In the context of textuality and discourse structure, what is the primary difference between 'cohesion' and 'coherence'?
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Correct answer: Cohesion is the surface grammatical and lexical ties; coherence is the underlying meaning
Cohesion involves the overt linguistic markers (such as pronouns, conjunctions, and ellipsis) that tie sentences together structurally. Coherence, by contrast, is the mental framework that allows a reader to perceive the text as unified and logically meaningful based on real-world knowledge. A text can be cohesive but completely lack coherence if the ideas do not make logical sense together.
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