雅思考官专业答疑解惑 雅思考试

为了帮助大家高效科学地备考雅思，少走不必要的弯路，我们邀请了一位经验丰富的前雅思考官（今后直接称呼为Dr.IELTS"）来为大家答疑解惑。我们会在雅思考官问答"专栏中，让雅思考官亲自回答问题。无论是难提分的口语写作，还是坊间的各种传说，Dr.IELTS都会给出专业、靠谱的答案。

由于Dr.IELTS的母语是英语，所有的回答均由英文完成，我会做简单、必要的编辑。如果你已经在备考雅思了，千万不要错过这些问答。因为这除了解决你的疑惑外，还能通过阅读雅思考官的英文学一些地道表达，将来把它们用在口语和写作中。希望大家可以从Dr.IELTS的回答中找到你关心的问题的答案。

雅思写作Task2评分标准第二项是coherence和cohesion。很多考生一看到这项就犯难。该怎样理解这两个概念呢？二者有什么区别？学生容易犯的错误有哪些？

Dr.IELTS:Coherencemeansyoucanfollowtheessayasawholeveryeasilyandcohesionmeansitiswellputtogetherwithineachparagraphandsentence.Inlinguistics,cohesionisapartofthebroaderconceptofcoherence.

Withregardstocoherence,ifyouressaygoesfromonethoughttoanothercompletelyunrelatedthoughtandyoudothisthroughoutthewholeessay,yourcoherenceisnotverygood.Anotherwaytosayitisyouressaydoesn’tmakesense.Conversely,ifyoucanfolloweachsentenceandonethoughtleadstotheotherveryeasily,thenyouhavegoodcoherence.Ifwelookatthewholeessayinageneralway,theintro,bodyparagraphsandconclusionwillallflowtogetherverywell.Ifwelookateachparagraphindetail,therewillbealogicalflow(eitherstartingfromabroadandgeneralthoughtandgraduallygoingbecomingmoredetailedinyourdeion,ordependingontheprompt,drawingfromyourownexperiencesandrelatingthattoanabstractthought,etc).

Cohesionreferstohoweachsentenceisconstructedwithineachparagraph.Writersshoulduseavarietyofcohesivedevices(i.e.with,either…or,regarding)tolinkdifferentideastogetherineachparagraphandhaveeachparagraphlinkwitheachother,givingthereaderaveryeasyessaytoread.

Manycandidateshavedecentcoherencebutthecohesionineachparagraphisnotverygood.Forexample,let’ssaythetopicis:

Technologyhasbroughtpeopletogetherbetterthananythinginhistory.Towhatextentdoyouagreeordisagreewiththisstatement?

Mostcandidateshaveanintroparagraph,twobodyparagraphsandaconclusion.Thisconstitutes,inaverygeneralsense,goodcoherence.However,withineachbodyparagraph,candidatesoftenjumpfromonethoughttoanotherwithoutdevelopingtheirinitialthoughtandextendingitfurther.Thereasonsmightbetotallydifferent,soeachthoughtneedstobediscussedmore.Itwouldbereallysomethingifthecandidatecouldlinkallthreereasonstogethersomehow(i.e.the1streasonissmall,whichleadstothe2nd,whichmightbemoreseriousandthenthe3rdreason,whichisthemostserious).

Justin'snote:Dr.IELTS上面的回答本身就是一篇结构条理、语言清晰的解释性文章（expositoryessay），完美诠释了什么是coherence和cohesion。不妨再阅读一次，体会下段落间、段落内句子之间是怎样过渡的。

这个回答也让我想起了WilliamZinsser在WritingEnglishasaSecondLanguage演讲中提到的类似的观点：如果你正在准备雅思，欢迎在评论区留言向Dr.IELTS提问，Dr.IELTS会优先选择一些高质量、高赞的问题作答。