GP 2 1
Handout 1
Features of discourse
Discourse – any coherent written text or conversation
Exercise 1
Compare the two texts presenting the same news. Are both of them coherent?
Sample 1: Text written by a language learner (reconstructed from memory after reading the original text)
A police dog has been sacked for biting an innocent 20-year-old man at the scene of a burglary. The dog is
from Switzerland and it has bitten the man in the leg. The fact is that the policeman that handled the dog –
there are 8 police dogs in Basel – had been told that a man, accused of burglary was still in the shop. When
the police were in the building where the event had taken place, the dog wandered in the street and bit the
man who had been taken to hospital in an ambulance. Police said it is the first time that has occurred.
Sample 2: Original text
1. Basic concepts subject noun phrase in sentence initial position unmarked order
- subject theme the starting point of the utterance it creates
- theme (vs. rheme) expectations of how the message will unfold
- topic meme follows the theme ; says something in relation to the theme
topic what the sentence is about
Try to work out the definitions of these concepts by analysing the set of sentences below.
(a) [The Prime Minister] stepped off the plane.
S, T, Th
(b) [In the morning], [he] stopped abruptly.
Th S,T
(c ) [There] emerged from the cave [a huge bear].
S,Th T
(d) [Once upon a time], [there] lived [an old witch]
Th S T
Exercise 2 S T Th
Now consider the following sentences. Identify the subjects, the topics and the themes.
Th ST
1. For centuries yellow canaries have been used to ‘test’ the air in mining.
Th ST 2. Yellow canaries have been used to ‘test’ the air in mining for centuries. meme
Th ST 3. Miners have used yellow canaries to ‘test’ the air for centuries.
ST
Th 4. In mining, yellow canaries have been used to ‘test’ the air for centuries.
Th ST 5. The air has been ‘tested’ in mining for centuries by using yellow canaries.
6. To ‘test’ the air in mining, yellow canaries have been used for centuries.
Th ST
, marked unusual and unexpected
GP 2 neutral and expected order 2 word orders always signal some
Handout 1 additional meaning and have
of clause elements
in declarative sentences subject to be motivated
Unmarked Themes Marked Themes
interrogatives
Are we going to Rome?
Where are we going? We are going where?
imperatives
Leave the room! Do leave the room, all of you!
Let’s go to the cinema. You stop talking!
Exercise 3 M UM
Underline the theme in each of the following examples and say whether it is marked or unmarked.
UM 1) Paul telephoned an antique dealer in Brussels.
M 2) Abruptly they were cut off.
UM 3) Is he a friend of yours?
M 4) Celebrating her victory today is downhill ski champion Marina Kiehl of Germany.
M 5) Freezing cold it was.
UM 6) Meet me at eight at the Cafe de Paris.
M 7) In the American soft-drinks industry, plastic bottles are extensively used.
M 8) For months, all had been quiet in the Holy Wars.
M 9) Crazy I call it.
M 10) Never again will I fly with that airline.
2. Ordering information – basic principles
Exercise 4
Compare these two versions of the same text. Which version do you think flows more smoothly?
Version A Norma has had a terrible four years. Someone stole her car and set it on fire in 1995. Two of her toes had
unexpected info to be amputated the year after that. A road accident killed her husband in 1997. The other driver’s
expected info carelessness was the cause of the crash. A storm damaged her house earlier this year.
Version B Norma has had a terrible four years. In 1995 her car was stolen and set on fire. The year after that she had
expected info to have two of her toes amputated. In 1997 her husband was killed in a road accident. The cause of the
unexpected info crash was the other driver’s carelessness. Earlier this year her house was damaged by a storm.
Exercise 5
Look at the following sentence, randomly chosen from the middle of a text, and try to work out what the previous sentence
was about:
The genes carry all the information needed to make a new plant or animal.
Now look at the bigger part of the text and identify given and new information in each sentence.
The usual sequencing of information within a sentence is from old
_______________
given known to _______________
new unknown .
This allows for ________________
new information to receive __________________.
emphasis focus
Information
This tendency is called the ______________________ Principle.
Exercise 6
Translate these sentences into Polish or English as appropriate. Are you able to make any comments about the way they
organise information?
(i) W pudełku jest diament. → ________________________
The diamond is in the box
Handout 1
Features of discourse
Discourse – any coherent written text or conversation
Exercise 1
Compare the two texts presenting the same news. Are both of them coherent?
Sample 1: Text written by a language learner (reconstructed from memory after reading the original text)
A police dog has been sacked for biting an innocent 20-year-old man at the scene of a burglary. The dog is
from Switzerland and it has bitten the man in the leg. The fact is that the policeman that handled the dog –
there are 8 police dogs in Basel – had been told that a man, accused of burglary was still in the shop. When
the police were in the building where the event had taken place, the dog wandered in the street and bit the
man who had been taken to hospital in an ambulance. Police said it is the first time that has occurred.
Sample 2: Original text
1. Basic concepts subject noun phrase in sentence initial position unmarked order
- subject theme the starting point of the utterance it creates
- theme (vs. rheme) expectations of how the message will unfold
- topic meme follows the theme ; says something in relation to the theme
topic what the sentence is about
Try to work out the definitions of these concepts by analysing the set of sentences below.
(a) [The Prime Minister] stepped off the plane.
S, T, Th
(b) [In the morning], [he] stopped abruptly.
Th S,T
(c ) [There] emerged from the cave [a huge bear].
S,Th T
(d) [Once upon a time], [there] lived [an old witch]
Th S T
Exercise 2 S T Th
Now consider the following sentences. Identify the subjects, the topics and the themes.
Th ST
1. For centuries yellow canaries have been used to ‘test’ the air in mining.
Th ST 2. Yellow canaries have been used to ‘test’ the air in mining for centuries. meme
Th ST 3. Miners have used yellow canaries to ‘test’ the air for centuries.
ST
Th 4. In mining, yellow canaries have been used to ‘test’ the air for centuries.
Th ST 5. The air has been ‘tested’ in mining for centuries by using yellow canaries.
6. To ‘test’ the air in mining, yellow canaries have been used for centuries.
Th ST
, marked unusual and unexpected
GP 2 neutral and expected order 2 word orders always signal some
Handout 1 additional meaning and have
of clause elements
in declarative sentences subject to be motivated
Unmarked Themes Marked Themes
interrogatives
Are we going to Rome?
Where are we going? We are going where?
imperatives
Leave the room! Do leave the room, all of you!
Let’s go to the cinema. You stop talking!
Exercise 3 M UM
Underline the theme in each of the following examples and say whether it is marked or unmarked.
UM 1) Paul telephoned an antique dealer in Brussels.
M 2) Abruptly they were cut off.
UM 3) Is he a friend of yours?
M 4) Celebrating her victory today is downhill ski champion Marina Kiehl of Germany.
M 5) Freezing cold it was.
UM 6) Meet me at eight at the Cafe de Paris.
M 7) In the American soft-drinks industry, plastic bottles are extensively used.
M 8) For months, all had been quiet in the Holy Wars.
M 9) Crazy I call it.
M 10) Never again will I fly with that airline.
2. Ordering information – basic principles
Exercise 4
Compare these two versions of the same text. Which version do you think flows more smoothly?
Version A Norma has had a terrible four years. Someone stole her car and set it on fire in 1995. Two of her toes had
unexpected info to be amputated the year after that. A road accident killed her husband in 1997. The other driver’s
expected info carelessness was the cause of the crash. A storm damaged her house earlier this year.
Version B Norma has had a terrible four years. In 1995 her car was stolen and set on fire. The year after that she had
expected info to have two of her toes amputated. In 1997 her husband was killed in a road accident. The cause of the
unexpected info crash was the other driver’s carelessness. Earlier this year her house was damaged by a storm.
Exercise 5
Look at the following sentence, randomly chosen from the middle of a text, and try to work out what the previous sentence
was about:
The genes carry all the information needed to make a new plant or animal.
Now look at the bigger part of the text and identify given and new information in each sentence.
The usual sequencing of information within a sentence is from old
_______________
given known to _______________
new unknown .
This allows for ________________
new information to receive __________________.
emphasis focus
Information
This tendency is called the ______________________ Principle.
Exercise 6
Translate these sentences into Polish or English as appropriate. Are you able to make any comments about the way they
organise information?
(i) W pudełku jest diament. → ________________________
The diamond is in the box
