Recognizing and Interpreting Cohesive Devices

Meaning

Cohesive device is a device which holds different  parts of a thing together. In written communication, cohesive devices are the words and phrases which link your sentences and clauses within your sentences together. These are basically used to create Row. That is why, they are called linking words, linkers, connectors and transitional cords. Also read about reading comprehension skills

Function

Cohesion refers to the flow of sentences and paragraphs from one to another. Cohesive devices help in achieving unity of the text as a meaningful whole. They are used to show logical relationship between sentences and paragraphs. A text that is not cohesive, is not meaningful. Numerous words are used as cohesive devices in the English language, for example; however, eventually, after all, rarely, normally, at first, often, further and firstly etc.

There are many ties and connections that exist within a text. These connections-and ties are called cohesive devices. Conjunctions arc very commonly used cohesive device in English. But these are only one of the many cohesive devices. Even pronouns and adverbs act as cohesive devices. Apart from these, synonyms, and transitional phrases also act as cohesive devices. Cohesive devices may differ from language to language and may make it difficult to translate a text.

Here is a paragraph for you to check the use of cohesive devices which are underlined.

“One of the main disadvantages of cars is the amount of pollution caused by them. This is because the fumes from car exhausts contain chemicals which pollute the air. As a result, people who live in cities, suffer from respiratory diseases. Furthermore, air-pollution has a negative impact at the global level. To illustrate, the polar ice caps are melting as a consequence of global warming.” Read more

Useful Cohesive Devices for Various Situations