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[Paragraph
Development]
[Outline]
[Summary]
[Essay Question] |
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COHESION |
如果你查看英英字典cohesion的定義類似如下: |
Something that is cohesive consists of parts that fit
together well and form a united whole.
在這個定義裡你再度看到連貫性的特性 … consists of parts
that fit together well and form a united whole.
再度你的文章內容必須具連貫性,
才會讓讀者在閱讀你的文章時,
跟得上你的思緒而瞭解你在講什麼.
但同樣是連貫性,
cohesion所強調的是什麼因素呢?
那就是pronoun
reference (指定代名詞)在語意(context)裡所明確指定的人物或事件.
一般而言以下代名詞為 pronoun reference: |
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Singular |
Plural |
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It |
They |
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She/He |
They |
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This |
These |
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That |
Those |
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這些代名詞本身所表示的意義相當模糊,
除非它們前有所指,
而前所指的人物或事件會用比較確實的名詞,
名詞片語,
或名詞子句表示.
現在舉個例子來說明: |
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For many years in the United States most
undergraduate students
were eighteen to twenty-two years old.
They
attended college full-time, lived in a dormitory on
campus, and expected many extras from their colleges,
not just classes. But things began to change in the
1970s and are very different now. Today, these
traditional students are less than one quarter of all
college students. These days the
nontraditional students
are the majority;
they
are different from traditional undergraduates in several
ways.
They
are older. Many attend college part-time because they
have families and jobs. Most live off campus, not in
dorms. These
nontraditional students
don’t want the extras that colleges usually offer.
They
aren’t interested in the sports, entertainment,
religious groups, and museums that are part of most U.S.
colleges.
They
want
mainly good-quality classes, day or night, at a low
cost.
They
also hope for easy parking, short registration lines,
and polite service. Both time and money are important to
them.
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(Resource: Interactions 2. by Kirn and Hartmann.
McGraw-Hill. 2002. 4th ed.) |
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They:
refers to
undergraduate students |
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they:
refers to
nontraditional students |
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They:
refers to
nontraditional students |
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They:
refers to
nontraditional students |
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They:
refers to
nontraditional students
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They:
refers to
nontraditional students
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them:
refers to
nontraditional students
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此短文內的名詞係指大學生,
但此處所指的大學生有三種:
undergraduates, traditional students,
及nontraditional
students.
但每一個they都各有所指(綠色斜體字).
只是到了第5,6,7個they由於仍然在列舉nontraditional
students與
traditional students的不同之處,
所以這三個they仍指nontraditional
students.
由於每個指定代名詞所指定的名詞或稱前置詞(antecedent)都很清楚,
所以用一下指定代名詞這種不具明確意思的虛詞也不會妨礙內容的可讀性.
更何況如果全部用nontraditional
students你會發現用字累贅,
這會影響你的用字遣詞
(vocabulary
或
word usage).
因此在寫作時,
何時用虛詞,
何時用確切的字或片語(specific
and precise noun, noun phrase),
需要掌控得宜,
而這須要從多讀多寫的練習中得到改進. |
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下面的短文--電影報告,
在連貫性方面掌控得宜,
所以是一篇佳作: |
This movie is about how one can struggle with honest and
caring heart to be accepted by a society he longs to
belong to. A human couple adopted a mouse named Stuart.
Surely, Stuart became their family member. The Littles’
own child named George was longing for a little human
brother; however, he was disappointed when he saw Stuart
was a mouse. So he did not welcome Stuart at the first
sight. Even the house pet - Snowball the cat tried to
kill Stuart because the mouse obtained too much care
from this family. The cats in the alley chased after him
and tried to kill him, but Stuart luckily ran away from
the murder. Once he almost killed himself in a remote
boat racing for his brother - George. Stuart overcame
those difficulties with courage and love. He built up a
strong affection with this family and the story ended up
with the family’s happy reunion. |
織品系學生作品 |
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