A Study on Grammatical Cohesion in the Texts of New Concept English 4

張碧玉

Abstract：Since Halliday and Hasans work Cohesion in English（1976）was published，“cohesion” becomes a hot topic，which is classified into grammatical cohesion and lexical cohesion.This thesis studies grammatical cohesion in New Concept English 4，and tries to find out universal grammatical cohesive devices applied in English textbook，which could help English teachers and learners have a better understanding of texts in their English textbooks.

Key words：grammatical cohesion，New Concept English 4，grammatical cohesive devices

1.Study Procedure

The writer firstly collects the data from the NCE4，which include 10 texts，altogether 2659 words and then reviews Halliday and Hasans cohesion theory.Consequently，the writer calculated the frequency of each grammatical cohesive device in these ten texts.All is done manually，so the results would be persuasive.Fourthly，the writer put some frequencies into tables to make they are more clearly to be seen.Finally，the writer describes and analyzes the collected data so as to explain the distributions of grammatical cohesive devices and their functions in the selected texts.The results can be served as the universal features of NCE4，and even of all English textbooks.

2.Grammatical cohesion in the Texts of New Concept English4

2.1 Analysis of Reference

Reference consists of personal reference，demonstrative reference and comparative reference.To make the study more convincing，each type is illustrated with numbers and examples.

2.1.1Personal Reference

NCE4 prefer to use personal reference of first person singular form，third person singular form and second person plural form.Possessive pronouns are not applied in the chosen texts.These texts use possessive determiners of first，second，third person as modifiers，such as my，our，his，her，their.The high frequency of they，it，you demonstrates the personal references anaphoric function because when something is pointed out in the first place，these personal pronouns are used to refer to what is mentioned before them.The application of personal reference makes each sentence combined together，which can improve our understanding of the whole text.There is an example in the chosen texts：（1）“We can read of things that happened 5，000 years ago in the Near East，where people first learned to write.But there are some parts of the world where even now people cannot write.The only way that they can preserve their history is to recount it as sagas.”

In this example，“they” and “their” are the personal references，which both refer to people cannot write.Here，“they” in the clause acts as subject，while “their” is the determiner of the object.But their referential function is the same.

2.1.2 Demonstrative reference Table 1 shows the frequencies of

According to the Table 1，we find that “the” has the highest frequency in the selected texts.The items such as “that”，“these”，“there” are also often used in these kinds of texts.（3）“This echo-location in bats is often compared with radar，the principle of which is similar.“This” refers cataphorically to echo-location.

There are high frequencies of “that” in these texts，for example，（4）“One authority on spiders made a census of the spiders in a grass field，and he estimated that there were more than 2，250，000 in one acre；that is something like 6，000，000 spiders of different kind on a football pitch.” Here，the second “that” refers back to preceeding stated facts.But there are a lot of situations where “that” acts as a conjunction.In the same example，the first “that” does not function as an demonstrative referential device.

2.1.3 Comparative reference

Comparison involves more than one entity.If the readers want to know well about the relations between sentences，they have to recognize the concrete entities.This makes comparison a form of reference.There is an example in the collected texts：（6）“one can tell the difference almost at a glance，for a spider always has eight legs and an insect never morn than six”.In this example，“difference” and “more” are comparative referential items.“Difference” refers cataphorically to the fact that “a spider always has eight legs and an insect never morn than six”.“More” is used in terms of quantity.The same function of “more” can be seen in such expressions as more time and more effort.

2.2 The Analysis of Substitution/Ellipsis

Substitution is the replacement of one item by another，and ellipsis is the omission of an item.Essentially the two are the same process；ellipsis can be interpreted as that form of substitution in which the item is replaced by nothing.（Halliday and Hasan）.So this thesis will discuss these two together.

After counting，the writer finds that few substitutions are used in the collected texts.It can be deduced that substitution often occurs in spoken texts such as conversations.But these data are also worthwhile to analyze.The negative clausal substitute item “not”，nominal substitute items “ones”，“the same” do not occur in these texts.The reason for this result should be attributed to the characteristics of the selected texts.The word “so” although does occur in these texts，it is not a clausal substitute，because only does it substitutes an entire clause，could it be a substitute item.“One” has the highest frequency in this table because once an idea has been expressed，it can be substituted by this items.There are examples picked out from the texts to illustrate substitutions：（7）“People are always talking about ‘the problem of youth.If there is one——which I take leave to doubt——then it is older people who create it，not the young themselves.”（8）“The young man has a glorious future before him and the old one has a splendid future behind him.” The word “one” in example（7）refers to “problem”，while “one” in example（8）refers to “man”.It can be seen that the nominal substitute “one” has two functions：it directly substitutes something or it is accompanied by modifier such as “old” in this example.

2.3 The Analysis of Conjunction

Halliday and Hasan believe that conjunctive adjuncts contribute to cohesion.The use of conjunctive adjuncts makes the cohesion be realized by means of adverbs，nominal and prepositional phrases.

According to this chart，under the heading of additive conjunction，“and” is most frequently used in these texts.Under adversative conjunction，“but” enjoys the highest frequency to express the sense of contrast；“so” and “because” are used to show casual relations.Under temporal conjunction，“before” is often used，which demonstrates these texts are inclined to something which happened in the past.Here are instances of different types of conjunction：（9）“Invariably the background was the same：dirt and poverty，and very uncomfortable.” The additive “and” connects these three adjectives together.“And” always indicates that new information will be provided after it.In this case，two “and” indeed certify how unpleasant the background is.（10）“Fortunately，however，ancient men made tools of stone，especially flint，because this is easier to shape than other kinds.” The word “however” in this example is an adversative conjunction，which means the following information is contrary to the original expectations.（11）（Same as example7），（12）“The Americans would happily reach one accord on standards for medical devices and then hammer out different pacts covering，say，electronic goods and drug manufacturing.” “Then” in example 12 is a causal conjunction，and is used with “if”，namely，“if…then…” to show conditional relations.But “then” in example 13 acts as a temporal conjunction，showing a kind of sequential relation.

3.Conclusion

Linguistic studies of texts in English coursebook are not rare.But the study of “New Concept English” does rare.In addition，the examples provided can be used in English teaching，which are of great help for English teachers and students.Though great efforts have been made in this thesis，there are still some limitations.Firstly，the corpus collected is not large enough.Secondly，the analysis of the data and examples is not profound enough.Anyway，further study on this is needed.

References：

[1].Alexnder，L.G.（1997）.New Concept English：Fluency in English.London：Longman.

[2].Halliday，M.A.K & R.Hasan.（1976）.Cohesion in English.London：Longman.

[3].Hasan，R.（1968）.Grammatical cohesion in spoken and written English.London：Longman.

[4].胡壯麟，（1994），《語篇的銜接與連貫》，上海：上海外語教育出版社。

[5].黃國文，（2001）《語篇分析的理淪與實踐》，上海：上海外語教育出版社。

[6].朱永生、鄭立信、苗興偉，（2001），《英漢語篇銜接手段對比研究》，上海：上海外語教育出版社。