Beyond single sentences: Cohesion and Coherence

Prose feels like it fits together if 1) The end of one sentence fits with the beginning of the next sentence. 2) Most sentences in the entire passage have simple subjects that are the topics of the sentence and of the paragraph.

Sentences flow when the last few of one sentence sets up the first words of the next. (passive voice is sometimes necessary for this reason).

 Begin sentences with information familiar to your readers  End sentences with information your reader cannot predict.

This is the something old something new rule. See handout.

You must balance principles that make sentences clear with principles that make a passage cohesive.

 Make the characters the subjects of your sentences (and make simple subjects short, concrete, preferably flesh and blood characters)  Make actions the verbs of your sentences.  Begin sentences with information familiar to your readers  End sentences with information your reader cannot predict.

 Simple/whole subjects of sentences in paragraph are related  Sentences share common themes or ideas (this we usually get)  The paragraph has one sentence that states what the whole passage is about (Topic Sentence).

 Last lesson, we discovered readers want characters to be the subject of the sentence.  This lesson we discover that readers want topics to be the character of a sentence.  In other words, readers want characters and topic to be the same thing. It is impossible for your claim to be proved. You cannot prove that claim. Your claim is not provable.

1) Underline whole subject/simple subject. 2) Are the underlined words a set of related ideas? Do the underlined words name the most important characters? 3) If “no” to #2, revise passage.

 Begin with “something old.”  Don’t make us wait with too many into clauses to get to simple subject of sentence.  Make the whole/simple subject of your sentence the character of the sentence (lesson 4).  Make the whole/simple subject the topic of your paragraph (lesson 5).