Quick questions on Features of effective and cohesive writing: VCE English Unit 1 Area of Study 2

Connectives that name the relationship between ideas. "However" signals contrast; "because" signals cause; "still" signals concession. A transition chosen carelessly misleads the reader about the argument.

Each sentence advances the piece. A sentence that adds nothing new (a restatement, a rhetorical filler) is a cohesion drag.

One independent clause. Useful for emphasis, for closing a paragraph, for breaking the rhythm of longer sentences. A simple sentence in the right place lands.

Two independent clauses joined by a coordinating conjunction (and, but, so, yet, or). Useful for setting two ideas in balance or contrast.

A main clause with one or more subordinate clauses. Useful for showing the relationship between ideas: the subordinate clause names the condition, cause, time, or concession, and the main clause carries the central claim.

A piece in which every sentence is 15 to 20 words reads as flat. Mix sentences of 5 to 8 words with sentences of 20 to 30 words. The short sentence after a long one carries emphasis.

A piece in which every sentence opens with the subject reads as predictable. Open occasionally with a subordinate clause ("When the speaker..."), with a participle ("Standing at the window, the speaker..."), or with an adverb ("Slowly, the speaker..."). Use the variation deliberately, not as a tic.

The last word of a sentence carries weight. Place the most important word, or the word you want the reader to hold, at the end of the sentence.

A paragraph that develops one idea and then drifts to a second has split itself in half. Break.

Not every paragraph needs a textbook topic sentence, but every paragraph needs a sentence in its first few that lets the reader know what the paragraph is doing. The orientation sentence can be the first, the second, or the last sentence of a previous paragraph.

Place the most important clause at the end of the sentence. English sentences carry their weight at the end. A sentence whose main claim sits in the middle is undermined by its own structure.

A subordinate clause names what the writer treats as background; the main clause names what the writer treats as central. The decision about which idea goes into the main clause is an argumentative decision.

Two or three clauses with the same grammatical shape, placed in sequence, build emphasis. "She did not ask the question, she did not press the point, she did not return to the topic." Parallelism rewards the reader who notices.

Where two ideas connect, name the connection with a precise transition. Not "also" but "and beyond that"; not "but" but "though"; not "so" but "because".

Each paragraph should pick up something from the previous paragraph (a word, an image, a claim) and advance it. The pickup is what makes a piece feel built rather than assembled.