OIE exercises

◄ Cohesion | #1 | #2 | #3 | #4 | #5 | #6 | #7 | #8 |

[Cohesion #7]

Task: Read the following text extract (taken from a text in the corpus). Give an account of at least four cohesive ties that occur in the text. What kind of cohesive ties do they offer?

[Text extract]:

In theory (and in the long run) liberals, such as J. S. Mill, were prepared to recognise that representative government based on the whole people was the best form of government since political participation would promote the virtue, intelligence and development of the people.
In practice (and in the short run), however, they wanted to see government by the fittest. Although they were keen to protect the governed from governmental oppression they were also anxious about the legislative implications of majority rule, fearing that popular participation would tumble into the chaos of working-class domination.
Some were keen to shunt popular participation into the civic training ground of local government.

(FromIntroduction to British Politics by John Dearlove and Peter Saunders)

Suggested answer:
The following four items have been used as cohesive ties in the text:
in practice, they, although some.

The first of these, in practice is a lexical tie, contrasting with in theory used earlier in the text.

They is a cohesive tie in the form of a pronoun pointing back to the noun liberals.

Although is a cohesive tie in the form of a conjunction, signalling opposition.

Finally, some is a cohesive tie in the form of an indefinite pronoun, referring back to the liberals / they, i.e. there is some kine of ellipsis of some of the liberals / some of them.

Read about cohesion here and cohesive ties here.
Terminology: cohesion, cohesive tie

Last updated 4 October 2023, SOE
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