2. Actual Division of the Sentence

The actual division of the sentence, called also the "functional sentence

perspective", exposes the informative perspective of the sentence showing what

immediate semantic contribution the sentence parts make to the total information

conveyed by the sentence. The sentence can be divided into two sections – theme

and rheme.

The theme is the part of the proposition that is being talked about

(predicated). The theme expresses the starting point of communication; it means

that it denotes an object or a phenomenon about which something is reported. Once

stated, the theme is therefore "old news", i.e. the things already mentioned and

understood.

The predicate that gives information on the topic is called rheme. The

rheme expresses the basic informative part of the communication,

emphasizing its contextually relevant centre. Between the theme and the rheme

are positioned intermediary, transitional parts of the actual division of various

degrees of informative value (these parts are sometimes called "transition").

The theme of the actual division of the sentence may or may not coincide

with the subject of the sentence. The rheme of the actual division, in its turn, may

or may not coincide with the predicate of the sentence — either with the whole

predicate group or its part, such as the predicative, the object, the adverbial.

The theme need not necessarily be something known in advance. In many

sentences it is, in fact, something already familiar, as in some of our examples,

especially with the definite article. However, that need not always be the case.

There are sentences in which the theme, too, is something mentioned for the first

time and yet it is not the centre of the predication. It is something about which a

statement is to be made. The theme is here the starting point of the sentence, not its

conclusion.

3. Language means of expressing the theme and the rheme

Many languages, like English, resort to different means in order to signal a

new topic, such as:

- Stating it explicitly as the subject (which tends to be considered more topiclike

by the speakers).

- Using passive voice to transform an object into a subject (for the above

reason).

- Emphasizing the topic using clefting.

- Through periphrastic constructions like "As for...", "Speaking of...", etc.

- Using left dislocation (called topic fronting or topicalization, i. e. moving

the topic to the beginning of the sentence).

Examples:

The dog bit the little girl.

The little girl was bitten by the dog.

It was the little girl that the dog bit.

Speaking of the girl, she was bitten by the dog.

The little girl, the dog bit her.

Means to express the rheme include: a particular word order with a specific

intonation contour, an emphatic construction, a contrastive complex, intensifying

particles, the indefinite article, ellipsis, and graphical means.

Examples:

They found the report extremely valuable. – Extremely valuable they found

the report.

It is the report that I need.

I need the report, not the statistical data.

I need only the report.

The orchestra greeted the guests at the entrance. – There was an orchestra

greeting the guests at the entrance.

Where are you going? – To the movies.

Please be careful. – I am being careful.

Lecture 14

The Composite Sentence

1. The definition of the composite sentence.

2. Compound sentences.

3. Complex sentences.

4. Asyndetic sentences.

5. Transitional sentences.

6. Mixed types of composite sentences.