Kilo Lingo
Part of Chapter 52

CEFR B2

Test yourself (14 questions)

Text Cohesion and Style

You can build correct sentences and still write badly. Cohesion is the layer above grammar: the craft of making each sentence lean on the last so a paragraph flows. Compare a B1 answer with a B2 one.

  • B1: El escritor nació en Madrid. El escritor escribió muchos libros. El escritor murió en 1998. (Three sentences, one noun repeated three times, no flow.)
  • B2: El escritor nació en Madrid, donde escribió sus primeras novelas. Este autor, muy leído en su época, murió en 1998. (One idea builds on the next, and the noun is never repeated.)

Same facts, different craft. Here is how the second version does it.

Reference: never repeat a noun

Spanish dislikes echoing the same word, and reaches for three tools in turn.

  • Pronouns. Once el escritor is on the table, later mentions shrink to lo, le, or just the dropped subject of the verb. Lo leí de joven. (I read it/him young.)
  • Demonstratives. este, ese or dicho point back without repeating the full phrase. dicho autor (said author) is a formal favourite.
  • Synonyms and broader labels. el escritor becomes el autor, el novelista, el madrileño, este intelectual.

Rotate through them: el escritor -> este -> el autor -> dicho autor. The same word should not land three times in a paragraph.

Spanish leans on the dropped subject harder than English, because the verb ending already names the person. Nació en Madrid. Escribió mucho. Murió pobre. needs no "he" at all - the endings carry it.

The neuter lo and ello: pointing at a whole idea

Some references point not at a noun but at an entire thought. That is the job of the neuter lo and ello.

  • No lo sabía. (I did not know it.) - lo is the whole preceding fact, not an object.
  • Lo que dijo es cierto. (What he said is true.) - lo que packages a whole statement as a thing.
  • por ello (for that reason), a pesar de ello (despite that) - ello gathers up everything just said.

This quiet neuter reference is one of the surest marks of fluent writing: it lets you comment on a whole idea in two words.

Ellipsis: dropping what the reader can supply

If a word is already clear from context, leave it out. Yo quiero café y ella, té - the second quiere is dropped, and the comma marks the gap. Repeating it would sound clumsy. Spanish drops repeated verbs, subjects and even whole phrases wherever the reader can refill them.

  • Unos prefieren el mar; otros, la montaña. (Some prefer the sea; others, the mountains.)
  • Yo llegué a las ocho; tú, a las nueve. (I arrived at eight; you, at nine.)

Signposting: telling the reader where they are

Discourse markers announce the shape of your argument. An examiner scans for exactly these. Group them by job:

FunctionPhrasesUse
Orderingen primer lugar, en segundo lugar, por último, finalmentesequence your points
Balancingpor un lado, por otro lado, por una parte, por otra parteset two sides side by side
Highlightingcabe destacar, conviene señalar, hay que tener en cuentaflag what matters most
Reformulatinges decir, o sea, en otras palabras, dicho de otro modorestate more clearly
Closingen resumen, en definitiva, en conclusión, para terminarwrap up the argument
  • En primer lugar, el clima es suave; en segundo lugar, la comida es excelente; por último, la gente es amable. (Ordered.)
  • Por un lado es barato; por otro lado, está lejos. (Balanced.)
  • Cabe destacar que nadie protestó. (Highlighted.)
  • El plan es caro; en definitiva, no vale la pena. (Closed.)

The reformulating markers es decir and o sea ("that is to say", "in other words") overlap with the wider connector family covered on the cause and consequence page. Use them to restate a point in plainer terms: Es difícil, o sea, no imposible.

Thematic progression: given before new

Good paragraphs move from known to new. Each sentence opens with information the reader already has, then adds something fresh, which becomes the "known" for the next sentence. Keep the subject consistent through a paragraph rather than lurching between topics.

  • La novela trata de un viaje. El viaje cruza tres países. El último es el más peligroso. Each subject is the previous sentence's new idea, handed forward. Start a strong paragraph with a topic sentence that states its main point, then let the rest support it.

Register and nominalisation

Formal Spanish - reports, essays, journalism - prefers a nominal style: it turns verbs and adjectives into nouns so the prose sounds objective and packs ideas densely.

  • decidir -> la toma de decisiones (decision making)
  • crecer -> el crecimiento (growth)
  • es importante -> su importancia (its importance)

It pairs naturally with the impersonal and passive se, which removes the personal agent for a detached tone: Se analizaron los datos (the data were analysed) rather than "analicé los datos". That construction has its own page: see the passive and impersonal se. The register scale itself - tú versus usted, formal versus casual vocabulary - is covered on the register and formality page.

The warning: do not nominalise everything. In ordinary prose a plain verb is clearer. Save the heavy nominal style for genuinely formal writing.

Practical habits

A few plain rules do most of the work:

  • Vary sentence length. A run of identical short sentences reads as a wall; an unbroken long one loses the reader. Mix them.
  • One idea per sentence in exposition. If you need two "and"s, you probably need two sentences.
  • Do not overuse y. Stringing clauses with y... y... y is the surest sign of B1 writing. Swap in a connector, a semicolon, or a full stop.
  • Honour word order. Spanish is flexible, but fronting the wrong element breaks the given-before-new flow: see word order.

Common mistakes English speakers make

Repeating the noun. Writing el escritor four times where a pronoun, demonstrative or synonym belongs. Rotate your references.

Skipping signposts. A B2 essay with no en primer lugar or en definitiva reads as an undifferentiated list. The markers are not padding; they map the argument.

Overusing y. Chaining everything with y flattens the structure. Reach for the contrast and cause connectors instead.

Nominalising casual prose. la toma de decisiones in a friendly email sounds pompous. Match the style to the setting.

Fix the grammar first, then fix the flow. Cohesion is what turns a page of correct sentences into writing someone actually wants to read.

See also

Practise: test yourself

Fill in the blank

0/8

Complete each sentence with the cohesion word or phrase suggested in brackets. Think about reference, signposting or reformulating.

  1. El autor nació en Sevilla. escribió su primera novela a los veinte años. (a demonstrative, this one) (points back to the author)

  2. No estudié nada y, por , suspendí. (for that reason, neuter) (refers to the whole idea)

  3. primer lugar, el clima es más suave. (firstly) (opens the ordering)

  4. El plan es caro. definitiva, no vale la pena. (in short) (closes the argument)

  5. Quiero café y ella, té: no hace falta repetir el verbo por . (ellipsis) (dropping the repeated word)

  6. Cabe que el proyecto terminó antes de tiempo. (to highlight) (flags what matters)

  7. Por un lado es barato; por lado, es feo. (the other) (the second half of the balance)

  8. Es un buen libro; es , un clásico. (that is to say) (reformulates the point)

Pick the right one

0/6

Choose the phrase that fits the job each sentence needs done.

  1. Analizaré tres causas. , la económica.

  2. El coche es rápido; , gasta poco. Son sus dos ventajas.

  3. Hemos visto muchos datos. , la tendencia es clara.

  4. El museo abre tarde; , conviene reservar antes.

  5. Llegó tarde y ni se disculpó. No gustó nada.

  6. Es difícil, , no imposible.

Frequently asked questions

How do I avoid repeating the same noun in Spanish?
Spanish dislikes echoing a noun, so it reaches for three tricks in turn. First, a pronoun: once el escritor is established, later mentions become lo, le or simply the dropped subject of the verb. Second, a demonstrative: este or dicho autor points back without repeating the full phrase. Third, a synonym or a broader label: el escritor becomes el autor, el novelista, el madrileño, este intelectual. Rotate through these so the same word never lands three times in a paragraph. English does the same, but Spanish leans harder on the dropped subject, because the verb ending already carries the person.
What does lo mean when it refers back to a whole idea?
The neuter lo (and its cousin ello) points back not at a masculine noun but at an entire idea, clause or situation just mentioned. No lo sabía means I did not know it, where it is the whole preceding fact, not a specific object. Lo que dijo es cierto packages a whole statement as a thing. Similarly, por ello (for that reason) and a pesar de ello (despite that) use ello to gather up everything said before. This neuter reference is one of the quietest markers of fluent writing, because it lets you comment on a whole thought in two words.
What are discourse markers and why do they matter for essays?
Discourse markers are the signposting phrases that tell the reader how your text is organised: en primer lugar and por último order your points, por un lado and por otro lado set up a balanced contrast, en resumen and en definitiva close, and cabe destacar or conviene señalar flag what matters most. They are not decoration. An examiner reading a B2 or C1 essay scans for exactly this structure, and a well placed en definitiva or hay que tener en cuenta signals that you are controlling the argument rather than just listing facts. Used sparingly and correctly, they raise the register instantly.
What is nominalisation and when should I use it?
Nominalisation turns a verb or adjective into a noun so the sentence becomes more abstract and formal: decidir becomes la toma de decisiones, crecer becomes el crecimiento, and es importante becomes su importancia. Formal Spanish - reports, essays, journalism - prefers this heavier nominal style because it sounds objective and lets you pack ideas densely. It pairs naturally with the impersonal se. The warning is not to overdo it: in ordinary prose a plain verb is clearer, so save nominalisation for genuinely formal writing rather than sprinkling it everywhere.