Measure transition word usage, paragraph linkage, pronoun-reference consistency, and abrupt topic shifts. Highlights weak transitions and suggests connective phrases.
Built and maintained by Paul Clark, Redmoon Software
Use on essays, blog posts, and long-form articles where ideas need to flow from paragraph to paragraph. Marketing copy often *should* score lower (direct, punchy).
Most readability tools miss cohesion entirely. A 5th-grade Flesch score with zero transitions still reads as choppy.
The analyzer scans for five families of connective phrases — addition, contrast, cause, sequence, example — and counts their density.
Paragraph linkage measures the % of paragraphs that begin with an explicit transition. Pronoun ratio captures referential cohesion.
The composite score blends transition density (40%), paragraph linkage (30%), and pronoun cohesion (30%).
Cohesion is the local glue between sentences (transitions, pronouns). Coherence is the global logic of the whole text. This tool measures cohesion.
60+ is healthy for essays and articles. Marketing copy can score lower (more direct, fewer transitions).
Each new paragraph should signal how it relates to the previous one. Starting cold often loses readers.
Input
I tried the new café. The coffee was strong. The pastry was fresh. I will go back.
Output
Cohesion: 28 / 100 — Choppy.
Four short sentences in a row with zero transitions and no pronouns linking back. Cohesion is low even though every sentence is grammatical.
Every other measure on this site scores sentences in isolation. Cohesion asks a question none of them can: does each sentence connect to the one before it? A page of individually clear sentences that do not join up is hard to read, and no readability formula will register that at all.
The measure looks at the links that carry connection — repeated and related vocabulary between adjacent sentences, pronouns and demonstratives pointing back, and explicit connectives ("however", "because", "as a result").
The principle underneath is information ordering: sentences are easiest to follow when they open with something already established and introduce the new material later. A paragraph where every sentence opens with new information forces the reader to hold each one unanchored until the connection arrives, which is exhausting even when each sentence is short.
That is also the honest defence of passive voice. Passive exists largely to let a sentence begin with the old information, and rewriting for cohesion frequently means using more passive constructions, not fewer — which is why running a cohesion check and a passive check together produces better results than either alone.
% content words vs. function words.
Text analysisVocabulary variety — type‑token ratio.
Text analysisTotal + per‑word syllable counts.
Text analysisHighlight passive sentences in your writing.