Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Which text is more appropriate to function as a street sign? What user-centred standards of textuality have influenced your choice?
Examples of inversion
And certainly the atmosphere was less than festive in the headmaster's sitting-room. Near the fireplace a table had been installed, and on it placed two bottles. Behind the bottles stood Mrs Crumwallis - tall, bony, straggly of hair, the only memorable feature about her being her large, round, immensely thick-lensed glasses. (BNC H8Y: 73-75) It was a pack of cards, walking through the garden. There were clubs (they were soldiers), and diamonds, and ten little children (they were hearts). Next came some Kings and Queens. Then Alice saw the White Rabbit, and behind him, the Knave of Hearts. And last of all, came THE KING AND QUEEN OF HEARTS. (BNC FNS: 399-403) Jules Bellaire sat opposite Alice at a white, wrought-iron table on one of the large terraces outside the Chteau de St Denis. A sun umbrella sheltered them from the wan May sunshine. On the table lay several large swatches of fabrics which Jules had brought out from Paris for Alice's inspection. (BNC FS1: 591-593)
Sentence type in which a canonically postverbal phrasal constituent appears in preverbal position. Differs from inversion in structural terms in that the subject remains in preverbal position. Not limited to the fronting of any particular phrasal category, but fronted objects and other nominals are most common, while AdjP preposing appears to be most constrained.
Linking function, relating the preposed element to the previous discourse, often by using anaphoric deictic markers such as this, that, these and such. Echoing preceding information (esp. with fronted VPs), also used to convey a speaker's uncertainty or disbelief/doubt with respect to the link of the preposed constituent. Expressing contrast (contrastive topicalization)
Often made explicit by the mentioning of both contrasted referents and the presence of connectives such as but. Object-fronting is often chosen in contexts where there is a need to emphasize or contrast a discourse element.
At the chilly boarding-school to which her parents sent her in the mistaken belief that she would be less lonely among girls of her own age, the prizes for mathematics - a subject which she didn't particularly care for but which came easily to her - were framed reproductions of the works of Italian painters. Duccios and Signorellis and Martinis hung by her bedside at a time when other girls pinned up Elvis and Cliff or even Paul Anka. Such pictures she always found calming to her nerves [] (BNC FB9: 74-76 )
Mrs Wilson had not died, but it was said she was very ill and was expected to die. And die she did. (BNC AC7: 1072-1073)
"He may be happy to see his father!" Ferdinando shouted. "He is my son and blood will tell. Now let me go." And off he galloped, with her watching until he was a speck on the horizon. (BNC ADS: 1296-1300) "The land was ours by right." Jagatan raised himself on one elbow, and Burun guessed that he had been drinking for most of the afternoon. "I remember when we rode here, your father and I. Young and strong we were." (BNC FSE: 28902892)
Remember also
Cleft and pseudo-cleft sentences Anticipatory it/existential there extraposed subjects/objects
That this will do any good is far from clear. It is far from clear that this will do any good. I found the problem difficult I found it difficult to solve the problem
Passivisation
Just as she lit an old candle, there appeared a strange face in the window.
I work outside in the fresh air, which I really enjoy, and I dont have anyone telling me what to do every minute. That I also like. That night he was wakened in his blanket by the dark force of something he had heard and neglected to consider.
Focus on cohesion
Lunch. The word and the thing itself cause endless trouble still in England at that join in the class pyramid where it is still called dinner. Any Englishman who does call lunch dinner indicates at once and for sure to any other Englishman that he hails from somewhere below the middle of the middle classes. The difficulty is relatively new in the long vista of English history, since the word till quite recently meant a snack between proper meals. There was a time when everyone in England who could afford to do so dined in the afternoon and supped in the evening. Then, with ease and affluence lunch began its metamorphosis to a meal in its own right. It is now a social divider of infinite power.
Comment on the following cohesive relations instantiated in the text
Reference (personal, demonstrative, comparative; anaphoric, cataphoric) Substitution Lexical cohesion (recurrence and hyponymy)
Identifying features
Function? Cognitive process involved? Introduction? Thematic text base? Verbs? Tenses? Sequence forms?
Sequence forms
It begins in the early 1800 hundreds At the time In 1806 From the beginning
I first became interested in the study of aging, maturity and retirement more or less by accident. It was 1973, and I was 23, living and teaching at the Esalen Institute in Big Sur, California. I was completing my doctorate and working on my first book, Bodymind. I was asked by Dr. Gay Luce, who was working on creating an innovative new human potential training program, if Id be interested in partnering with her. I decided to move to Berkeley to join Dr. Luce in crafting this program. It was going to be a yearlong comprehensive holistic curriculum, very different from the weekend workshops and two-hour lectures that were becoming popular. Before it even got off the ground, it struck Gay that in our youth-focused culture, nobody was using any of these innovative therapeutic techniques with the elderly. She asked if Id be open to joining her. As a young man in my early 20s, the idea of working with the elderly didnt initially hold much charm for me. I liked being with people my own age and also doing programs for people in their 30s and 40s. I told Gay I would get the project started and then move on.
http://www.agewave.com/media_files/Life%20after%2050.pdf
Point of view?
Style? Presentation?
Focus?
Text structuring?
Narration (1) Narrative (2) Report Transmit factual and conceptual phenomena in time verbs of change Perception in time
Point of view
Person (1) Personal point of view, typically first-person (2) Non personal third-person, or first-person plural or third person point of view (1) neutral, often modified by the encoders choice of styles, such as comparative and metaphorical (2) Neutral, formal, technical (1) subjective impressions in time (2) Objective: present changes from the point of view of an objective situational frame (1) narrowing or widening focus (2) Narrowing Past tense or present tense Simple/continuous
Style
Presentation
Composition
Simple action-recording sentence Thematic text base Introduction Situational introduction (who, what, when, where, why) (1) temporal sequences Text a) chronological narrative structuring b) climatic narrative c) plotted narrative (2) Temporal, listing and general-to-particular Temporal Sequence forms Distribution (1) anecdote, joke, story (2) News, reports, non-fiction books, encyclopaedias