This paper describes a reader-based experiment on lexical cohesion, detailing the task given to readers and the analysis of the experimental data. We conclude with discussion of the usefulness of the data in future research on lexical cohesion. Cohesive ties between items in a text draw on the resources of a language to build up the text’s unity (Halliday and Hasan, 1976). Lexical cohesive ties draw on the lexicon, . word meanings. Sometimes the relation between the members of a tie is easy to identify, like near-synonymy (disease/illness), complementarity (boy/girl), whole-topart (box/lid), but the bulk of lexical cohesive texture.
