Words for society, and linking back to an idea
You can write about families and communities with exact words, and point back to an idea without repeating it.
More grandparents now look after their grandchildren. This saves families a great deal of money. In the second sentence, This stands for the whole of the first.
Pointing back like that is part of Coherence and Cohesion, one of the four equally weighted criteria in Writing. The unit's topic is society: families, ageing, neighbours and volunteering. The words come first, then the grammar of linking back.
Warm-up
What does this point to?
Read the two sentences. The second one begins with This.
Read thisMany young adults now move to another city for work. This means that their parents often have no family living nearby.
What does "This" refer to?
Words for society
Families and ageing
Everyone who lives in one home. My aunt's household has six people in it, from her baby son to her father.
Relatives beyond parents and children: grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins. My extended family gets together every New Year.
A population in which the share of older people is growing. An ageing population needs more nurses and carers.
How long people live, on average. Life expectancy has risen in most countries over the last hundred years.
Stop working at the end of your career, and the years after that. My father retired at 60 and spends his retirement gardening.
Take care of someone who needs help, and the person who does it. Mr Tan has looked after his wife since her illness, so he is her main carer.
Communities and volunteering
The people who live in one place, or a group who share something. The new market has become the heart of the community.
The people who live near you, and the area around your home. I know most of my neighbours by name.
Work without pay because you choose to. It is also the word for the person. She volunteers at a food bank, and her son is a volunteer at the zoo.
An organisation that raises money or gives help to people in need. The charity runs a lunch club for older people who live alone.
Cut off from other people, and the unhappy feeling of being alone. Older people who stop driving can become isolated.
Take part in an activity or a group. It's easy to get involved in the garden project, which meets every Sunday.
Grammar: linking back with this, these and such
A reference word points back to something you have already written, so you do not have to write it again. The Writing band descriptors name it at band 7: a range of cohesive devices including reference and substitution is used flexibly.
Sums up the idea you have just written. The noun makes the link clear. The council runs a phone line that older people can call for a chat. This service helps people who feel isolated.
Points back to two or more things. The centre runs cooking classes and a film club. These activities are free.
Means of this kind. Write such a before a singular noun, and such alone before a plural. Our street holds a party every summer. Such events help neighbours to meet.
After a comma, which can point back to the whole clause before it. Many families have moved to the suburbs, which means longer trips to see grandparents.
Stands for a noun you have just used, in a comparison. In most countries, women's life expectancy is higher than that of men.
Common slips
- this problems: this goes with a singular noun and these with a plural. Write this problem or these problems.
- This alone after a sentence with two ideas: the reader cannot tell which one you mean. Add a noun, as in This cost or This change.
- such problem and a such problem: write such a problem, or such problems.
- ..., that means: after a comma, the word that points back to a whole clause is which.
- higher than men: compare life expectancy with life expectancy. Write higher than that of men.
Watch me do one
Here is a draft: Some cities give older people free bus travel and cheap museum tickets. Free bus travel and cheap museum tickets help older people to stay active.
The second sentence repeats free bus travel and cheap museum tickets word for word. A reference word can carry that whole phrase for me.
What helps them is two things together, the bus travel and the tickets. If I name them, I need these and a plural noun: these measures or these benefits. I choose benefits.
This alone would be grammatical too, standing for the whole first sentence. These benefits is clearer, and it adds a new word where the draft only repeated.
So: Some cities give older people free bus travel and cheap museum tickets. These benefits help them to stay active. I changed older people to them as well, because the reader knows who I mean.
Such would suit a different sentence, about benefits of this kind in general: Such benefits could work in smaller towns too.
Practice with Elita6 questions
Six questions: five on linking back, then one on the words.
Singular or plural
Complete the second sentence with This or These.
The council has opened two day centres for older people. centres are open every weekday.
Write no more than 1 word.
Find the mistake
One sentence has a mistake with a reference word. Choose it.
Which sentence contains the error?
Two ways to point back
Fill each gap with one word.
Some older people stop driving in their seventies, can leave them isolated. a change is hardest for people who live far from shops.
Write no more than 1 word in each gap.
Which link is clearest?
The first sentence holds two ideas, and the second sentence is about only one of them. Choose the clearest start.
Rents in the city have doubled, and many people in their thirties still share a flat with their parents. ______ saves them money, but it can be hard on family life.
Compare like with like
Only one of these sentences is correct in an essay. Choose it.
Which sentence is correct?
Words and meanings
Match each word to its meaning.
Use it
Change where you live
Write four or five sentences about how families or neighbourhoods are changing where you live. Point back to an idea at least twice.
How are families or neighbourhoods changing in your town or country? Write four or five sentences. Use at least two words from this lesson, and link back at least twice: this or these with a noun, such, or a comma and which.
0 / 50 words
Set up your learning path at the top of this lesson to get band-specific feedback.
Before you go
Put a noun after this or these when the sentence before holds more than one idea.
Match the number: this problem, these problems.
Write such a before a singular noun and such before a plural: such a club, such clubs.
After a comma, point back to a whole clause with which. In comparisons, use that of or those of.
Next: Next, you read about families who share a home across three generations, and pick the right options from a list.