Walter’s goal in life was to become a successful surgeon. First, though, he had to get through high school, so he concentrated all his efforts on his studies --- in particular, biology, chemistry, and math. Because he worked constantly on these subjects, Walter became proficient in them; however, Walter forgot that he needed to master other subjects besides those he had chosen. As a result, during his junior year of high school, Walter failed both English and Latin. Consequently, he had to repeat these subjects and he was almost unable to graduate on schedule. Finally, on June 6, Walter achieved the first step toward realizing his goal.

　　本文中起承上啟下的詞語有兩種，一種是轉換詞語 (transitional words or phrases)，另一種是起轉換作用的其他連接手段(linking devices)。前者依次有：first, though, so, in particular, and, because, however, besides, as a result, both…and, consequently, and, finally.后者依次是：he, he, his, his, he, these, them, he, those, his, he, these, his. 本段中共有詞匯105個，所使用的轉換詞語及其他連接用語共26個詞，約占該段總詞匯量的四分之一。由此可見，掌握好transitions不僅對行文的 流(smoothness)有益，而且對于學生在半個小時內寫足四級短文所要求的120個詞也是不無好處的。

　　一個段落里如果 沒有transitions也就很難有coherence了.我們看下面一個例子：Speaking and writing are different in many ways. Speech depends on sounds. Writing uses written symbols. Speech developed about 500 000 years ago. Written language is a recent development. It was invented only about six thousand years ago. Speech is usually informal. The word choice of writing is often relatively formal. Pronunciation and accent often tell where the speaker is from. Pronunciation and accent are ignored in writing. A standard diction and spelling system prevails in the written language of most countries. Speech relies on gesture, loudness, and rise and fall of the voice. Writing lacks gesture, loudness and the rise and fall of the voice. Careful speakers and writers are aware of the differences.

　　本段中除了第6句開頭出現一個起過渡作用的"it"之外，沒有使用其他的過渡詞語.這樣，文中出現許多重復的詞語，全段讀起來也顯得生硬而不自然。如果加上必要的過渡詞語來修飾的話，這一段就成了下面一個流暢連貫的段落：

　　Speaking and writing are different in many ways. Speech depends on sounds; writing, on the other hand, uses written symbols. Speech was developed about 500 000 years ago, but written language is a recent development, invented only about six thousand years ago. Speech is usually informal, while the word choice of writing, by contrast, is often relatively formal. Although pronunciation and accent often tell where the speaker is from, they are ignored in wiring because a standard diction and spelling system prevails in most countries. Speech relies on gesture, loudness, and the rise and fall of the voice, but writing lacks these features. Careful speakers and writers are aware of the differences.

　　4、有損連貫性的幾種情況：

　　考生在寫作中經常出現下面幾種錯誤：

　　1)不必要的改變時態(tài)，比如：

　　In the movie, Robert Redford was a spy. He goes to his office where he found everybody dead. Other spies wanted to kill him, so he takes refuge with Julie Christie. At her house, he had waited for the heat to die down, but they come after him anyway.

　　2)不必要的改變單復數，比如：

　　Everybody looks for satisfaction in his life. They want to be happy. But if he seeks only pleasure in the short run, the person will soon run out of pleasure and life will catch up to him. They need to pursue the deeper pleasure of satisfaction in work and in relationships.

　　3)不必要的改變人稱，比如：

　　Now more than ever, parents need to be in touch with their children’s activities because modern life has the tendency to cause cleavages in the family. You need to arrange family like it so that family members will do things together and know one another. You need to give up isolated pleasures of your own and realize that parents have a set of obligations to sponsor togetherness and therefore sponsor knowledge.

　　因此寫作中，一定要注意時態(tài)，人稱以及數的變化是否正確，要注意保持一致。