Discourse Analysis
Lecture 1
Cohesion Exercises
Anaphoric vs. Cataphoric Reference
• John is leaving, what do you think of this?
• John noticed that the door was open, when he arrived.
anaphoric relation (looking backwards)
• What do you think of this? John is leaving
• When he arrived, John noticed that the door was open
cataphoric relation (looking forward)
Match and determine the type of reference:
a) As she entered the building 1) Jim fell over
b) When he was running upstairs 2) the woman saw a huge crowd
Exercise
Identify whether the reference words are anaphoric or
cataphoric:
• For many years, East German people devised 1creative
ways to sneak out of East Germany. Some people dug
tunnels; 2 others tried crashing through checkpoints with cars,
trucks, or busses; 3still others flew out in small airplanes or
balloons. One woman tied herself to the bottom of a car and
passed through a checkpoint unnoticed. And one family sewed
fake Russian uniforms for 4themselves; then, they pretended
to be Russian soldiers and simply drove through a checkpoint.
Some desperate people tried scrambling over a barbed-wire
fence or a wall. 5These people were often shot.
Answer
1/ Creative Ways is Cataphoric, referring downward to digging
tunnels, crashing through checkpoints, flying out, tying oneself to the
bottom of a car, sewing fake Russian uniforms, and scrambling over a
fence or wall.
2/ Others is Anaphoric, referring upward to people.
3/ Still Others is Anaphoric, referring upward to people.
4/ Themselves is Anaphoric, referring upward to family.
5/ These people is Anaphoric, referring upward to desperate people.
Conjunction
Examples:
• He ate the cornflakes. Then , he ate the packet
• Finally, I would like to thank all of you for coming.
• No students arrived. So, he went home.
• He bought a hat and some sun cream. But he still got sunburnt.
Exercise
Write suitable conjunctions
1. Justice implies a sense of equality for all, …….it implies an
acceptance of a standard that applies to the whole community.
2. The weather was very cold ……… John wore gloves.
3. Paul was sad ……… his cricket team had lost the match.
4. We waited for Sue ……… she didn’t turn up.
Substitution
• Nominal substitution
(1) My axe is too blunt. I must get a sharper one
(2) When I was a kid, I had a kitten but then it lost. I wish I had
the same now.
• Verbal substitution
(1) You think Joan already knows? - I think everybody does
(2) Why didn’t you write the essay, Jono? All of your friends
did .
Substitution
• Clausal substitution
(1)... if you've seen them so often. of course you get to know
them very well'. 'I believe so,' Alice replied thoughtfully.
(2) Do you think that the assignment will due this week? I
hope not! I haven’t written anything!
(3) Everyone thinks he’s guilty. If so, no doubt he’ll resign.
ELLIPSIS
Nominal ellipsis –the omitted noun is bracketed(1)
1) They do not like it, yet (they) said nothing.
2) I don’t like the yellow T-shirt. I’ll take the blue (T-shirt).
Verbal ellipsis
1) Have you been swimming?- Yes, I have (been swimming).
2) Who was playing the piano? – John was (playing the piano).
3) I hear Smith is having an operation? – He has (had an operation).
Clausal ellipsis
1) Would you like anything else? (I’d like) A cup of tea, please.
2) The son was missing but the father didn’t know (that the son was
missing)
Reference, Substitution, Ellipsis
a. This is a fine hall you have here. I’m proud to be lecturing
in it.
b. This is a fine hall you have here. I've never lectured in a
finer one.
c. This is a fine hall you have here. I've never lectured in a
finer.
Reference, Substitution, Ellipsis
a. This is a fine hall you have here. I’m proud to be lecturing
in it. (reference)
b. This is a fine hall you have here. I've never lectured in a
finer one. (substitution)
c. This is a fine hall you have here. I've never lectured in a
finer. (ellipsis)
Lexical cohesion
4. In Hyponymy, one thing is a subtype of another. For example:
• Flowers have always been interesting to me. Daffodils are my
favorite.
• One of the colours I really like is purple.
• Daffodils are a subtype of flower; daffodil is a hyponym of
flower:
Lexical cohesion
5. Another important relationship is the PART-WHOLE one
(meronymy):
The human body is an intricate mechanism. The arm, for
example, is used for different kinds of leverage.
His left hand had four fingers rather than five.
Exercise
Underline the cohesive devices and mention their types and
subtypes:
• My father once bought a Lincoln convertible. He did it by
saving every penny he could ... That car would be worth a
fortune nowadays. However, he sold it to help pay for my
college education. Sometimes I think I’d rather have the
convertible.
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Answer
Underline the cohesive devices and mention their types and
subtypes:
• My father once bought a Lincoln convertible. He did it by
saving every penny he could ... That car would be worth a
fortune nowadays. However, he sold it to help pay for my
college education. Sometimes I think I’d rather have the
convertible.
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