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Where subjects, objects, and adverbials are placed in relation to the verb, and what options are available for rearranging the most typical sequences? Answer: Discourse analysts are interested in the implications of these different structural options for the creation of text, and, as always, it is from the examination of natural data that patterns of use are seen to emerge. (Page 51, theme and rheme, line 4) 2. English is often called an SVO language. What does the statement mean? Answer: English is often called an SVO language, in that the declarative clause requires a verb at its center, a subject before it and any object after it. (Page 51, theme and rheme, line 16) 3. What is meant by fronting devices? Clarify your answer with examples! Answer: The basic clause elements of subject, verb, complement/object, adverbial can be rearranged by putting different elements at the beginning of the clause. e.g. The Guardian, Joyce reads. -----> Joyce, she reads The Guardian. OSV Object-fronted S (pronoun) VOS (noun) Left-displaced subject (Page 51, theme and rheme, line 22) 4. Make the example of fronting devices in adverbial fronted! Answer: Sometimes Joyce reads the Guardian. ASVO Adverbial-fronted (Page 51, theme and rheme, line 25) 5. What is meant by theme? Answer: Items brought to the front-place of the clause. Alternatively, the theme can be seen as the point of departure of the message (Halliday 1985: 38) (Page 52, theme and rheme, line 19) 6. In spoken narratives and anecdotes, speakers will often front-place key orientational features for their listeners. Give the examples of it! Answer: time markers ----> Once upon a time, One day, then, etc. Place markers -----> at the corner, not far from here, etc. (Page 54, line 21 7. What is meant by focus of attention? Answer: when one participant is mentioned in the same slot, but only to provide a link with a new participant who will take the stage in the story, then the speaker can thus create a new topic or subtopic framework by activating different elements of the context and using the theme slot is one way of making a subject what we have called the focus of orientation. (Page 54, line 31) 8. Give the examples of creating a new topic or subtopic framework by activating different elements of the context and using the theme slot? Answer: One of the men, his wife was swimming instructor, and she said to me..... This friend of mine, her son was in hospital, and heh had a serious accident, and he..... (Page 55, line 1) 9. What is meant by rheme? Answer: Rheme is the rest of the clause. (Page 55, line 3) 10. Devide postcard text into themes and rhemes! Answer: Theme (topic) Rheme (comment) 1. I m sitting here..... 2. Outside my window is a big lawn.... 3. In the middle of the lawn is a flower bed 4. This bed was full of daffodils... 5. You d love it here 6. You must come and stay 7. We ve got plenty of room (Page 55, line 6)

11. Devide postcard text into themes and rhemes! Answer: Theme (topic) Rheme (comment) Theme functions as the starting point for the message (M. A. K. Halliday, 1985a, p. 39), the element which the clause is going to be about has a crucial effect in orienting listeners and readers. Theme is the starting point of the clause, realized by whatever element comes first, and Rheme is the rest of the message, which provides the additional information added to the starting point and which is available for subsequent development in the text. The different choice of Theme has contributed to a different meaning and English uses first clausal position as a signal to orient a different meaning of the sentences. For example, Li Ping read a very good book last night. A very good book, Li ping read last night. Last night Li ping read a very good book. What Li Ping read last night was a very good book. Li Ping, he read a very good book last night.

Fronting
Elements which are usually found after the verb (i.e. in post-verbal position) can be moved forward to the beginning of a sentence to give them greater prominence. This stylistic technique is called "fronting". Here are some examples: "A Welshman I was born and a Welshman I shall die." (Fronted complement) "Bloody awful that was." (Fronted complement) "Why don't you take up swimming for relaxation?" "Relaxation you call it." (Fronted object) Some things you forget. Other things you never do. (Fronted object) The main discourse functions of "fronting" are: organizing information flow to achieve cohesion (i.e. linking directly back to something that was said before) expression of contrast enabling particular elements to gain emphasis. Quirk / Greenbaum (1990) state that fronting is "very common both in speech and in conventional written material" (18.14), a view shared by Leech / Svartvik (1994), who call fronting in informal conversation "quite common" and also find evidence of it in more formal English (412/413). Biber et al. (1999), however, argue that their own corpus findings suggest that the "fronting of core elements is relatively rare" (ch. 11.2.2.7).
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