Coherence and Cohesion in English Discourse

5.1 Grammatical cohesion
Due to the nature of newspaper discourse it is not surprising that cohesion 
is realized mainly on the lexical level, which, however, is not to suggest that 
grammatical cohesive devices are less important. Grammatical cohesive links 
are also employed (e.g. those of reference) but in comparison with spoken 
discourse and other types of written discourse their repertoire is not as extensive. 
The category of ‘reference’ is obviously most prominent since it is necessary to 
refer repeatedly to people or things mentioned throughout the discourse. Due 
to the nature of newspaper discourse, ‘endophoric’ reference prevails, i.e. the 
referent is mentioned in the text. Apart from the basic cohesive function, referring 
expressions, for example personal pronouns, may be used to create or enhance the 
dramatic effect of the news, mainly by the employment of ‘cataphoric’ reference. 
Although it may be found in any part of a newspaper report, it is particularly 
effective at the beginning, even in headlines, where it is important to arouse the 
readers’ interest, as can be seen from the headlines below (Examples 6-8).
(6)
Lured to his death by gay killer letter
(Daily Mirror, October 17, 2006)
(7)
STOP IT
(Daily Mirror, March 28, 2009)
(8)
What she did to my princess was evil
(Daily Mirror, September 24, 2008)
In Example 6 the reference by the pronoun 
his
introduces the victim, whose 
identity will be revealed if the reader reads on; in Example 7 the reference of the 
pronoun 
it
is to be clarified in the coming context as a big problem of British 
society (i.e. juvenile crime and violence); in Example 8 the female referred to by 
she
is obviously assigned responsibility for something particularly horrible and 
the following paragraph reveals that it was the child’s own mother who killed the 
girl. It should also be noted that all these examples are taken from a tabloid, where 
dramatic effect seems to be one of the most important goals for the journalist.
The repetition of a referring expression in a few successive sentences may 
also contribute to the dramatic effect or emphasize a particular feature of a 
person, for example, the nature of the killer, as in Example 9. This description, 
however, is taken from the prosecutor’s speech, the main aim of which was to 
describe the killer and the background to the murder in court. As such it is close 
to a narrative which was carefully prepared and probably well thought out by the 
speaker, i.e. the prosecutor. For the same reason, as it is a revealing description 
of the killer’s nature, it was probably chosen by the journalist for inclusion in 
the article because to a certain extent (due to the facts included) it presents an 
evaluation of the killer and her behaviour; the newspaper’s objectivity is not 
put in jeopardy because the description and evaluation is clearly attributable to 
a source other than the newspaper. It is mainly for this reason that quotations 
from witnesses, family members, judges, detectives and others involved are used 

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extensively in the serious press, although in the popular press quotations are also 
extremely frequent, used mainly to enhance the dramatic effect.
(9)
Joanne Hill
could not come to terms with the fact that her daughter was 
disabled. 
 Instead of seeking help from the social services 
she
 quite deliberately and 
consciously acted to kill Naomi. 
She
 quite simply wanted Naomi dead. 
She 
couldn’t cope with caring for Naomi and left a lot of the everyday care to 
her husband. 
She
 even suggested to him that Naomi should be adopted, but 
he would never agree to that because he doted on her. 
(Daily Telegraph, 
September 24, 2008)
The full name of the mother is given at the beginning so as to state who is 
being talked about and each successive sentence begins with the pronoun 
she
clearly pointing at the mother as the one fully responsible for the girl’s death. 
In spoken form, uttered by an experienced lawyer, the speech must have been