Actual Division of the Sentence

Theme and the Rheme.

2. Linguistic Expression of Actual
Division in

a Sentence.

Actual Division of the Sentence

nominative meaning of the sentence. Traditional sentence parsing may be

called, thus, nominative division.

Alongside of the nominative division of the sentence, the idea of the so-called "actual division" of the sentence has been put forward in theoretical linguistics.

The purpose of the actual division of the sentence, called also the "functional sentence perspective", is to reveal the mutual significance of the sentence parts from the point of view of their actual informative role in an utterance.

The Notion of Actual Division of the Sentence.

denotes an object or a phenomenon about which something is

reported.

The rheme expresses the basic informative part of the communication, its contextual centre.

Between the theme and the rheme are positioned intermediary, transitional parts of the actual division of various degrees of informative value ("transition").

The Theme. The Rheme.

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.
The actual division in which the rheme is expressed by the subject is to be referred to as "inverted".


Max bounded forward.
Again Charlie is being too clever!
Her advice can't be of any help to us.

of reflected events, though the elements themselves may be quite

familiar to the listener.

They are bilateral signemic units in exactly the same sense as other meaningful constructions of language, i.e. they are distinguished both by their material form and their semantics.

Linguistic Expression of the Theme and the Rheme

theme and the rheme investigators name such structural elements of

language as:

word-order patterns;
intonation contours;
constructions with introducers;
syntactic patterns of contrastive complexes;
constructions with articles and other determiners;
constructions with intensifying particles.

Helen.
Utterly unbelievable it was to all of them.
There came a

loud hoot from the railroad.
It was a moment's deep consideration that Grandma gave them.
The costume is meant not for your cousin, but for you.
A man walked up and down the platform.
Only then did he sit down in one of the armchairs.

Asyndetic sentences.  
Transitional sentences.

The Composite Sentence

two or more syntactic constructions each having a predicative center

of its own, built on the basis of a syntactic connection and used in speech communication as a unit of the same rank as the simple sentence.

It is characterized by:
- the type of syntactic connection (coordination or subordination);  
- the rank of predicative constructions, that is, the place occupied by the predicative construction in the hierarchy of clauses;
- presence or absence of connectors and their character.

Definition of the Composite Sentence

equal grammatical rank — single words and phrases in elementary

compound groups or independent clauses in compound sentences.
The formative words linking the parts of a compound sentence fall into the following types:

1) coordinative conjunctions (and, but, or, yet, for);
2) conjunctive adverbs (furthermore, hence, however, moreover, nevertheless);
3) fixed prepositional phrases (at least, as a result, after a while, in addition, in contrast, in the next place, on the other hand, for example, for instance).

Compound Sentences

both... and; equally... and; alike... and; at once... and; not...

nor for neither, or and neither); not (or never)... not (or nor)... either; neither... nor, etc.
Disjunctive: or; or... either; either... or, etc., the disjunctive adverbs else, otherwise, or... or, or... else.  
Adversative: but, but then, only, still, yet, and yet, however, on the other hand, again, on the contrary, etc.
Illative: namely, therefore, on that account, consequently, accordingly, for that reason, so, then, hence, etc.
Explanatory: namely, to wit, that is, that is to say, or, such as, as, like, for example, for instance, say, let us say, etc.

immediate constituents which are not syntactically equivalent.
To express subordination of

one syntactic unit to another in a complex sentence English uses the following means: -
conjunctions: when, after, before, while, till, until, though, although, that, as, because;
fixed phrases: as soon as, as long as, so long as, notwithstanding that, in order that, according as, etc.;
conjunctive words: the relative pronouns who, which, that, whoever, whatever, whichever, and the relative adverbs where, how, whenever, wherever, however, why.

Complex Sentences

crying.
You can take whatever you like.
I had to go home

since it was getting dark.
  When we finished our lunch, we left.
Here’s the book which I told you about.
When he is coming has not been decided yet.

Analyze the Type of Italicized Clauses:

like it.
He went to the café where he hoped to

find his friend.
If you asked him, he would help you.
I avoided mentioning the subject lest he be offended.
She was nursing the flower, as a mother nurses her child.

classified into compound and complex.

This traditional treatment of asyndetic

composite sentences was criticized by some scholars.

For example, a different approach is found in N. S. Pospelov's treatments of asyndeton in Russian syntax: asyndetic sentences are viewed as a special syntactic category with no immediate relevance to subordination or coordination.

Asyndetic Sentences

sentences, there is a main and a subordinate clause, while

the other types of asyndetic sentences do not admit of such a distinction.

This is the most interesting book I have ever read. – attributive clause
I think you should go there right away. – object clause

The semantic relations between clauses are signalled only by the lexical meaning of the words making up the sentence.

with homogeneous parts (sometimes also termed "contracted sentences");
e.g. My

Mom and I invited the Browns to the party.

2) sentences with a dependent appendix
a) include phrases consisting of the conjunction than and a noun, pronoun, or phrase following an adjective or adverb in the comparative degree;
e.g. I have met many people much smarter than you.

Transitive-Type Sentences

preceded by the adverb as, and an additional part consisting

of the conjunction as and some other word (an adjective, a noun, or an adverb);
e.g. Her features were as soft and delicate as those of her mother).

3) sentences with secondary predication
a) sentences containing Complex Object;
e.g. I saw him cross the street.
b) sentences containing the Absolute Construction.
e.g. Pete was dancing, his hands flying high above his head.

travelling affair, she did not linger to pat out the

dust which covered her clothes, but started up the central walk with curious glances at either side.
Her face was very eager and expectant, yet she hadn’t at all that glorified expression that girls wear when they arrive for a Senior Prom at Princeton or New Haven; still, as there were no senior proms here, perhaps it didn’t matter.

Complex-Compound Sentences