A contrastive study on contracts for consulting services in english and vietnamese

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING
HANOI OPEN UNIVERSITY

M.A. THESIS

A CONTRASTIVE STUDY ON CONTRACTS FOR
CONSULTING SERVICES IN ENGLISH AND
VIETNAMESE
(NGHIÊN CỨU ĐỐI CHIẾU CÁC HỢP ĐỒNG DỊCH VỤ TƯ VẤN
TRONG TIẾNG ANH VÀ TIẾNG VIỆT)

PHẠM THỊ THANH NHÀN

Hanoi, 2016


MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING
HANOI OPEN UNIVERSITY

M.A. THESIS

A CONTRASTIVE STUDY ON CONTRACTS FOR
CONSULTING SERVICES IN ENGLISH AND
VIETNAMESE
(NGHIÊN CỨU ĐỐI CHIẾU CÁC HỢP ĐỒNG DỊCH VỤ TƯ VẤN
TRONG TIẾNG ANH VÀ TIẾNG VIỆT)

PHẠM THỊ THANH NHÀN

Field: English Language
Code: 60220201

Supervisor: Assoc. Prof. Dr. Hồ Ngọc Trung

Hanoi, 2016


CERTIFICATE OF ORIGINALITY
I, the undersigned, hereby certify my authority of the study project report
entitled “A contrastive study on contracts for consulting services in English
and Vietnamese” submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the
degree of Master in English Language. Except where the reference is
indicated, no other person’s work has been used without due
acknowledgement in the text of the thesis.
Hanoi, 2016

Pham Thi Thanh Nhan

Approved by

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Hồ Ngọc Trung
Date: ……………………………………

i


ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This thesis could not have been completed without the help and support from
a number of people.
First and foremost, I would like to express my sincere gratitude to Assoc.

Prof. Dr. Ho Ngoc Trung, my supervisor, who has patiently and constantly
supported me through the stages of the study, and whose stimulating ideas,
expertise, and suggestions have inspired me greatly through my growth as an
academic researcher. Without his guidance and help, this work would not
have been accomplished.
A special word of thanks also goes to Mr. Nguyen Van Huy, project’s
director and technical staff under Project Management Unit of Medium
Cities Development Project for their sincere assistance and permission for
the collection and reproduction of English sample contracts for consulting
services. I am also deeply indebted to all other friends and colleague for their
enthusiasm about finding Vietnamese contracts for consulting services.
Many thanks are also given to Mr. John Cooney and Ms Toko Kato, the
World Bank’s independent consultants for their instruction and provision of
useful reference on laws and legal documents while the work was in
progress.
Last but not least, I am greatly indebted to my family members, especially
my mother, who always beside encourages and supports me in all the time,
for their inspiration and unconditional love. I would like to dedicate this
work to them.

i


ABSTRACT
This study is aimed to explore the standards frequently used by foreigners
and Vietnamese people in the course of making contracts for consulting
services by an analysis of contracts of various sorts in English and
Vietnamese. The major theoretical basis that the study bases itself on is
Rhetorical Structure Theory written by Mann and Thompton and Cohesion
theory by Halliday and Hasan. The research starts by analyzing consulting

contracts in terms of structure and cohesion, in order to provide a deeper
insight into the important role of the structure and cohesive devices in
contracts for consulting services When the analysis is done it compares the
structure of contracts for consulting services of different kinds in terms of
structure and cohesion to identify the similarities and differences between
contracts of the two languages. The result of this study may help contractmakers, students draw up and understand more contracts for consulting
services. For this purpose, implications are put forward for both the business
community and business contract learning and translating.

ii


LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS
JICA: Japan International Cooperation Agency
WB: World Bank
ADB: Asian Development Bank
PMU: Project Management Unit
MCDP: Medium Cities Development Project
TPP: Trans-Pacific Partnership
FTA: Free Trade Agreements
AEC: ASEAN Economic Community
RST: Rhetorical Structure Theory

iii


LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES
Table
Table 3.1: List of sample texts and their origin

29

Table 4.1 Kind of sentences (in the body of English contracts)

39

Table 4.2 The average frequency of cohesive devices found in English 49
contracts for consulting services
Table 4.3 Relevant factors of the beginning of contracts for consulting 53
services in English and Vietnamese
Table 4.4 Kinds of sentences (in the body of Vietnamese contracts)

55

Table 4.5 The obligatory factors of the ending of contracts for 58
consulting services
Table 4.6 The average frequency of cohesive devices found in 63
Vietnamese contracts for consulting services
Table 4.7 The differences of discourse structure in the beginning of 68
contracts
Table 4.8 The differences of discourse structure in the body of 70
contracts
Table 4.9 The differences of discourse structure in the ending of 72
contracts
Table 4.10 The average frequency of cohesive devices found in English 73
and Vietnamese contracts for consulting services
Figure
Figure 4.1 Percentage of cohesive devices in English contracts

50

Figure 4.2. Percentage of cohesive devices in Vietnamese contracts

63

Figure 4.3 The average frequency of cohesive devices in English and 73
Vietnamese contracts for consulting services

iv


TABLE OF CONTENTS
Certificate of originality

i

Acknowledgements

ii

Abstract

iii

List of tables and figures

iv

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION

1

1.1 Rationale for the research

1

1.2 Aims of the research

2

1.3 Objectives of the research

2

1.4 Scope of the research

3

1.5 Significance of the research

4

1.6 Structural organization of the thesis

5

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW

7

2.1 Review of previous studies

7

2.1.1 Previous studies overseas

7

2.1.2 Previous studies in Vietnam

7

2.2 Review of theoretical background

8

2.2.1 Theoretical framework

8

2.2.2 Theoretical background

9

2.2.2.1. The concepts of Discourse and Discourse analysis

9

2.2.2.2. Text and discourse

10

2.2.2.3. Spoken and Written discourse

10

2.2.2.4. Discourse structure

12

2.2.2.5. The concepts of cohesion

13

2.2.2.6.Two aspects of cohesion

14

2.2.2.7. Cohesive devices and classification

16

2.2.2.8. Definition of contract and its properties

22

2.3. Summary

26

v


CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY

27

3.1. Research-governing orientations

27

3.1.1 Research questions

27

3.1.2 Research setting

27

3.1.3. Research approaches

28

3.1.4. Principles for data collection and data analysis

29

3.2. Research methods

30

3.2.1. Major methods vs. supporting methods

30

3.2.2. Data collection techniques

31

3.2.3. Data analysis techniques

32

3.3 Summary

32

CHAPTER 4: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS

34

4.1. The features of English contracts for consulting services

34

4.1.1. Discourse structure

34

4.1.1.1. Name of contract and the beginning

34

4.1.1.2. The body of contracts

36

4.1.1.3. The ending of contracts

41

4.1.2. Cohesion

43

4.1.2.1. The realization of the two aspects of cohesion

43

4.1.2.2. Cohesive devices

45

4.2. The features of Vietnamese contracts for consulting services
4.2.1. Discourse structure

50
50

4.2.1.1. Name of contract and the beginning

51

4.2.1.2. The body of contracts

54

4.2.1.3. The ending of contracts

56

4.2.2. Cohesion

58

4.2.2.1. The realization of the two aspects of cohesion

58

4.2.2.2. Cohesive devices

60

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4.3. The similarities and differences between contracts for consulting

64

services in English and Vietnamese
4.3.1. The similarities of discourse structure

64

4.3.1.1. Name of contract and the beginning

64

4.3.1.2. The body of contracts

65

4.3.1.3. The ending of contracts

66

4.3.2. The similarities of cohesion

66

4.3.2.1. Two aspects of cohesion

66

4.3.2.2. Cohesive devices

66

4.3.3. The differences of discourse structure

67

4.3.3.1. Name of contract and the beginning

67

4.3.3.2. The body of contracts

69

4.3.3.3. The ending of contracts

71

4.3.4. The differences of cohesion

73

4.3.4.1 Cohesive devices
4.4. Implications

73
75

4.4.1 Implications on business community

75

4.4.2. Implications on business contract translating and learning

76

CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION

79

5.1 Recapitulation and concluding remarks

79

5.2 Limitations of the study

80

5.3 Suggestions for further studies

80

SOURCES OF DATA

i

REFERENCES

iii

APPENDICES

viii

vii


CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION
1.1. Rationale of the research
Vietnam has made steady progress on transparency in the last 10 years and
World Bank (WB) is playing main role of providing loans for development
works to member countries, especially to developing countries like Vietnam.
The WB provides long-term loans for various development projects of 5 to
20 years duration with the main goals: to increase economic growth,
strengthen Vietnam’s capacity to deal with the opportunities and challenges
presented by the rapid urbanization that will continue in Vietnam for the
next 20 years.
The choice of this topic is prompted by my experience with translating the
contracts for consulting services funded by the WB from English into
Vietnamese. It is a fact that the making contracts by foreigners does not
enter one-to-one correspondence with that by Vietnamese people as the
number of international organizations providing loans and technical
assistance to Viet Nam as Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA),
WB, Asian Development Bank (ADB) etc. is ever-increasingly since the
international standards for consulting contracts are a relatively new area in
Vietnam; In the course of my work, what becomes obvious is the fact that
there is a wide variety, and of course, deviation from the so-called
acceptable standard ones. Our assumption is also that the rise of Vietnamese
contracts in general has been influenced by outside factors. Thus many
difficulties and problems, of course, has arisen.
The study aims at providing the investigation into similarities and
difficulties between consultancy contracts in English and Vietnamese as a
1

contribution to the field of discourse analysis to help learners, researchers
and translators.
1.2. Aims of the research
The aim of the study is to carry out an investigation into the use of a
collection of 10 consulting contracts frequently used by both foreigners and
Vietnamese people and then is applied in the study to analyze and compare
the similarities and differences to gain insights into the structure of
consulting contracts. Fianally, the research aims to suggest some solutions to
improve students’/ translators’ capabilities in translating English texts.
1.3. Objectives of the research
To fulfill the above aims, the objectives of the study are (i) analyzing
consulting contracts in terms of structure and cohesion, in order to provide a
deeper insight into the important role of the structure and cohesive devices
in contracts for consulting services (ii) comparing contracts for consulting
service in English and those in Vietnamese with an aim to investigate the
similarities and differences between them and based on the analysis and
comparison to gain insights into the structure of consulting agreement, and
(iii) suggesting some solutions to improve students’/ translators’ capabilities
in translating English texts.
1.4. Scope of the study
As the exploitation of features of contracts is quite huge and diversified, and
the number of contracts has been increasing year after year, the analysis is
supposed to be selective rather than comprehensive in following senses:
(i)

Academic scope

2

 Contracts for consulting services in all types will be a very broad
research, so it is impossible to cover all. The study only focuses on
five of the most popular types of texts, they are: Consulting
Contracts for detailed design service; Consulting Contracts for
construction supervision service; Consulting Contracts for audit
service; Consulting Contracts for technical assistance service;
Consulting Contracts for monitoring on environmental and social.
 In addition, due to the time constraints and within the framework
of an M.A thesis, our analysis is confined to only the structure and
cohesion, particularly the three types of grammatical cohesive
devices of Substitution, Ellipsis and Conjunctions and given the
frequency of appearance of lexical Reiteration, only three
categories of Repetition, Synonymy and Antonym are investigated.
(ii)

Social scope
 As mentioned above, only 10 consulting contracts for consulting
services in English and Vietnamese will be focused on. The
contracts mainly come from a World Bank Borrower - Medium
Cities Development Project in Vietnam during its selection process
of Consultants. These documents are prepared for the project and
are applicable under the methods of selection of consultants
described in the WB’s Guidelines. However, the English used in
these contracts can be deemed to be authentic English.

1.5. Significance of the research
Theoretically, the study is based on the tenets of discourse analysis which
these days are of great importance to language research in general and to

language rendering in particular. This thesis is particularly serving as a
reference or guide to those who want to master the structure of consulting
contracts discourse in terms of structure and cohesion.
3


Practically, accounting for the need to recognize the international standards
for consulting contracts frequently used by both foreigners and Vietnamese
people, the study will bring useful and significant knowledge to language
users via analysis and comparison together with the implication of the study
gaining insights into the structure of consulting agreements.
Vietnam is well on the way of becoming a developed country. The
Vietnamese people are determined to do what they can to ensure the country
quickly moves away from poverty and backwardness and with support by
international organizations. The study also tries to help interpreters/
translators of English draw up and understand the international standard
form of contract to attract foreign funding and investments especially in the
context of Vietnam’s deeper integration into the global economy via such
comprehensive free trade agreements as the

Trans-Pacific

Partnership

(TPP), free trade agreements (FTA), ASEAN Economic Community (AEC)
etc. and financial support from international organizations such as WB,
JICA, ADB etc.
Successfully preparing an international standard contract for consulting
service is a big problem, especially the one written in foreign language. A
study of consulting contract agreements in English and Vietnamese will

contribute to the study of types of contracts so that they can master and use
them effectively in writing, negotiating and signing consulting contracts in
English and Vietnamese.
1.6. Structural organization of the thesis
This graduation thesis is designed with 5 chapters as follow:

4


Chapter 1 (Introduction) consists of rationale, the justification of the
purposes, the scope and significance of the study on contracts for consulting
services in English and Vietnamese.
Chapter 2 (Literature Review) reviews previous studies, theoretical
framework and theoretical background which chiefly deals with such topics
as Discourse Structure, two Aspects of Cohesion, Cohesive Devices as well
as the definitions and properties of a contract in general and contract for
consulting service in particular.
Chapter 3 (Methodology) refers to the research-governing orientations of the
study and the method to collect and analyze the collected data to help the
author achieve the best results in the study.
Chapter 4 (Findings and Discussions) provides analysis and discussion about
structure and cohesion features of contracts for consulting services in
English and Vietnamese and then offers students and contract-makers some
solutions to the learning and translating contracts for consulting services in
English and Vietnamese based on the findings.
Chapter 5 (Conclusion) presents conclusion of the study on the type of
contract for consulting service.

5

CHAPTER II: LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1. Review of previous studies
2.1.1 Previous studies overseas
Scholars such as Halliday & Hasan (1976), Brown & Yule (1983) and Cook,
(1989) have given a lot of intellect and energy to discourse. There have been
many authors discussing economic contracts in English. Mc Comas, Donna
and Satterwhite (1993) and Kench (1972) deal with planning and writing
successful business letter and trade contracts. Krizan and Harcourt (1999)
provide readers with business letter formats in proper structures, phrases and
expressions. Some websites on business communication concentrate on the
formats, languages, structures and guidelines for writing Economic
Contracts.
2.1.2 Previous studies in Vietnam
In Vietnam, a variety of linguists have embarked on pursuing and applying
discourse into Vietnamese. Tran Ngoc Them (1996), Diep Quang Ban
(1998) have given us more overall view of texts and utterances, Nguyen
Hoa (2006) has made a great contribution to this field. More recently, Ho
Ngoc Trung (2013) has given a lot of intellect and energy to discourse
analysis via his course book entitled “Lecture on Discourse Analysis”.
In addition, Nguyen Thi Thu (2000) focuses on the description, analysis and
comparison of 10 sales contracts in English and Vietnamese, Do Thu Huyen
(2000) concentrates on analysis of the business contract structures, Nguyen
Thi My Chau (2004) deals with the analysis and comparison of enquiry and
reply, offer, order, contract, report, M.O.U, official documents in English
and Vietnamese in terms of their lexical and syntactical features.

6

However, most of the books and authors mentioned have not studied the
linguistic aspects of contracts for consulting service to denote the general
linguistic characteristics affecting consulting contract writing due to the
materials provided by the international donor organizations particularly the
WB for use by its borrowers and their implementing agencies are relatively
difficult for everyone to search and study.
Therefore, the research entitled “A contrastive study on contracts for
consulting services in English and Vietnamese” is conducted with the aim
of contributing a minor part to fulfill the overall picture of this field.
2.2. Review of theoretical background
2.2.1. Theoretical framework
Our research focuses on providing a clear investigation into the structure of
contract for consulting service and its cohesion. The thesis is therefore
motivated and conducted within the frameworks theories of Rhetorical
Structure Theory (RST) written by Man and Thomson, and Cohesion
proposed by Halliday and Hasan. It chiefly deals with such topics as the
Concepts of Discourse and Discourse Analysis, Text and Discourse, Spoken
and Written Discourse, Discourse Structure, the Concepts of Cohesion, two
Aspects of Cohesion, Cohesive Devices and its classification which are
relevant to the purpose of this study as well as the definitions and properties
of a contract in general and contract for consulting service in particular.
2.2.2. Theoretical background
2.2.2.1. The concepts of Discourse and Discourse analysis

7


Since the time it was introduced the term “discourse” has taken various,
sometimes very broad, meanings. Originally the word 'discourse' comes
from Latin 'discursus' which denoted 'conversation, speech'. Halliday and

Hasan (1976) define that “Discourse is language that is functional language that is doing some job in some context as opposed to isolated
words to sentences. Discourse is a unit of language in use. It is not a
grammatical unit, like a clause or a sentence. Discourse is a semantic unit, a
unit not of form but of meaning. A discourse does not consist of sentences; it
is realized by, or encoded in sentences”.
Nunan (1993) considers discourse as “a stretch of language consisting of
several sentences, which are perceived as being related in some way.
Sentences can be related, not only in terms of ideas they share, but also in
terms of the jobs they performed within the discourse-that is in terms of their
functions”. And according to Halidday & Hasan (1976) discourse is seen as
“a semantic unit, a unit not of form but of meaning. A discourse does not
consist of sentences; it is realized by, or encoded in sentences”.
Discourse analysis is a new branch of linguistics that grew out of work in
different disciplines in the 1960s and early 1970s, including linguistics,
semiotics, psychology, anthropology and sociology.
Discourse analysis studies language in use: written texts of all kinds, and
spoken data, from conversation to highly institutionalized forms of talk. It
examines “how stretches of language, considered in their full textual, social,
and psychological context, becoming meaningful and unified for their users”
(Cook. 1997: 9).

8


In Vietnam, discourse analysis is a new subject; it has attracted more and
more attention from linguists, who mostly focus on sociological, stylistic,
sociolinguistic, and pragmatics perspectives.
2.2.2.2. Text and discourse
There are, in fact, many concepts around the terms: text and discourse. For
some linguistics, the terms seem to be used almost interchangeably. Crystal

(1992:72) defined text as “a piece of naturally occurring spoken, written or
signed discourse identified for purpose of analysis. It is often a language
unit with a definable communicative function such as a conversation, a
poster”. Moreover, some people argue that Discourse is language in action,
while text is the written record of that interaction. According to this view,
Discourse brings together language, the individual is used; thus it is best
characterized as a discourse-as-process view. For other linguistics, they tend
to avoid using the term Discourse altogether, they prefer the term Text for all
recorded instances of language in use. Brown and Yule (1983:6) point out
that Text is the representation of Discourse and the verbal record of a
communicative act. Cook (1989:158), besides, sees Text as “a stretch of
language interpreted formally without context”. This can be described as a
text-as-product view.
In this thesis, the term “text” shall be actually used and referred to
“discourse” for a text is unit of language in use and it may be spoken or
written, prose or verse, dialogue.
2.2.2.3. Spoken discourse and written discourse
There are two forms of language: spoken and written discourse. However,
spoken language emerged before written one. According to Halliday

9


(1985:6): “cultural changes which created new communicative needs
resulted in the emergence of a new form of language-writing”.
Brown and Yule (1983:13) suggest that spoken and written discourse share
some common functions. The first is to establish and maintain human
relationships (interactional use) and the second is to transfer information
(transactional use). Also, David Nunan (1995) believes that they both
perform an equivalent range of broad functions, that is, it is used to get

things done, to provide information and entertain.
However, there are some different points between written and spoken
discourse. The major difference between them is taken from the fact that
spoken discourse is changeable and written discourse is permanent. Written
discourse is often edited and structured while spoken discourse is considered
to be less planned and orderly, more open to intervention by the receivers.
(Cited in To Viet Thu 2001- MA thesis).
According to Raphael Sakies (1993), the contexts for using written language
are very different from those in which spoken language is used. For
example, in the case of information, written discourse is used to
communicate with others who are remote in time and space, for those
occasions on which a permanent or semi-permanent record is required.
To summarize, spoken and written discourse share some common points in
their functions, however, they are different in terms of communicative need,
the way of production, and context and these differences are not absolute
because the characteristics that we tend to associate with written language
can sometimes occur in spoken language and vice versa.
However, because our research is only related to written discourse, it
therefore investigates features of discourse especially focuses on features of
10


field of contract discourse -a specific type of discourse and this is hoped to
be able to contribute to the rationale of written discourse community.
2.2.2.4. Discourse structure
There have been a number of studies on discourse structuring. According to
the ideas of Prague School of linguistics, any utterance or sentence can be
said to contain given and new information. Given information is that which
the speaker or writer assumes is known by the listener or reader. New
information is that which is assumed to be known. Given and new

information will be reflected in the structure of sentences and utterances.
The new maybe conveyed in English by means of cleft-sentences, some
limiting adverbs, the indefinite article, and the construction “there is…”
Meanwhile, the given may find its expression in “as far as…”, inversion,
the definite article, or substitution by pronominal elements.
[1] * It is the cat which ate the rat.
(Given: Something ate the rat
New: The cat did the eating)
[2] *What the cat ate is the rat.
(Given: The cat ate something
New: The rat got eaten)

Particularly, Mann and Thompson’s view on discourse structuring is the best
known in English. The outstanding feature of their Rhetorical Structure
Theory (RST) shows the types of connection between two pieces of text.
The relationship is between two pieces of text called the nucleus (N) and the
satellite (S). The function – the reason why the speaker/writer chooses to
11


combine these two pieces of discourse, is called the effect. Mann and
Thompson have identified many types of relations. Their open-ended list is
circumstance, solutionhood, elaboration, relation of cause, antithesis and so
on.
[3] a) (N) The program as established for calendar year 1980 really
works.
[4] b) (S) In only a few minutes, I entered all the figures from my 1980
tax return and got a result which agreed with my hand calculations to the
penny.

The first sentence is the nucleus, which is strengthened by two pieces of
evidence in the S: first you got the result, then the result was judged correct.
The author’s purpose is using these S clauses to enhance the reader’s belief
in the N clause.
Our research aims at analyzing and discussing the structure features of
contracts for consulting services in English and Vietnamese and therefore
the major theoretical basis that the study bases itself on is Rhetorical
Structure Theory written by Mann and Thompton. In which, the two internal
relationships, namely N and S are pointed out and such relations as
Circumstance, Enablement and Motivation, Evidence and Justify, Relations
of Cause, Purpose, Condition and Otherwise, Interpretation and Evaluation,
Restatement and Summary, and lastly Sequence and Contrast within English
and Vietnamese contracts are also identified.
2.2.2.5. The concepts of cohesion
Basically, cohesion refers to the formal relationship that causes texts to
cohere or stick together. It is indicated by grammatical, logical and lexical
relationships found among or between the sentences of a text. Hence the

12


concept of cohesion is closely connected with text. Cohesion distinguishes
texts from nontexts and enables readers and listeners to establish relevance
between what was said, is being said, and will be said, through the
appropriate use of the necessary lexical and grammatical cohesive devices.
According to Halliday and Hasan (1976: 4), cohesion occurs when the
semantic interpretation of some linguistic element in the discourse depends
on another. They also state that "the concept of cohesion is a semantic one; it
refers to relations of meaning that exist within a text, and that defines it as a
text".

Cohesion is part of the system of a language. The potential for cohesion lies
in the systematic resources of reference, ellipsis and so on, that are built into
the language itself. Furthermore, cohesion refers to the linguistic features
which help make a sequence of sentences a text. It occurs in a text through
the use of devices that link across sentences. According to Cornor (1984), it
is defined as the use of explicit cohesive devices that signals relations among
sentences and parts of text. Cohesion is concerned with the ways in which
the components of text are connected. In short, it is a relationship between
lexical items and structures which are put together to construct a unified text.
Cohesion is also one among the seven standards of textuality according to de
Beaugrande and Dressler (1983)
2.2.2.6. Two aspects of cohesion
2.2.2.6.1. Topic cohesion
Mostly only one specific topic is discussed throughout the text to maintain
the unity and coherence.
[5] It is very dangerous for everybody if she drives after having drunk alcohol.
Driving demands us to be conscious and patient or calm whereas alcohol or any

13


drink with gas makes people excited and unconscious. Alcohol, therefore, is the
main cause of many traffic accidents. Drink driving should be considered as the
enemy of drivers. If you are offered a drink before driving, try your best to refuse
it otherwise you may get troubles from policemen or from your driving yourself.

It is obvious that the above sentences all refer to the same topic, that is the
problems of drink – driving.
A text may sometimes have subtopics that should be explicitly stated in the
topic sentence and hierarchically developed in each paragraph of the text.

However, all the supporting ideas should maintain constant discussion on
only the main topic of the text.
This analysis shows that the coherence of the text can be gained in the
topical cohesion that can help to distinguish from a jumble of sentences.
2.2.2.6.2. Logical cohesion
Logical cohesion is also an important aspect of coherence. It facilitates
coherent comprehension throughout the connections of all segments in a
piece of discourse. Some logical sequence relations are chronological order,
hierarchical order, cause and effect relation, comparison and contrast
relation, order of importance and so on. Let us consider the following
example:
[6] The high cost of a college education has become a staple of American
discourse. Pundits disapprove of it; parents gripe about it at neighborhood parties;
people plan their careers and finances around the necessity of paying for it. A
college education, we constantly hear, now costs more than $100,000, and the cost
is rising faster than the inflation rate.

14


The truth is that the $25,000-a-year college is relatively rare, but it exerts a
pernicious influence on American culture. It creates an atmosphere of panic
around college, etc.

It can be realized easily that the logical sequence relation here is cause and
effect relation as the high cost of college education, so the impact on
American society.
In general, what creates links between the clauses and sentences of the text is
known as cohesion, the topic and logic of a text can be achieved with the
help of topical cohesion and logical cohesion known as two important

aspects of cohesion.
2.2.2.7. Cohesive Devices and classification
The term “cohesive” has been defined in various ways. Some researchers
apply the term cohesive to the surface structure of the text. “Cohesive” has
sometimes been applied to smaller units of language in the text. Other
researchers have defined cohesive as continuity in words and sentence
structure.
Cohesive devices consist of grammatical cohesive devices and lexical
cohesive devices. We called grammatical because at least one of the
elements in the tie is a grammatical word. We make a distinction between
content or lexical words and grammatical words. Lexical words have a
meaning in the dictionary - words like table, chair, go and come;
grammatical words are words which have a function rather than a meaning: a
word like she, for example, has the grammatical function of indicating a
female.
According to Halliday and Hasan (1976: 303), the classification of cohesion
is based on the linguistic form; these are the categories of cohesion that can
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