Definition:
A quality of sentences, paragraphs, and essays when all parts are clearly connected. See also:
- Cohesion
- Coherence Strategies: Transitional Words and Phrases
- Coherence Exercise: Combining and Connecting Sentences
- Coherence Strategies: Revision
Etymology:
From the Latin, "to cling"Examples and Observations:
- "Flow, those visible links which bind the sentences of a paragraph, can be established in two basic ways. . . . The first is to establish a master plan at the beginning of the paragraph and to introduce each new idea by a word or phrase that marks its place in the plan. The second concentrates on linking sentences successively as the paragraph develops, making sure that each statement connects with the one or ones preceding it."
(Thomas S. Kane, The New Oxford Guide to Writing, Oxford University Press, 1988) - "Scientific agriculture, however sound in principle, often seems strangely unrelated to, and unaware of, the vital, grueling job of making a living by farming. Farmers sense this quality in it as they study their bulletins, just as a poor man senses in a rich man an incomprehension of his own problems. The farmer of today knows, for example, that manure loses some of its value when exposed to the weather; but he also knows how soon the sun goes down on all of us, and if there is a window handy at the cow's stern he pitches the dressing out into the yard and kisses the nitrogen goodbye. There is usually not time in one man's lifetime to do different. The farmer knows that early-cut hay is better feed than hay which has been left standing through the hot dry days of late July. He hasn't worked out the vitamin losses, but he knows just by looking at the grass that some of the good has gone out of it. But he knows also that to make hay he needs settled weather--better weather than you usually get in June."
(E.B. White, "Book Learning")
Pronunciation: koh-HEER-ins
