Lexical Cohesion
Create flow with repetition, synonyms, and consistent terminology.
What & why
Listeners build a running model of your topic, and consistent wording tells them new sentences belong to the same thread. When you keep calling something a "customer," repetition reinforces the idea and signals importance, while related word families and deliberate synonyms link concepts without sounding monotonous. Switching terms unpredictably forces people to check whether "user" and "client" mean the same thing, which adds cognitive load and dilutes focus. Steady terminology lowers that effort, strengthens recall of key themes, and makes a talk feel coherent.
Before & after
“We talk about customers, then users, then clients with no reason.”
“We consistently say customers, or we define the terms once and stick to them.”
When you’ll use it
Technical presentations: Pick 'user' vs 'customer' vs 'client' and stick with it, or define differences once and use consistently
Strategy discussions: Repeat key themes like 'efficiency,' 'automation,' and 'scalability' to reinforce focus areas
Progress reports: Use word families like 'develop/development/developer' or 'optimize/optimization/optimal' to link related concepts
Pro tip
Repeat key terms or use clear synonyms to tie ideas together.
Questions & answers
What is lexical cohesion in business presentations?
How does lexical cohesion improve presentation effectiveness?
What techniques create strong lexical cohesion?
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