HOW TO WRITE GOOD SENTENCES
Arif Suryo Priyatmojo
2012
THEORY
Cohesion
Cohesion is the resources within language that provide continuity in a text, over
and above that is provided by clause structure and clause complexes. Halliday and
Hasan (1976) in Coulthard (1974) claims that cohesion is formed by the formal ties,
which bind one sentence to another. There are five headings of cohesion based on
Halliday and Hasan (1976). They are reference, substitution, ellipsis, conjunctin and
lexical cohesion.
1. Reference
Reference is one kind of cohesive ties in texture. Reference refers to how the
speaker or writer introduces participants and then keeps track of them once they are in
the text (Eggins, 1994:95). Its elements establish semantic relationship between them,
in which one of the elements provides the other with the meaning. According to
Halliday and Hasan (1976) there are two basic types of reference.
Reference
(situational)
Exophora
(textual)
Endophora
(to preceding text)
(to following text)
Anaphora
Cataphora
Table 1 Types of reference
Source: Halliday and Hasan (1976: 33)
On the one hand, exophoric reference contributes to the creation of text, in that it
links the language with the context of situation, but it does not contribute to the
integration of the passage with another so that the two together form part of the same
text. On the other hand, endophoric reference is only considered cohesive due to its
contribution to the integration of the text. Meanwhile, Eggins (1994: 96-97) states that
the identity of a presuming reference item may be retrievable from a number of
different contexts. They are from the general context of culture, the immediate context
of situation and elsewhere within the text. Only the third context contributes to the
cohesion of the text. It is similair with the endophoric reference propossed by
Halliday and Hasan. There are two different ways in which reference items can
function within a text. Anaphoric reference means that the subsequent items can only
be interpreted with reference to the initial phrase of the first sentence. Typically,
anaphoric reference refers to a participant mentioned nearby (one or two sentences
previously), but sometimes it may refer back to an item mentioned many pages
before. Cataphoric reference points the reader foward, it draws us further into the text
in order to identify the elements to which the reference items refer (Nunan: 1993: 22).
The followings are the example of exophoric reference (situational) and
endophoric reference (textual).
(1). Child : Why does THAT one come out?
Father : That what?
Child : That one
Father : That what?
Child : That ONE!
Father : That one what?
Child : That lever there that you push to let the water out.
(2). a. A beautiful lady, a beautiful lady
See how she walks ! see how she walks
b. Mr. Bambang went to Jakarta last week.
He went there to meet his client
In the first example, we can not assume what is presupposed by the reference
‘THAT’ and ‘ONE’ because they are not found in the text. It did not occur to the child
that he could point to the object in question, presumably because it did not occur to
him what was in his focus of attention was not also in everyone else’s, a limitation
that is characteristic of the interaction. Exophoric reference is one form of contextdependence since without the context we cannot interpret what is said (Halliday &
Hasan, 1976: 34-35). In the second example, we can identify what are presupposed (a)
she refers to a bautiful lady; he refers to Mr. Bambang. These items are directives
indicating that information is to be retrieved from elsewhere. So much they have in
common with all cohesive elements. Moreover, they do not depend on the context of
situation like the exophoric reference. What is essential to every instance of reference
whether endophoric (textual) or exophoric (situational) is that there is a presuppotion
that must be satisfied; the thing referred to has to be identifiable somehow (Halliday
& Hasan, 1976: 33).
There are several lingusitic items which can create reference cohesion. Halliday
and Hasan (1976: 37-39) devide reference cohesion into personal reference,
demonstrative reference and definite article and comparative reference.
Personal reference is reference by means of function in the speech situation
through the category of person. Nunan (1993: 23) states that personal reference items
are expressed through pronouns and determiners. They serve to identify individuals
and objects that are named at some other point in the text. It relates to Halliday and
Hasan (1976: 48) that the third person is only herently cohesive, in that a third person
form typically refers anaphorically to a preceding item in the text. First and second
person forms do not normally refer to the text at all; their referents are defined by the
speech roles of speaker and hearer.
Semantics category
existential
Grammatical function
Head
Class
Noun
Person:
I me
Speaker (only)
Addressee(s), with/without other
person.
You
Speaker and other person(s)
We, us
Possessive
modifier
Determiner
Mine
My
Yours
Ours
Your
Our
Other person, male
He, him
His
His
Other person female
She, her
Hers
Her
Other person; object
They ,them
Theirs
Their
Object; passage of text
Generalized person
It
One
(its)
Its
One’s
Table 2 Types of personal reference
Source: Halliday and Hasan (1976:38)
(3). Mr. John is an English teacher. All of his students like him very much.
The word his and him in the second sentence refer to Mr. John. The word his is a
personal reference which refers to the third person singular. The certain person that is
Mr. John is followed by its pronoun, so that it is called as anaphoric reference that is
the implicit encoding device follows its reference.
Demonstrative reference is reference by means of location, on scale of proximity.
It is essentially a form of verbal pointing. The speaker identifies the referent by
locating it on a scale of proximity. The system is as follows.
Neutral
The
near
near:
far:
far (not near)
singular
this
that
Selective
Participant
plural
these
those
Circumstance
place
time
here
now
there
then
Table 3 Types of demonstrative reference
Source: Halliday and Hasan (1976: 57)
These demonstratives occur extensively with anaphoric function in all varieties of
English. The demonstratives have some relevance to cohesion, in that they partially
determine the use of these items in endophoric (textual) reference.
(4). My family got frightened when we saw an accident in our trip. That was the most
terrifying accident I’ve ever seen.
(5). While my parents were having lunch, my brothers and I walked around to see
some lions and elephants. Those are my brothers’ favorites animals.
(6). I spent my holiday in my uncle’s house in Bali. I do like staying there.
The word that in example (4) is demonstrative reference which demonstrates the
first sentence. Then, the word those in example (5) refers to some lions and elephans.
Finally, the word there in example (6) refers to my uncle’s house in Bali. These can
also be called as anaphoric references. It is because they presuppose some items in the
previous sentence. The demonstrative reference is also called locational reference
(Eggins, 1994: 98). It does not involve the identification of a participant in a text (a
person or thing), but the identification of a location in time or space. Locational
referents to nearby time or space (e.g. here, now, these days, at the moment, above,
below) are frequently retrieved exophorically, while locational items refering to
distant time or space (e.g. there, then) are often endophorically retrieved.
Comparative reference is indirect reference by means of identity or similiarity.
With comparative reference, the identity of the presumed item is retrieved not because
it has already been mentioned (or will be mentioned) in the text, but because an item
with which it is being compared has been mentioned (Eggins, 1994: 98). The system
is as follows (Halliday, 1976:76):
general
(deictic)
comparative
particular
(nondeictic)
Numerative : more fewer less further additional; soas- equally- + quantifier, e.g: so many
Ephitet
: comparative adjctive and asverbs, eg:
better; so- as- more – less – equally- + comparative
adjectives and adverbs, eg: equally good
Table 4 Types of comparative reference
Source: Halliday & Hasan (1976:76)
(7). The most tragic accident that I have ever seen was the accident happened last
year.
The phrase the most tragic accident in the above sentence is comparative
reference (in superlative degree). Any comparison includes as least two things that are
being compared and any comparative attached to one entity or concept thus implies
the existence of the other entity or concept. Thompson (1996: 151) explains that
comparison happens not only in the text but also out of context (situational). It is
called exophoric reference. Nevertheles, references which have contribution to the
integration of the texts considered cohesive.
2 Substitution
A substitution is the replacement of a word (group) or sentences segment by a
“dummy” word. The reader can fill in the correct element based on the preceding
sentences (Rankema, 1993: 37). Substitution is replacement of language element into
others in a bigger composition in order to get clearer difference, or to explain some
certain language elements. It is an item or items replaced by another item or items.
There is a distinction between substitution and reference in which subtitution is a
realization in the wording rather than in the meaning. Substitution is a relation
between linguistic items such as words and phrases in the level of lexicogrammar
(Halliday and Hassan, 1976: 89). It resembles reference in being potentially anaphoric
and constituate a link between parts of a text. They also explain that since substitution
is a grammatical relation, a relation in the wording rather than in the meaning, the
different types of substitution are defined grammatically rather than semantically.
There are three types of substitution: nominal, verbal and clausal substitution.
The followings are the examples of each.
(1). There are some new tourism resorts in Indonesia. These ones’ve become the
most attracting places to visit.
From the sentence above, we can see that the word ones is substitution of new
tourism resorts. This substitution is considered as nominal substitution.
(2). John : Bill says you went to Bali last week.
Brown : So did you!
The clause did is substitution because the complete sentence actually you went to
Bali. The word did is presupposed by certain verb went. It belongs to verbal
substitution.
(3). Smith : Are father and mother going to have vacation to East Java?
Brown : I think so
In the sentence above, the word so presupposes the whole clause Father and
mother are going to have vacation to East Java. The word so above belongs to clause
substitution.
3. Ellipsis
Ellipsis is the omission of a word or part of a sentence. It occurs when some
essential structural elements are omitted from a sentence or clause and can only be
recovered by refering to an element in the preceding text (Nunan, 1993: 25).
Accoding to Halliday and Hasan (1976: 144) ellipses occur when something that is
structurally necessary is left unsaid, there is a sense of incompleteness associated with
it. The information is understood, but not stated. Like substitution, ellipsis is a relation
within the text and in the great majority of instances the pressuposed item is present in
the preceding text. Ellispsis is also normally anaphoric relation in the level of words
and structures. The difference between substitution and ellipsis is that in the former a
substitution counter occurs in the slot and the pressuposed item is replaced, whereas
in ellipsis the slot is empty. It is often called as substitution by zero. Like the
substitution, there are also three kinds of ellipsis: nominal, verbal and clausal ellipsis.
Nominal ellipsis means the omission of a noun Head, for example:
(1) My father likes to go to a crowded tourism place, but I like a peaceful.
In the second sentence the word tourism place is not mentioned after the word a
peaceful. However, any competent English speaker can easily retrieve the meaning of
a peaceful as a peaceful tourism place. Then, the adjective a peaceful functions as
Head.
Verbal ellipsis involves the omission of the verb Head while the auxiliary
element remains explicit. For example:
(2). John : Have you been to Bali?
Brown : Yes, I have
The complete response must be Yes, I have been to Bali. In the dialogue, the
speaker does not use long response. It is clearly understood that the speaker does not
want to confuse to his/ her interlocutor.
Clausal ellipsis represents the omission of a part or whole clause. For example:
(3). John : Who will go shopping today?
Brown : Mom
In that example, the whole clause is omitted. The complete response should be
Mom will go shopping today. In the spoken language the speaker does not need to use
the complete clause when answering questions introduced by a question word.
It has been explained above that ellipsis is the omission of a word or part of a
sentence. The omission of a word or clause does not change the meaning of the
sentences in the text. Ellipsis is a form of relation between sentences, which is an
aspect of the essential texture. The relevance of ellipsis in the present context is its
role in grammatical cohesion.
4. Conjunction
According to Rankema (1994: 38) conjunction is a relationship which indicates
how the subsequent sentence or clause should be linked to the preceding or the
following (part of the sentence). Conjunction is quite different from the previous
cohesive devices such as reference, substitution and ellipsis. It is not a device for
reminding the reader of previously mentioned entities, actions and states of affairs
(anaphoric relation). However, it is a cohesive device because it signals relationships
that can only be understood through reference to other part of the text (Nunan, 1993:
26). Halliday and Hasan (1976) state that conjunctions relate to the inventory of
connectors which link clauses in discourse. They connect sentences to each other, but
excludes coordinating and subordinating linkers within sentences. Meanwhile, there
are also some linguists, one of them is Martin (2001) who includes all connectors,
whether or not they link clauses within or between sentences.
Another explanation to the concept of conjunction comes from Baker (1992). He
asserts that conjunction is a relationship which indicates how the subsequent sentence
or clause should be linked to the preceding or the following sentence or clause by
using cohesive ties which relate a sentence, a clause or a paragraph to each other.
Further he explains that:
Conjunction signals the way the writer wants the reader to
relate what is about to be said to what has been said before.
Conjunction expresses one of a small number of general
relations. The main relations are ... additive (and, or, also, in
addition, furthermore, besides, similiarly, likewise, by
contrast, for instance), adversative (but, yet, however,
instead, on the other hand, nevertheless, at any rate, as a
matter of fact), causal (so, cosequently, for, because, under
the circumstances, for this reason), temporal (then, next,
finally, after that, on another occasion, in conclusion, an
hour later, at last), and continuative (now, of course, well,
anyway, surely, after all) (Baker, 1992: 191).
The following are the examples of each type of conjunction:
(1). My family likes to spend holliday by visiting some places and they also like to
go fishing in the sea.
The word and and also in the above sentence are conjunctions which connect the
first and the second clause. Here and and also signal the presentation of additional
information. These conjunctions are additive.
(2). It was raining very hard yesterday. However, my classmates went to the
exhibition.
(3) I am afraid I’ll be home late tonight. Nevertheless, I won’t have to go in until
late tomorrow.
The relationships signalled by however and nevertheless are adversative because
the information in the second sentence of each text moderates or qualifies the
information in the first.
(4). Chinese tea is becoming increasingly popular in restaurants, and even in
coffee shops. This is because there is belief that tea has several health-giving
properties.
In this type of conjunction, the relationship is one of cause and consequence.
Here, the word because signals the causal and effect relation. The first sentence shows
the effect and the second is as the cause.
(5). I went over to my friend’s house and I said ‘We’ll go for a walk’. And we
went far away and I said ‘I don’t know our way home. And then we kept on
walking and we were very hungry. After that we saw a village and we went
to talk to them and we said ‘We’re hungry’. Then, they gave us some food
and we thanked them and we went walking off. And then we stopped and sat
down. And then we saw a giant and I sreamed ‘Cooee’.
(source Butt et al. 1994: 94)
Temporal relationship exist when the events in a text are related in terms of the
timing of their occurrance. Here the temporal conjunction and then, then and after
that.
(6). When my father said that we would end our vacation, I felt so sad, after all I
could understand that it was not good time to stay any longer in case of bad
weather.
There is continuation in the above sentence. It uses after all to signal the
continuative matter.
5. Lexical Cohesive Device
The types of cohesion we have discussed so far all involve grammatical resource/
items (conjunction, reference items, substitutes items) and grammatical structure.
Cohesion also operates within the lexical zone of lexicogrammar by choosing of
lexical items. Lexical cohesive devices refer to the role played by the selection of
vocabulary in organizing relation within a text (Baker, 1992: 202). It does not deal
with grammatical and semantic connection but with the connection based on the
words used. Meanwhile, Nunan (1993: 28) says that lexical cohesion occurs when two
words in a text are semantically related in some way. They are related in terms of
their meaning. There are two kinds of lexical cohesion: reiteration and collocation.
In general reiteration is devided into five types. They are repetition, synonym,
hyponym, metonym and antonym. Repetition is a word or words which has been
stated, and then it is repeated again. We can tie sentences or paragraphs together by
repeating certain key words from one sentence to the next or one paragraph to the
next. It is in the case of the clearness of the main idea of the writing (Kilborn and
Kriesi, 1995).
Synonym is the relationship between two words which have the same meaning.
Hyponym is defined as a sense relation between words (sometimes longer phrases)
such that the meaning of one word (or phrase) is included in the meaning of the other
(Hurford & Heasley, 1983). It is a semantic relation between specific and general
meaning, between general class and its sub-classes. The item referring to the general
class is called super-ordinate and those referring to its sub-classes are called
hyponym. Antonym is an opposite in meaning while metonym is a term used to
describe a part-whole relationshiop between lexical items.
The second type of lexical cohesion, collocation, deals with the relationship
between words on the basis of the fact that these often occur in the same surrounding
(Rankema, 1993: 39-40).
The followings are examples of each type of lexical cohesion.
(1). A conference will be held on national environmental policy. At this
conference the issue of sanitation will play an important role.
In the sentences above the word conference occurs twice as the indication that
they are repeated.
(2). A conference will be held on national environmental policy. This
environmental symposium will be primarily a conference dealing with water.
In the first sentence, the word conference is repeated in the second sentence with
its synonym symposium
(3). My father went to a furniture exhibition last night. He wanted to buy an
antique table.
Furniture is the superordinate word for the word table as its subordinate.
(4). At its six-month checkup, the brakes have to be repaired. In general,
however, the car is in good condition.
Brake is as the part of car as the whole
(5). The front rows are available for old men and women. Young boys and girls
are seated in the back rows.
Here, the word old is the opposite of young.
5. Halliday and Hasan Taxonomy
In addition to the taxonomy that allows cohesive ties to be classified according to
function, Halliday and Hasan introduce a second taxonomy. This second taxonomy
allows cohesive ties to be classified according to the amount of text spanned by the
presupposed and presupposing elements of a given tie. Halliday and Hasan term four
such “text-span” classes. Membership in a class is determined by the number of Tunits a given cohesive tie span. Taken together, the two taxonomies Halliday and
Hasan present are classified in two different ways, one according to function and one
according to distance. The four “text span” classes contained in Halliday and
Hassan’s second taxonomy are illustrated in the following paragraph:
Text Span Classes (Immediate, Mediated, Remote, Mediated-Remote)
1. The last word ended in a long bleat, so like a sheep that Alice quite started.
2. She looked at the queen, who seemed to have suddenly wrapped herself up in
wool.
3. Alice rubbed her eyes, and looked again.
4. She couldn’t make out what had happened at all.
5. Was she in a shop?
6. And was that really – was it really a sheep that was sitting on the other side of
the counter.
7. Rub as she would, she could make nothing more of it
(Halliday & Hasan, 1976: 330-340)
In sentence (2), she refers to Alice in the first sentence. It relates to the sentence
which immediately precedes it. It is called an immediate tie. The word she in sentence
(4) also refers to Alice in the immediate sentence. She, in sentence (5) has the target
of its presupposition another instance of she, that in (4) and in order to resolve it we
have to follow this through to the occurence of Alice in sentence (3). This type is
called a mediated tie.
Remote ties, on the other hand, result when two elements of a tie are separated by
one or more intervening T-units. It can be seen from sentence (6). In the sentence,
there is no presupposing or presupposed item. Finally, a tie may be both mediated and
remote. For example, the she in sentence (7) doesn’t have any presupposition in
sentence (6) but refers back to sentence (5). Here, the tie is considered remote. At the
same time the presupposed item in (5) is again she, which has to be followed through
to the she in (4) and finally to Alice in (3), so it is also mediated.
Coherence
Coherence means to hold together. It means that texts have the right order with
the clear process. In addition to unity, coherence plays an important role in making a
text read well. A coherent text consists of interrelated sentences which move
smoothly one for another.
A writer needs to inform well about his/her composition. He needs to give clear
information what the text is about. The readers need to know about the topic and the
content about the text produced by the writers. Cohesion itself does not guarantee that
the text read well. The writer needs to organize them in a good way. To organize any
text to be coherent, the writers need to keep their readers well informed about what
they are and where they are going (Butt et al. 1995: 90). Based on the Introduction to
Functional Grammar, there are grammatical resources to signpost the way through
clauses, clause complexes and paragraph, from beginning to the end of a text.
According to Butt et al. (1995: 90), the first signpost must be at the beginning of a
text, paragraph or clause. It tells the readers what the writer has in mind as a starting
point. The writers use the first position in the clause to signal their readers what the
message is about. In An Introduction to Functional Grammar (1994: 38), Halliday
terms the signpost as theme and the rest of the clause rheme.
1. Theme and Rheme
Theme and Rheme are two terms which represent the way in which information
is distributed in a sentence. The definition of theme given by Halliday (1985: 38) is
that theme is given information serving as “the point of departure” of a message. The
given information is the information which has already been mentioned somewhere in
the text, or it is shared or mutual knowledge from the immediate context. In other
words, theme typically contains familiar, old or given information. It must include the
whole of the first item in the experiential meanings. This experiential meanings can be
participant, process and circumstance.
Theme provides the settings for the remainder of the sentence (Rheme). Rheme is
the remainder of the message in a clause in which theme is developed. The rheme
contains unfamiliar or new information (Eggins, 1994: 275). New information is
knowledge that a writer assumes the reader does not know, but needs to have in order
to follow the progression of the argument. The boundary between theme and rheme is
simple: Theme is the first element occurring in a clause; the remainder clause is
rheme. The identification criteria for the rheme are simply everything that is not the
theme is the rheme. The following is an example of the identification of theme and
rheme.
The man in the moon
Mr. Smith and his rival
On the first day of Lebaran
On Sunday morning
On a rainy day
THEME
came down too soon
were fighting for the crown
we went around to meet other people
my love came to my house
we invited our close friend
RHEME
We can identify three different types of elements of clause structure that can be
theme based on the three dimensional metafunctional structure of the clause: topical
(experiential) elements, interpersonal elements and textual elements (Eggins, 1994:
276).
Topical Theme
Eggins (1994, 276) states that an element of the clause to which a transitivity
function (Actor, Behaver, Senser or Circumstance) can be assigned occurs in the first
position in a clause, we describe it as a topical theme. An important principle is that
every clause must contain one topical theme. After we have identified topical theme,
the rest must be the rheme.
I
Actor
Theme
have been in Bali three times
In Jakarta
Circ. Loc
Theme
my colleagues and I spent our holiday
Rheme
Rheme
Infants
cry and fuss for a mean of 1 ¾ hr/ day at age 2 weeks
Behaver
Theme
Rheme
(Source: Eggins, 1994: 277)
Simple theme usually contains only experiential/ topical theme. But, the topical
theme in some clauses are also prefaced by other elements such as interpersonal and
textual. When there are some other themes preceding the topical theme, it is said that
the clause have multiple theme. It is of course, the whole nominal group, verbal group
and adverbial group filling the first participant, process and circumstance function as
theme. Theme includes all premodification, postmodification and all coordination
(Butt et al., 1995: 92).
3 Textual Theme
The writers often use experiential meanings with a group or phrase, the function
of which is to connect the message to the previous text. In this case the writers create
a coherent text where the connections between the message are well signposted.
Conjunctions are more likely to occur at the beginning of clauses and they must be
considered thematic. Eggins (1994, 281) states that textual themes are elements which
do not express any interpersoal or experiential, but they have important cohesive work
in relating clause to its context. She also points out that there are two main types of
textual elements. They are continuity adjuncts and conjunctive adjuncts. The former
relates to the use of expression commonly used in the spoken dialogue such as oh,
well, yea and no. The latter is element which serves to link clause or sentences
together. It can be achieved mostly by the use of conjunction. The followings are
examples of each clause preceded by textual theme which connects its experiential
meaning to the meanings of neighbouring clauses:
And
they
went on their journey
But
I
was still happy
Nevertheles all students
enjoyed the trip
And so
the teacher
gave some assignment
Textual
Topical
Rheme
Theme
The conjunctions are and, but, nevertheless, and so. They are thematic because
they are used at the beginning of a clause to signpost the developmant of the text.
4. Interpersonal Theme
Interpersonal themes are used when the writers begin clauses with interpersonal
meanings indicating the kind of interaction. Butt et al. (1995: 94) defines the
categories of interpersonal thems into finite in interrogative clause, initial vocatives,
mood and common adjunct.
The following examples have an interpersonal theme combined with a topical
theme:
May
Assuredly Madam
Could
Probably
Interpersonal
Theme
We
We
the team
They
Topical
have some butter for the royal slice of bread?
will grant for your request
have beaten the grand finalists?
Could
Rheme
Thematic Progression
Thematic progression refers to the way the writers organise the texts. It can be
achieved by picking up or repeating a meaning from a preceding theme or rheme.
Eggins (1994: 302) states that the way the writers organize their composition/ texts is
very important in case of its contribution that theme makes to the cohesion and
coherence with how thematic elements succeed each other. He also elaborates three
kinds of text development: theme re-iteration, the zig-zag pattern and the multipletheme pattern.
1. Theme re-iteation/ Constant theme
It is regarded as the simplest pattern of text development since one basic way is
to keep to a text focussed. It is simply to re-iterate an element. Repetition is
considered as an effective means of creating a cohesive and coherent text. Having the
same participant made theme on a regular basis provides the text with a clear focus
(Eggins, 1994: 303). Nevertheless, this kind of text development in which the theme
never varies will not only be boring to read, but will indicate a text is going no where.
The following is the example of constant/ reiteration thematic pattern.
Theme
Rheme
My friends and I
went to Jakarta last holiday
We
visited some places there
We
also spent our holiday by visiting Ancol and Dufan
My friends and I
were very happy
Table 2.5: Theme and rheme: A reiteration/constant theme
(based on Butt et.al, 1995:99)
Theme 1
Rheme 1
Theme 2
Rheme 2
Theme 3
Rheme 3
Theme 4
Rheme 4
Figure 2.1: Thematic Progression: Theme reiteration/constant theme.
2 A zigzag/linear theme pattern.
Another thematic development is recognized as linear theme pattern/ a zig-zag
pattern. In this thematic development, an element which is introduced in the rheme in
the first clause gets promoted to become the theme of the second clause.
Theme
On Saturday night
It
Rheme
my friends and I went to Lawang Sewu
is well-known as the living place for ghost
Table 2.6: Theme and rheme: A zigzag/linear theme pattern
(based on Butt et.al, 1995:99)
Theme 1
Rheme 1
Theme 2
Rheme 2
Figure 2.2: Thematic Progression: A zigzag/linear theme pattern
3 A multiple theme/split rheme pattern
The development of the texts may also include re-iteration and zig-zag pattern. It
is called multiple theme. In this pattern, the Theme of one clause introduces a number
of different pieces of information, each of which is then picked up and made Theme
in subsequent clauses (Eggins, 1994: 304).\
Theme
On Saturday,
We
It
The rooms
The restaurants
Rheme
my colleague and I went to Jakarta.
stayed at Ibis Hotel
had lots of rooms and restaurants
consisted of economical and luxuries even president
suit class
offered many kinds of menus from different countries
Table 2.7: Theme and rheme: A multiple theme/split rheme pattern
(based on Butt et.al, 1995:100)
Clause1 T1
R1
On Saturday
Clause2 T2
We
Clause3 T3
It
Clause4 T4
The room
Clause5 T5
The restaurants
my ... Jakarta
R2
stayed ... Hotel
R3
had ... restaurants
R4
consisted ... class
R5
offered ... countries
Figure 2.3: Thematic progression: A multiple theme/split rheme pattern