Core Principles of English Functional Grammar

Posted on Nov 10, 2025 in English Studies. Language, Literature, and Culture

Chapter 1: Language and Meaning

Unit 1: Core Concepts of Language and Meaning

The core idea is that language conveys meaning through grammar, context, and use. Functional grammar focuses on how form expresses function.

Key Definitions

Language: A structured system for human communication.
Functional Grammar: Explains how forms (words, clauses) express functions (meanings, actions).
Communicative Act / Speech Act: An action performed by saying something (e.g., stating, asking, commanding, promising).
Proposition: The core meaning of a clause, separate from tense or mood.
Sense: The internal meaning of an expression.
Reference: The real-world entity that an expression points to.

Communicative Acts

Direct Speech Acts: Form matches function. Example: “Close the door!” (imperative = command).
Indirect Speech Acts: Form differs from function. Example: “Could you close the door?” (question form = polite request).

Levels of Acts

Locutionary Act: The literal utterance.
Illocutionary Act: The intended function.
Perlocutionary Act: The effect on the listener.

Clause as Representation

A clause encodes three core elements:

Process: The event or state described by the verb (e.g., run, believe, be).
Participants: The entities involved (e.g., Agent, Experiencer, Patient, Recipient).
Circumstances: Extra information such as time, place, manner, or reason.

Example: “I’ll come into your shop tomorrow.”

Process: come (material)
Participant: I (agent)
Circumstances: into your shop (place), tomorrow (time)

Clause Perspectives

Representation (Transitivity): Who does what to whom.
Interaction (Mood): How the speaker engages the listener (declarative, interrogative, imperative).
Message (Theme–Rheme): How information is packaged. The theme is the starting point; the rheme is the new or important information.

Example: “Janice gave Chris the bill yesterday.”

Theme: Janice
Rheme: gave Chris the bill yesterday

Active and Passive Voice

Active Voice: The subject (agent) performs the action. Example: “Chris posted the letters.”
Passive Voice: The object (patient) becomes the subject, and the agent is optional. Example: “The letters were posted (by Chris).”

Unit 2: Linguistic Forms and Syntactic Functions

The core idea is that every element in a sentence has a form (its structure) and a function (its role).

Key Definitions

Form: The structure or shape of a word or phrase (e.g., noun phrase, verb phrase).
Function: The role the form plays in the clause (e.g., subject, object, complement, adjunct).
Constituent: A word or group functioning as a single unit in a sentence.
Adjunct: Optional information that adds circumstances like time, place, manner, or reason.
Complement: Information required to complete the meaning of the verb.

Main Syntactic Functions

Subject (S): The entity the clause is about; usually controls verb agreement. Example: “The dog barked.”
Predicator (P): The verb or verb phrase expressing the process. Example: “barked.”
Object (O): The entity affected by the action. Example: “I fed the dog.”
Complement (C): Gives information about the subject or object. Example: “She is a teacher.”
Adjunct (A): Adds extra circumstantial information. Example: “He ran quickly.”

Finite and Non-finite Clauses

Finite Clause: The verb is marked for tense or modality. Example: “She is studying.”
Non-finite Clause: The verb is not marked for tense. Example: “To study is important.”

Adjunct Types

Circumstantial Adjuncts: Indicate time, place, or manner (e.g., yesterday, in the park, by car).
Stance Adjuncts: Show the speaker’s attitude (e.g., frankly, fortunately).
Linking Adjuncts: Connect ideas in discourse (e.g., however, therefore).

Unit 3: Negation and Clause Expansion

The core idea is that negation changes the polarity of a clause, while expansion adds information or complexity.

Key Definitions

Negation: A grammatical device that cancels or denies a proposition.
Scope: The exact part of the sentence that the negation affects.
Negative Polarity Items (NPIs): Words like any, ever, or yet that appear in negative or other non-affirmative contexts.
Negative Concord: The use of more than one negative form to express a single negation (common in non-standard English).

Negation Patterns

Clausal Negation: Auxiliary + not. Example: “She is not ready.”
Do-support: Used when there is no auxiliary verb. Example: “She does not like coffee.”
Constituent Negation: Targets part of the clause. Example: “Not many students came.”
Negative Questions: Used for confirmation or emphasis. Example: “Isn’t he here?”

Scope of Negation

The position of “not” changes the meaning.

“He didn’t say she lied.” (negates “say”)
“He said she didn’t lie.” (negates “lie”)

Local Negation

Only one element is negated. Example: “Try not to worry.”

No vs. Not + Any

No: Stronger or more formal. Example: “I have no money.”
Not any: More neutral and common in speech. Example: “I don’t have any money.”

Expansion

Coordinating Expansion: Using and, but, or, so to join equal elements. Example: “She sings and dances.”
Subordinating Expansion: Using because, although, if to show cause, concession, or condition. Example: “I left early because I was tired.”
Embedding: Placing one clause inside another. Example: “I think that she left.”

Chapter 2: The Skeleton of the Message

The core idea is that every clause has an internal “skeleton” made of core elements. These elements combine in fixed ways to form patterns that express different types of meaning. Understanding these elements is essential for analyzing how messages are built.

Unit 4: Syntactic Elements of the Clause

Key Definitions

Clause: The basic grammatical unit that expresses a single proposition.
Element: The functional role inside the clause (Subject, Predicator, Object, Complement, Adjunct).
Valency: The ‘combinatory potential’ of a verb—how many and what kind of elements it requires.

Core Elements of a Clause

Subject (S): The participant the clause is about; usually agrees with the verb in number and person. Example: “The students passed the exam.”
Predicator (P): The verb or verb group expressing the process (action, state, event). Example: “The students passed the exam.”
Object (O): The entity affected by the action of the verb. Example: “She broke the vase.”
Complement (C): Identifies or describes the subject or object; required by some verbs. Example: “She is a teacher.”
Adjunct (A): Optional information providing circumstances (time, place, manner, reason). Example: “They met at noon.”

Note: Not every clause has every element; some verbs require fewer or more. Core arguments (like subjects and objects) are obligatory, while adjuncts are optional.

Unit 5: Subject and Predicator

The Subject

A subject can be a noun phrase (The tall boy), a pronoun (He), or even a full clause (That she left surprised everyone). It controls verb agreement: “The dog barks” vs. “The dogs bark.” It can be omitted in imperatives: “Sit down!”

Special Syntactic Features of Subjects

Dummy “It” (Weather/Time/Environment): Used when there is no real agent or participant. Examples: “It is raining.”, “It is getting late.”
Anticipatory “It”: Postpones a real subject (often a clause) to the end of the sentence. Pattern: “It + be + complement + real subject.” Examples: “It is important to rest.”, “It surprised me that she left.”
Existential “There”: Used to introduce something into the discourse (“there + be”). Examples: “There is a problem.”, “There are many books on the table.”
Indefinite/Empty Subjects in General Statements: Sometimes “you,” “one,” or “they” is used generically. Examples: “You never know.”, “They say it’s going to rain.”
Coordinated Subjects: Two or more elements joined as the subject; agreement follows meaning. Examples: “Bread and butter is my favorite breakfast.” (treated as singular), “John and Mary are here.” (plural).
Nominal Clause Subjects: A whole clause can act as the subject. Examples: “That he lied shocked everyone.”, “What you said was true.”

The Predicator

The predicator is always realized by a verb group. It carries information about tense, aspect, modality, and voice. It also determines how many complements or objects are required. For example, “give” needs two objects (“Give me the keys”), while “sleep” needs none (“She sleeps”).

Unit 6: Direct, Indirect, and Prepositional Objects

Direct Object (Od)

The direct object receives the action of the verb and answers “what?” or “whom?” Example: “She read the book.” It can become the subject in a passive sentence: “The book was read.”

Indirect Object (Oi)

The indirect object is the recipient or beneficiary of the action. Example: “She gave her friend a gift.” In a passive sentence: “Her friend was given a gift.”

Prepositional Object

This is an object linked to the verb through a required preposition. Example: “They rely on their neighbors.” The preposition is fixed and cannot be dropped.

Phrasal and Prepositional Verbs

Phrasal Verbs: Verb + particle, often idiomatic. Example: “She looked after the kids.”
Prepositional Verbs: Verb + preposition needed to complete meaning. Example: “They believe in hard work.”

Some phrasal verbs allow the object to “split” the particle: “Look the number up” or “Look up the number.”

Object Patterns

Monotransitive (S + V + Od): Requires one direct object. Examples: read the book, break the glass, admire the view.
Ditransitive: Double-Object (S + V + Oi + Od): Requires an indirect object (recipient/beneficiary) and a direct object. Examples: give me the keys, teach the kids math, buy me coffee.
Ditransitive: Prepositional Dative (S + V + Od + PP[to/for + Oi]): The recipient/beneficiary is in a prepositional phrase headed by to/for. Examples: give the keys to me, buy coffee for me.
Prepositional-Object Verb (S + V + PP[fixed P]): The verb selects a specific preposition; the PP is a complement, not an optional adjunct. Examples: depend on X, look at X, insist on X, deal with X, object to X.
Phrasal Verb (S + V + Particle (+ Od)): Verb + particle (adverbial particle), often idiomatic; allows particle movement. Examples: pick up (the book) / pick (the book) up; turn off the light / turn it off.
Phrasal-Prepositional Verb (S + V + Particle + PP): Verb + particle + required prepositional phrase. Examples: put up with X, get away with X, look forward to X.

Unit 7: Subject and Object Complements

Subject Complement (Cs)

A subject complement identifies or describes the subject and occurs with copular verbs like be, seem, or become. Examples: “She is a teacher.” (identifying noun), “She is happy.” (descriptive adjective).

Object Complement (Co)

An object complement gives more information about the direct object and often occurs with verbs like make, call, elect, find, or paint. Examples: “They elected her president.”, “They painted the walls blue.”

Unit 8: Adjuncts and Clause Expansion

Adjuncts are optional elements that add circumstantial or discourse information but are not required to complete the grammar of the clause.

Types of Adjuncts

Circumstantial Adjuncts: Indicate time, place, manner, reason, purpose, condition, or concession. Examples: “She left yesterday.” (Time), “We met in the park.” (Place), “He spoke calmly.” (Manner), “He stayed home because of the rain.” (Reason).
Stance Adjuncts: Show the speaker’s opinion, attitude, or evaluation. Examples: “Honestly, I didn’t like it.”, “Luckily, no one was hurt.”
Connective Adjuncts: Link ideas and manage discourse flow. Examples: “However, we disagreed.”, “Therefore, we left.”

Position and Movement

Initial: Focused or cohesive — “Yesterday, we met at the park.”
Medial: Often between subject and verb — “We, unfortunately, missed the bus.”
Final: Neutral position — “We met at the park yesterday.”

Order of Multiple Adjuncts

The preferred sequence is: manner → place → time. Example: “She sang beautifully in the hall yesterday.”

Clause Expansion

Coordination: Joins clauses or elements of the same type using “and,” “but,” or “or.” Example: “She studied hard and passed the exam.”
Subordination: Adds dependent clauses to express cause, condition, concession, etc., using “because,” “if,” or “although.” Example: “She left early because she was tired.”
Embedding: One clause is embedded inside another as a subject, object, or complement. Example: “I think that she’s right.” As a subject: “That she won surprised everyone.”

Chapter 3: Development of the Message

Unit 9: Intransitive and Copular Patterns

Intransitive Verbs

These verbs do not require an object to complete their meaning (e.g., She runs).

Pattern 1: Subject + Predicate (John sleeps).
Pattern 2: Subject + Predicate + Adjunct (She runs quickly).
Pattern 3: Subject + Predicate with time adjunct (The baby cried all night).

Types of Intransitive Verbs

Verbs of behavior: cry, laugh, yawn, cough
Verbs of weather: rain, snow, thunder
Verbs of occurrence: happen, occur, develop
Idiomatic intransitive phrasal verbs: break down, get up, fall out

Copular Verbs

Also called linking verbs, these connect the subject to a subject complement (e.g., He is happy).

Pattern 1: Subject + Copula + Subject Complement (The soup smells delicious).
Pattern 2: Subject + Copula + Adverbial Complement (He is in the garden).

Common copular verbs include be, seem, appear, become, and look. Example: The flowers look fresh.

Unit 10: Transitive and Ditransitive Patterns

Transitive Verbs

These require a direct object to complete their meaning (e.g., She wrote a letter).

Pattern 1: Subject + Verb + Direct Object (He ate the sandwich).
Pattern 2: Subject + Verb + Direct Object + Adjunct (She found the keys on the table).

Transitive verbs often appear in passive constructions: The sandwich was eaten.

Ditransitive Verbs

These require both a direct and an indirect object (e.g., She gave him a gift).

Pattern 1: Subject + Verb + Indirect Object + Direct Object (We sent her flowers).
Pattern 2: Subject + Verb + Direct Object + Prepositional Phrase (We sent flowers to her).

Unit 11: Complementation by Finite Clauses

Finite Clauses

These include a subject and a verb marked for tense and modality (e.g., I know that she is coming). Common verbs that take finite clauses as complements include know, think, believe, say, and hope. Example: She said that she was tired.

WH-Clauses

These clauses begin with interrogative words like what, where, when, who, why, or how.

As Subject: What he said surprised everyone.
As Object: I don’t know where she went.

WH-clauses can be embedded to provide detailed information within larger sentences.

Complement Types

Pattern 1: Subject + Verb + Subject Complement (The problem is that he’s late).
Pattern 2: Subject + Verb + Object + Object Complement (We made him what he is today).

Reported Speech

Reported speech often uses finite clauses to relay information (e.g., He said that he would call).

Unit 12: Complementation by Nonfinite Clauses

Nonfinite Clauses

Verbs in these clauses are in infinitive, participle, or gerund forms and often lack explicit subjects (e.g., To leave now would be unwise).

Common Structures

Subject + Verb + Infinitive Clause (e.g., She decided to leave).
Subject + Verb + Gerund Clause (e.g., He enjoys swimming).
Subject + Verb + Participial Clause (e.g., Having finished the work, she left).

Functions of Nonfinite Clauses

As Subject: To win was his dream.
As Object: She wants to learn.
As Adverbial: After finishing the project, they celebrated.

Verbs and Preferences

Verbs preferring infinitive complements: She hopes to succeed.
Verbs preferring gerunds: He avoids meeting strangers.

Example: I saw him running (nonfinite clause as object complement).

Catenative Complements

A catenative verb controls a nonfinite complement, creating chains of linked verbs. Example: She decided to try to rent a house. Not all catenatives allow object analysis (e.g., want, like, prefer).

Meanings of Nonfinite Clauses

To-Infinitive Clauses: Evoke potential situations (I want to go).
Gerund Clauses: Represent factual situations (He enjoys swimming).
Bare Infinitive Clauses: Describe events including the endpoint (She saw him leave).
Past Participial Clauses: Function as object complements after certain verbs:
- Causative: We’ll have some repairs done.
- Volitional: The boss wants these records updated.
- Perception: I felt my arm grasped.
- Finding/Leaving: They found the room abandoned.

Chapter 4: Speech Acts and Clause Types

Unit 13: Understanding Speech Acts

Speech Acts

A speech act is an action performed through language (e.g., making a statement, asking a question, giving an order).

Locutionary Act: The utterance itself (the words and structure).
Illocutionary Act: The intended communicative force (e.g., promise, request, order).
Perlocutionary Act: The effect on the listener (e.g., persuading, frightening, amusing).

Direct Speech Acts

The grammatical form matches the intended function. Examples: Close the door! (imperative → command), She is happy. (declarative → statement).

Indirect Speech Acts

The grammatical form does not match the intended function; interpretation relies on context. Examples: Can you close the door? (interrogative → request), It’s cold in here. (declarative → request to shut the window).

Clause Types

Declarative: Provide information (She is happy.)
Interrogative: Ask for information (Is she happy?)
Imperative: Issue commands (Be happy!)
Exclamative: Express emotion (How happy she is!)

Unit 14: Declarative and Interrogative Clauses

Declarative Clauses

These are used for stating facts, opinions, or descriptions. The typical structure is Subject + Predicate (She likes coffee.). They can be positive (She is here.) or negative (She isn’t here.) and can express attitudes like certainty, doubt, or belief. They can also be embedded: I know that she is here.

Interrogative Clauses

These are used to ask questions.

Yes/No Questions: Expect confirmation. Do you like coffee?
Wh-Questions: Request specific information. What do you like? Where are you going?
Alternative Questions: Offer choices. Do you want tea or coffee?
Tag Questions: Seek agreement. It’s late, isn’t it?
Echo Questions: Repeat to confirm or express surprise. She left? / She LEFT?

They often involve inversion: Is she coming? (Yes/No), Where is she? (Wh-).

Unit 15: Exclamative and Imperative Clauses

Exclamative Clauses

These express strong emotion or surprise and often begin with what or how. Examples: What a beautiful day!, How lovely she looks! They can also be rhetorical: What difference does it make?

Imperative Clauses

These are used for commands, requests, or instructions. They usually lack an explicit subject (Sit down!).

Negative Imperatives: Don’t touch that!
Let-imperatives: Let’s go! (1st person inclusive), Let him stay. (3rd person).
Emphatic Do: Do sit down!
Polite Softening: Achieved with please or modal verbs (Could you…).
Freestanding Subordinate Clauses: Sometimes used as imperatives. If you could just wait here.

Unit 16: Indirect Speech Acts and Discourse

Indirect Speech Acts

These use one grammatical form to achieve the function of another. Example: Could you open the window? (form = question; function = request).

Discourse Functions

Declaratives can function as threats, offers, or commands: You will regret this. (threat), I’ll help you. (offer). Interrogatives can soften commands: Would you mind closing the door?

Politeness Strategies

Politeness can be conveyed by using modal verbs (could, would, might) or hedges (perhaps, maybe). Tone and context are crucial for interpretation.

Unit 17: Questions and Discourse Functions

Types of Questions

Yes/No Questions: Did she leave?
Wh-Questions: Where is she?
Tag Questions: She’s here, isn’t she?
Echo Questions: She left?
Alternative Questions: Will you stay or leave?
Rhetorical Questions: Do not expect an answer (Who cares?).
Hypothetical/Subjunctive Questions: What if she were here?

Embedded Questions

Direct: Where is she?
Embedded: I don’t know where she is.

Bias in Questions

Questions may presuppose information. Why are you late? (assumes lateness).

Discourse Functions

Questions can be used to challenge (Why should I believe you?), persuade (Don’t you agree?), or emphasize (Who doesn’t love weekends?).

Unit 18: Directives and Politeness Strategies

Directives are speech acts that aim to make the listener perform an action.

Forms of Directives

Imperatives: Close the door!
Questions: Can you close the door?
Declaratives: You need to close the door.

Politeness Strategies

Modal Verbs: Could you…, Would you mind…
Indirect Phrasing: It would be great if you could help.

Subjunctive Directives

These are formal. Example: It’s essential that he be on time.

Verbless Directives

Examples: Silence!, No smoking!

Register

Direct imperatives are often less polite and more urgent, while indirect directives are more formal or polite.

Chapter 5: Conceptualizing Patterns of Experience

Unit 19: Situation Types and Processes

Clauses represent patterns of experience, conceptualized as situation types (also known as Hallidayan process types). Each clause encodes a Process (the central action/state), Participants (the entities involved), and Circumstances (background information).

Main Situation Types

Material Processes (doing/happening): Physical actions or events. She built a house. / The vase broke.
Mental Processes (thinking/feeling/perceiving): Internal experiences of cognition, emotion, perception, or desire. She knows the truth. / He loves music.
Relational Processes (being/having): Expressing identity, classification, possession, or description. The sky is blue. / She is a doctor.

Dynamic vs. Stative Processes

Dynamic: Actions or changes, often time-bounded (They built a house, ran a race).
Stative: Ongoing states, not “happenings” (He believes in God, The house exists).

Inherent vs. Actualized Participants

Inherent Participants: Obligatory roles in a process (e.g., kick requires an Agent and an Affected).
Actualized Participants: Explicitly expressed in the clause (Ted kicked the ball. Agent = Ted, Affected = ball).

Unit 20: Material Processes of Doing and Happening

Material processes involve actions, events, and physical changes.

Types

Doing: Volitional, agent-controlled actions. She runs every morning.
Happening: Involuntary or uncontrolled events. The roof collapsed.
Causing: An external force or agent initiates change. The wind broke the vase.
Transferring: Movement of things or information. He sent a letter. / She gave advice.

Key Participants

Agent: Initiates the action (The boy opened the door).
Affected: The entity impacted (She kicked the ball).
Effected: The entity created (Fiona baked a cake).
Force: A non-human external cause (The storm destroyed the town).
Affected Subject: In intransitive “happenings” (The ice melted).

Unit 21: Understanding Causative Processes

Causative processes are those where one participant causes another entity to act or undergo a change.

Types

Direct Causatives: An agent directly causes an effect. She made him cry.
Analytical Causatives: Use causative verbs like make, let, have, get, or turn. She made him happy. / They got the car repaired.

Ergative Pairs

The same verb alternates between transitive and intransitive forms. He rang the bell. (transitive) vs. The bell rang. (intransitive).

Affected Subject Types

Pseudo-intransitives: Some verbs imply affectedness without an explicit agent. Glass breaks easily.

Unit 22: Processes of Transfer

These processes involve giving, receiving, or exchanging objects, information, or benefits.

Participants

Agent: The source of the transfer (She gave the book).
Recipient: The receiver of the transferred item (She gave the book to him).
Beneficiary: The entity for whose benefit the act is performed (She baked him a cake).

Examples: They delivered the package to her. / She handed him the keys. Ditransitive structures often realize these processes (S + V + Oi + Od), as does the prepositional dative (She gave the book to him).

Unit 23: Mental Processes of Thinking and Feeling

Mental processes concern inner experiences.

Cognitive (thinking/knowing): She knows the answer. / He believes in God.
Perceptive (sensing): He heard the music. / She saw the stars.
Affective (emotions): She loves chocolate. / He fears failure.
Desiderative (desires): She wants to travel. / They hoped for success.

Key Participants

Senser (Experiencer): The conscious participant experiencing the process. She felt nervous.
Phenomenon: The entity or situation being experienced. He saw the sunset.

Note: Mental processes are stative, not dynamic. They do not normally take the progressive aspect (e.g., *I am knowing the answer is ungrammatical). Some verbs can be both mental and material depending on meaning: He looked at the painting (perceptive) vs. He looked happy (relational).

Unit 24: Relational Processes of Being and Becoming

Relational processes describe states of being, attributes, possession, or identity. They focus on how participants are classified, described, or equated rather than what they do.

Types of Relational Processes

Attributive: Assign qualities or states. Pattern: Carrier + Relational Verb + Attribute. Example: She is kind. (Carrier = She; Attribute = kind).
Identifying: Equate two entities. Pattern: Identified + Relational Verb + Identifier. Example: Fred is the doorman. (Identified = Fred; Identifier = the doorman).
Possessive: Express ownership. Pattern: Possessor + Relational Verb + Possessed. Example: The car is hers.

Key Participants

Carrier: The entity being described.
Attribute: The quality assigned.
Identified / Identifier: The entities equated in identifying clauses.
Possessor / Possessed: The participants in possessive clauses.

Common relational verbs include be, become, seem, appear, remain, belong, own, and have.

Chapter 6: Textual and Informational Structure

Unit 25: Verbal, Behavioral, and Existential Processes

Verbal Processes

These are acts of communication. Example: He said hello.

Participants: Sayer (speaker), Receiver (listener), and Verbiage (content of speech).
Examples: He said hello. / She told him a story. / They asked a question.
Common Verbs: say, tell, ask, reply, promise, state, report.

Behavioral Processes

These are borderline between material and mental processes, representing physiological or social behaviors. Examples: She laughed. / He coughed. / They smiled. The participant is the Behaver.

Existential Processes

These express existence or occurrence and are typically introduced by a dummy subject there. The participant is the Existent. The pattern is: There + be + Existent (+ Circumstance). Examples: There is a cat on the roof. / There was a problem at school.

Unit 26: Expressing Attendant Circumstances

Circumstances are optional elements that provide background information to a clause, such as time, place, manner, or cause.

Common Types

Place: She lives in Paris.
Time: They arrived yesterday.
Manner: He spoke loudly.
Cause: She left because she was tired.
Accompaniment: He went with his friends.
Role: He worked as a guide.
Matter: They argued about politics.
Evidence/Source: According to the report…

Additional Circumstances

Extent: Duration or measure (He stayed for two hours / They walked 5 km).
Instrument/Means: How something is done (She opened it with a key).
Condition/Contingency: Hypothetical situations (If it rains, we’ll cancel).

Circumstances give richness and precision but are optional, unlike core participants.

Unit 27: Shifting Focus and Conceptualization

Clauses are sometimes reorganized to shift focus, highlight information, or manage discourse flow.

Key Structures

Passive Voice: Moves focus from the Agent to the Affected. The cake was eaten (by her). The agent is optional.
Cleft Sentences: Highlight specific elements.
- It-Cleft: It was John who called. (focus is fronted)
- Wh-Cleft: What John did was call. (focus is at the end)
Thematic Structures: Adjust the order of information. In the morning, she left. (circumstance is fronted).
Nominalization: Turns processes into nouns for compactness or formality. Government spending increased.

These reorganizations manage emphasis, cohesion, and information packaging in discourse.

Unit 28: Theme and Rheme in Message Structure

The Theme is the starting point of the clause, guiding interpretation. The Rheme contains the new information that develops the message.

Theme Types

Topical Theme (default): The subject as the theme. She went to the park.
Circumstantial Theme: An adjunct is placed first. In the morning, she left.
Marked Theme: A non-default element is fronted. The cake, she baked.
Multiple Theme: Includes discourse markers or vocatives. However, John, you must leave now.

Marked vs. Unmarked Themes

Unmarked: The subject in declaratives (She left).
Marked: An object, adjunct, or complement is fronted for emphasis.

Theme by Clause Type

Declarative: Subject (She went.)
Yes/No Interrogative: Finite verb + Subject (Is she coming?)
Wh-Interrogative: Wh-word (Where is she?)
Imperative: Verb or Let’s (Go now!, Let’s eat.)

Themes structure coherence and cohesion, linking sentences to the surrounding text.

Unit 29: Information Distribution and Focus

Information Units

In speech, information is divided into tone groups, where one tonic syllable carries the main focus.

Tonic Focus

The stressed syllable marks new information. Example: She bought a new CAR (not a bike).

Given vs. New Information

Given: Information that is already known or shared.
New: Information that is freshly introduced.

The default order is Given → New (the principle of end-focus).

Focus Variants

Unmarked Focus: New information appears at the end. She met a new teacher.
Marked/Contrastive Focus: An unexpected element is highlighted. It was JOHN she met, not Paul.

Ellipsis and Substitution

These techniques avoid repetition. Examples: I’ll take the blue pen. You can take the red one. (substitution), She likes coffee and so do I. (ellipsis/substitution).

Unit 30: Interplay of Theme, Rheme, Given, and New

Clause organization balances the Theme/Rheme structure (syntactic) with the Given/New structure (informational).

Thematic Progression Patterns

Simple Linear Progression: The rheme of one clause becomes the theme of the next. I bought a car. The car is red.
Continuous Theme: The same theme is repeated across clauses. The government announced reforms. The government expects support.
Derived Themes: Themes link back to an overarching topic (hypertheme). Education has many issues. Teachers need better pay. Students need better resources.

Clefting for Emphasis

It-Clefts: Highlight an element at the start. It was John who called.
Wh-Clefts: Highlight an element at the end. What John did was call.

Shifting Focus Devices

Passive Voice: The decision was made by the committee.
Existentials: There is a problem we must address.
Extraposition: It is important that she attend.

The choice of Theme/Rheme and Given/New reflects politeness, emphasis, audience orientation, and cohesion.