I. Cohesive chains

A cohesive chain is established when a cohesive element refers back to an element that is itself cohesive with a still earlier element and so forth. There are two types cohesive chains in English: identity chain and similarity chain.

The identity chain is created when a topic is established and referred to again in successive sentences.

The similarity chain is formed when parallel processes or descriptions are provided.

e.g. Once upon a time there was a little girl and she went out for a walk and got a lovely bear home.

II. Discourse makers

A discourse marker is traditionally regarded as a word or phrase that is relatively syntax-independent. It does not have a particular syntactic function, and does not change the content meaning of the utterance.

The function of discourse markers can be classified into three broad groups groups parallel to the three metafunctions of language, signaling: (a) relationships between the speaker and the message, (b) relationship between the speaker and hearer, (c) relationships between (parts of) utterances.