses in a sentence. Therefore, if
reference is sentence internal, it doesn’t result in cohesion. In that regard,
sentences 4 and 5 are not cohesive.

What does “it” in sentence 1 of exercise 5 refer to? ………………….

In this sentence, referent of the pronoun “it” is not just one object or a
person. As a matter of fact, it is a whole sentence. The type of reference
that refers to a whole text, usually to a sentence, paragraph, texts, or a
group of sentences, is called text reference.

What does “it” in the final sentence of number 2 in exercise 5 refer to? …

The referent of the pronoun it in this example is neither a single word nor
a complete sentence. It is a process inside the previous sentence. The
word “it” in the third sentence refers to “gaining independence” in the
sentence before it. This type of reference, where the referent is more than
one object or person, usually a process, is called extended reference.

Is the pronoun “I” in the third sentence in exercise 5 cohesive? ………….

 10 Cohesive Writing

The answer is YES. However, it must be considered that first and second
person pronouns are usually NOT cohesive since they are exophoric most
of the time. In this example, they are used in the form of quotation.
Quotes are the only instances of cohesive first and second person
pronouns. Mostly, it is the third person pronoun that is cohesive.

Exercise 6) Complete the sentences below with the required type of

personal pronoun.
1) My father has bought a new BMW. (anaphora, possessive determiner)
………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………..
2) Robert DeNiro is a fabulous actor. (anaphora, personal pronoun)
………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………
3) Bill Gates is one of America’s most prominent millionaires.
(anaphora, possessive pronoun)
………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………

4) ………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………… (text reference).

5) For the most part, I was involved in writing an autobiography.

(extended reference)
………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………..
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B. Demonstratives
Exercise 7) Underline different types of reference in the sentences below.
a) Our teacher has introduced one book for this course; however, I
couldn’t find that in the library.

b) I went to the shopping mall last weekend and bought a shirt for
myself. This shirt is really fashionable and I love it.

c) More than 50 students have registered for a course with Dr.

Manson. The course is extremely popular in the university.

d) Approximately 80000 spectators will attend the game tomorrow.

The police will have a difficult job managing these spectators.

e) I can see more than 20 cars in the distance. Those cars are
approaching us rapidly.

Which words represent a referential relation? ………………………

 12 Cohesive Writing

More than 50 students have registered for a course with Dr. Manson.
The course is extremely popular in the university.

In this example, the course in the second sentence refers to a course in the
first one. By adding the, the second course has become specific and refers
anaphorically to only one course mentioned in the previous sentence.

Neutral Demonstrative (the): The is a special word in English

language and has an interesting function. In fact, it is, in a way, the
short form of that. However, the one and the significant difference
that it has with other demonstratives is that the is not semantically
selective. It can refer to all different types of nouns with varying
meaning.

Our teacher has introduced one book for this course; however, I couldn’t
find that in the library.
I went to the shopping mall last weekend and bought a shirt for myself.
This shirt is really fashionable and I love it.

In the two sentences above, we can observe that and this referring
anaphorically to book and shirt. In the first example, that has replaced book
completely and points to it in the previous sentence. On the other hand, in
the second sentence, this has not replaced the noun, but joined it as a
modifier to give a cohesive function.
Singular Selective Demonstratives (this- that): It is possible to use
this and that instead of repeating a singular noun in the previous
sentences or in the text to give some sense of cohesion.

Approximately 80000 spectators will attend the game tomorrow. The

police will have a difficult job managing these spectators.
I can see more than 20 cars in the distance. Those cars are approaching
us rapidly.
 13 Cohesive Writing

Same as the singular ones, plural selective demonstratives these and those
have modified the nouns to increase the cohesiveness of the text. Both of
them refer anaphorically to a noun which exists before them in the text.
Plural Selective Demonstratives (these- those): We can use these
and those to refer to a group of people or things. These is the plural
form of this, while those is the plural form of that.

Note: something that we must consider is that the can have both
exophoric and endophoric functions. This can be identified in 2
ways:
1) The text is not cohesive at all.
2) The police arrested him for robbery.
In number 1, the meaning of the phrase the sun can be identified
with reference to situation. In other words, it is a specific object
identifiable in the situation of the sentence.
Therefore, the first way of identifying a exophoric reference is
trying to identify it in the situation, and checking to see if it refers
to a particular object.
In number 2, the police does not refer to a particular person. In
fact, it refers to all people who work as police officers in general.
Thus, it is true in all the situations.
The second way of identifying exophoric reference is checking if
the word has a general meaning or not.

Note: In a conversation, this and these usually refer to something

the speaker said, while that and those refer to something the
interlocuter uttered.
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Exercise 8) Fill in the blanks. Make the sentences cohesive.

1) Our house was robbed last night. ………….. burglars took all my
mother’s jewelry.
2) After the police arrived, they started investigating to find some clues
of who robbed us. Under one of the sofas, they found a single pair
of gloves. They must have dropped …….. .
3) In front of the window, a policeman found some footprints.
………… were surely for one of the burglars.
4) ………………. evidences lead the police to the burglars’ safe house.

C. Comparatives

Exercise 9) Underline the words which refer to another word in the

sentences below.
1) Bill Gates is a very rich person. However, Ilan Musk is richer.

2) My friend studied Passages last term. This term, he is still studying

the same book.

3) I bought a red car last month. My brother bought such a similar car

last week.

4) Lilies are extremely gorgeous flowers. Roses are more beautiful in

my opinion.
 15 Cohesive Writing

My friend studied Passages last term. This term, he is still studying the

same book.

I bought a red car last month. My brother bought such a similar car last

week.

In the two examples above, the words same and similar refer to Passages
(name of a book) and red car in the previous sentences. In these two
sentences, same and similar refer to the whole object, and do not consider
its specific elements for comparison. These two sentences are clear
examples of anaphora and act as cohesive devices.
In the first sentence, the word same points to the equality of the two books
mentioned. Therefore, it is called general identity comparative adjective.
In the other sentence, the word similar only tries to show likeness of the
two objects (not 100% identicality), thus is named general similarity
comparative adjective.

Bill Gates is a very rich person. However, Ilan Musk is richer

Lilies are extremely gorgeous flowers. Roses are more beautiful in my
opinion.

In the first sentence above, the word richer establishes a relation between
Bill Gates and Ilan Musk. Therefore, connects the two sentences together
cohesively. In the second one, the word more does a similar job and creates
a connection between Lilies and Roses, thus ends up in cohesion.
However, the difference between these two sets of sentences with the other
two is that unlike the first two, these two sentences do not consider the
whole object, and focus on particular elements of them. Hence, they are
called particular comparison.
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Exercise 10) Underline and specify the cohesive ties in the sentences
below.

1) We lived in a very small house for 20 years. Two years ago, we decided
to change it and moved to a much bigger, but older house.
………………………………………………………………………….

2) After living there for 2 years, we looked at some similar houses in the
area.
………………………………………………………………………….

3) There was one house that had the same design as our old house.
………………………………………………………………………….

4) However, this house was much bigger than our old one.
………………………………………………………………………….

Chapter Summary

Personal
Pronoun

Possessive
Personal
Determiner

Posessive
Pronoun

Neutral
The
Demonstrative
Reference Demonstrative Singular
This / That
Selective
Demonstrative
Plural
These / Those
General
Comparatives
Comparative
Particular
Comparatives
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Exercises

1) Which of the sentences are cohesive? Explain how.

a) There is a book on the table. That book is mine.

b) I started studying for my exam last week. Today, I took the

exam and it was difficult.

c) She told me that she had been absent in the class last session.
It was why she didn’t know the answers to those questions.
d) The results of the new investigation revealed similar
outcomes.

e) My brother is older than me.

f) My brother is older than me, however my sister is younger.

g) “He is the person that everyone should vote for;” said Bob.
“Steven is the best person in the team and can lead us to great
destinations.”

h) There are more than 2000 people in the theater. They are
waiting for the play to begin. How can we tell them that this
play is cancelled?

i) Charles Dickens is considered one of the most successful

English writers. But Shakespeare is considered more
successful than him.

j) She is so happy because of graduation. He told them it was a

good day.
 18 Cohesive Writing

2) Correct the mistakes in the sentences below. Explain the mistakes.

a) When my father bought a house, I told her that these was not a good
idea.
………………………………………………………………………

b) Albert Einstein was smarter than me.

………………………………………………………………………

c) They are exhausted after a long day of work. She really worked a
lot.
………………………………………………………………………

d) Lisa has a luxurious and high-priced car. That car is mine.

………………………………………………………………………

e) The book store was too crowded yesterday.

………………………………………………………………………

f) We decided to go to that place again the next day. Th book store was
too crowded that day.
………………………………………………………………………

3) Compose a cohesive text for one of the topics below. Write at least 300
words.

a) Describe something that you always wanted to have as a kid, but never
had.
b) Narrate the story of your favorite trip to another city.

The end of chapter two