Lexical Chains

Verbs, adjectives, and nouns are often chained throughout a text creating a rich texture of lexical cohesion Concerning the way in which certain grammatical items (such as pronouns) and words can connect a sentence to previous (and, sometimes, later) ones. more.... Often the chain consists of the same word (for example the adjective "complex" in the text below). In this case the cohesion is simple lexical repetition (reiteration A form of lexical cohesion involving the repetition of word or phrase, or the use of a synonym or shell noun to refer back to something earlier in the text. more...). There may be words from the same lexical set A grouping of words which have similar or related meanings arranged to show the similarities and differences between the various words in the set. more... (for example "pizza" and "slice"). In this case the cohesive strength comes from collocation The tendency of a particular word or phrase to be found in the proximity of another. glossary definition or go to the collocation page. Sometimes cohesion occurs through the use of a synonymSame meaning. A word which has the same meaning and use as another. more... ("reaction" and "process") or even an antonymOpposite meaning. A word which has the opposite meaning to another word. more... ("complex" and "simple"). Texts may also contain superordinate Being at a higher or more general level than something else. more... terms (glutamate is a type of compound; "compound" is a superordinate term).

The text in the animation below is dense with various types of lexical cohesion, as many texts are. Texts written by students of English as a second language tend to be less cohesive in this sense, possibly because their vocabulary level is not rich enough, or because they tend to use odd collocations The tendency of a particular word or phrase to be found in the proximity of another. glossary definition or go to the Understanding Collocation page. Improvement can only come by reading a lot and reading widely.