In all languages there are a range of cohesive devices that are used to link clauses and words in a non-explicit manner:

• Substitution words
  In English this would include the use of 'one' (as in 'this one' or 'that one'), or the use of the verb 'to do' to indicate another verb (e.g. 'He wanted to give up and so did I').
• Forward and backward referencing markers
  Anaphoric (backward-pointing) reference markers in English are often seen in the use of pronouns ('it', 'this', 'that') to refer back to a previous clause or sentence, while examples of cataphoric (forward-pointing) markers are:
  
  • 'In what follows the development of the housing problem will be outlined...'
  • 'This is what the working party proposes...'.
• Ellipsis, as in the following sentence where the verb is not repeated, is a major difficulty for low to intermediate L2 learners, in particular. For example:
  
  • 'I brought the food and Peter the drink.'
• Synonyms:
  
  • 'The hut stood by the riverside. The old shack had been built in the 1950s.'
  • 'The 1946 Bentley was a classic of its kind. The sleek exterior was matched by the noble vehicle's smooth engine.'
• Hyponyms:
  students can have difficulties recognizing that the more general word denotes the same thing or person as the specific noun. For example:
  
  • 'De Gaulle was not interested in co-operating. The President did not feel he could trust the Americans on this issue.'
  • 'Vehicles were not normally allowed onto the estate. But visitors' cars were occasionally seen and on Mondays delivery lorries arrived. Moreover, when the children returned for the weekend, the roar of motorbikes could often be heard.'

Lexical cohesion is often sporadic and there may be few examples of it in the relatively short texts we typically use in the classroom. Rather than something we can practise systematically, therefore, it is probably a feature of written L2 to which learners should be alerted whenever it is met during intensive work in class. They can then be encouraged to find and note further examples in their independent reading.