Portuguese Year 4: Paragraphs, links and sense in a text
Portuguese, Year 4 (Portugal): Organise a text in paragraphs, link the sentences (cohesion) and keep all the ideas on the same subject (coherence).
One idea, one paragraph
A well-written text is organised in paragraphs: each deals with one idea and starts on a new line, a little indented. The text is also cohesive: sentences are linked by words like «depois», «mas», «porque», and by words that replace others («o Rui… ele»). And it is coherent: all the ideas are about the same subject, in an order that makes sense, and do not contradict each other.
A wall of letters tires the reader
A text without paragraphs looks like a wall of letters and the reader gets tired. Paragraphs tell them: here one idea ends and another begins. Cohesion makes the text run, without repeating; coherence makes it tell one thing only. Without them, each sentence may be right, yet the text is not understood.
Fixing a mixed-up text
Text: «Ontem fui ao mercado com a avó. Comprámos maçãs. O meu cão gosta de ossos. Em casa, fizemos uma tarte.» (Yesterday I went to the market with Grandma. We bought apples. My dog likes bones. At home, we made a tart.) Step 1: I separate the ideas: the market, and the tart at home. Step 2: «O meu cão gosta de ossos» is about another subject: I take it out (coherence). Step 3: I link: «Ontem fui ao mercado com a avó e comprámos maçãs.» and «Em casa, fizemos uma tarte com elas.» (cohesion: «elas» = apples). Step 4: two paragraphs, each starting on a new line, indented.
Too many paragraphs, or none
There are two opposite mistakes: writing everything in one block with no paragraphs, or making one paragraph for every sentence. A paragraph holds one idea, and that idea can have several sentences. Another mistake is to think that linking sentences with «e depois» is enough to make the text cohesive: if a sentence is about another subject, the text still makes no sense. Cohesion links; coherence gives sense.
Books, news and letters
You see paragraphs everywhere: in books, in the news, in letters and in school work. When you write to a friend about your holidays, you can make one paragraph for the trip and another for the beach. If someone reads your text and asks «but what has that to do with it?», coherence is missing; if they say «you keep repeating the same word», cohesion is missing.
Test what you learned
What should each paragraph have?
- a) Exactly one sentence
- b) All the ideas of the text
- c) One idea, which can take several sentences
Correct answer: c) One idea, which can take several sentences — Yes: one idea per paragraph, and a new line to show a new idea begins.
In a paragraph about a birthday party, which sentence does not belong?
- a) «Comemos bolo e cantámos os parabéns.»
- b) «O Sol é uma estrela.»
- c) «A Inês soprou as velas.»
Correct answer: b) «O Sol é uma estrela.» — Yes: it is about the Sun, another subject. It breaks the coherence of the paragraph.
Marta wrote every sentence on a new line. Is that right?
- a) No: sentences about the same idea go in the same paragraph
- b) Yes: one paragraph per sentence is always better
- c) No: it would be better to write it all with no paragraphs
Correct answer: a) No: sentences about the same idea go in the same paragraph — Yes: a new paragraph is for a new idea, not for every sentence.
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