Let's continue to look at the use of cohesive devices in relation to how we can sound more formal or informal.
As you have learned in the previous lesson, cohesive devices are words that tell the reader what to expect next - remember the car analogy!
Cohesive devices tend not to be informal; they're either formal or neutral, which is between the two. These neutral cohesive devices can be used for informal or formal writing, but the formal ones can only be used for formal writing.
Cohesive Devices Worksheet
To view a complete of Cohesive Devices used for Formal vs Informal writing, click on the following button:
How to use this List
Be careful when adding these cohesive devices to sentences. For instance, even when two cohesive devices have the same purpose, the way that they're used in a sentence and the grammar associated with them will be different, and you're not going to learn that information from a list. You need to study each of them being used in the context of a sentence such as in the following examples.
Describing a Similarity
Formal | Informal |
|---|---|
equally | like |
in the same way | |
likewise | |
similarly | Cell |
Examples
Formal
Having an appropriate tone in your answer is equally important to directly responding to the question prompt.
Informal
Having an appropriate tone in your answer is very important, just like directly responding to the question prompt.
The best strategy is to reference this list whenever you come across a cohesive device to confirm whether it is used in formal or informal writing. You can then make a note of that so that you can use it appropriately in your writing from now on.