ENGLISH SYNTAX 2

Theme and focus

Theme and Rheme are the two components which together make up the organisational construct
that is the thematic structure of the clause. The Theme comes first and is identified as the first
constituent in the clause. What follows is the Rheme. Theme is the clause constituent which,
whatever its syntactic function, is selected to be the point of departure of the clause as message.

Theme Rheme
1) We ll reach Toledo, but not Seville, before noon.
2) Before noon well reach Toledo but not Seville.
3) Toledo, but not Seville well reach before noon.

In selecting Theme, speakers must choose between a neutral order of clause constituents or a
marked order. The order of clause elements in 1 has the Subject as Theme. This is the neutral,
unmarked choice in a declarative clause, used when there is no good reason to depart from the
usual. Any other constituent but the Subject will be marked, and signals an additional meaning. In
the case of 2 the Theme is a circumstance of time, syntactically an Adjunct, and is marked. However,
it does not strike us as very unusual. This is because adjuncts of time can occupy several positions in
the clause. Theme 3 is an Object participant whose normal position is after the verb. Objects are not
so mobile and sound highly marked in English when brought to initial position. Marked constituent
orders always signal some additional meaning and have to be motivated. Thematised Objects tend to
express a contrast with something said or expected by the hearer. By specifying Toledo but not Seville
as the Object, the speaker refers explicitly to a contrary expectation and justifies the thematised
element.

In examples, 4 to 7, the starting-point of the clause is the expected one, which announces the clause-
type. Theme is marked when any other but the expected one is placed in initial position, as in
examples 8 to 10. Marked Themes in non-declarative clauses are relatively uncommon.

Unmarked Themes
4) Are we going to Toledo?
5) When will we get there?
6) Have your tickets ready!
7) Lets go for a swim instead.
Operator + subject in yes/no interrogative
Wh-word in wh-interrogative
Base form of verb in 2nd person (imperative)
Lets in 1st person (imperative)

Marked Themes
8) We are going where? Non wh-subject in a wh-interrogative
9) Do hurry up, all of you! Emphatic do in an imperative
10) You keep quiet! Subject in an imperative

In yes/no interrogatives in English, unmarked Theme is the Finite operator, together with the Subject,
as in 4. In wh-interrogatives, the Theme is the wh-word as in 5. In 2nd person imperative clauses,
unmarked Theme is the verb, as in 6, and lets in first person imperatives, as in 7. Any other order is
marked. When the wh-element is displaced, as in 8, the element that remains as Theme (we) is
marked for a whinterrogative. Emphatic do, as in 9, and the Subject you, as in 10, are marked Themes
in the imperative.
1) The subject of an intransitive clause (including copular clauses) can present or identify a new
entity. Such is the case in the italicised NG that identifies the fogbound sailor in the second of the
two paragraphs in the news item. When spoken, extra pitch and stress help the hearer to make
contact with the new referent.
2) When the Subject is known, the direct object often introduces a new entity: I saw a most
extraordinary person in the park this afternoon. It has been estimated that between them the
subject of an intransitive verb and the object of a transitive verb account for the majority of new
entities introduced in spoken discourse.
3) Unstressed there with be or a presentative verb such as appear, which has the same effect can
introduce a new referent, as in There was a good programme on television last night.
4) A statement can explicitly inform the hearer what the Topic is going to be, as in Today I want to
talk to you about genetic engineering.
5) Inversion of a copular clause can introduce a new Topic, as in Worst of all was the lack of fresh
water.

Circumstantial adjuncts as themes

Among the marked Themes, Circumstantial Adjuncts particularly those of time and place are the
least unusual. Comparing the examples below, we can say that the circumstantials in London last
year have been transferred from their normal position in the Rheme to initial position; that is, they
have been thematised or fronted.

Theme Rheme
We did a lot of sightseeing in London last year.
In London last year, we did a lot of sightseeing.

The function of such circumstantials is to set the necessary temporal and/or spatial coordinates of
the text world within which the participants move, establishing a timeframe or place-frame for the
rest of the message. Such frames or settings can hold over wide spans of discourse, until a different
frame is set up.

(example)
In the first decades of the twentieth century Paris was the centre of modern art. Picasso, Braque and
Matisse all worked there; Cubism was born there. The first part of this exhibition describes the
dialogue that took place between Europe and America that gave rise to American modernism... By
the early 1940s young American artists made the conscious decision to disconnect the line to
Europe. They wanted to provoke and shock, to be the standardbearers of the avant-garde in a
specifically American way. This radical group of artists launched the revolutionary movement called
Abstract Expressionsim that by 1950 had successfully invented a new contemporary art vocabulary.
And, for the first time in the history of Western art, the centre of the artistic avant-garde shifted
away from Europe to America.

Objects and complements as themes

Apart from contrast, another motivation for thematising direct objects is that of retrospective linking
to something in the previous sentence or context:

- Moussaka you ordered, and moussaka youve got.

- Janet asked me to bring her some tea from London. This I did.

When subject complements are thematised they tend to occur as evaluative comments made
spontaneously in context, often in response to another speaker. In each case, there is retrospective
linking. Identifying clauses, such as The music was the best of all, are reversible. When reversed, as in
the second example, they look both backwards and forwards, linking to something just said, but also
marking a shift to something new.

- [How did the meeting go?] A complete waste of time it was (Subject Complement. The unmarked
order: It was a complete waste of time.)
- [Was the festival a success?] Not bad. The best was the music. (reversed identifying clause from The
music was the best.)
- Fantastic I call it! (Object Complement. Unmarked order: I call it fantastic.)

Negative adverbs

When we place negative adverbs such as never in initial position, we seem to be responding to a
communicative human need to foreground and emphasise the negation. But while Never! can be
used as a one-word full negative response in conversation, thematised negative constituents are
much less easy to use in English than in some other languages. This is because they trigger the
inversion of an existing auxiliary (or do-operator) with the subject. Furthermore, thematised
negatives have an emphatic, marked effect, as can be seen from the following famous utterance
made by Winston Churchill after the Battle of Britain in the Second World War. The second, more
recent quotation, was made as a comment on television about the IRAs apology in 2002 for the loss
of life of non-combatants over three decades.

- Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few.
- Never before has the IRA acknowledged the loss of life in its 30-year paramilitary campaign.

In everyday use such a rhetorical effect may be undesirable, and it is best to reserve fronted negative
elements for emphatic statements or directives. With the imperative, there is no inversion, as the
base form of the verb is used: Never say never again! Certain dependent clauses of condition are
likewise fronted: Should you wish to change your mind, please let us know. The negative adjuncts
never and under no circumstances, fronted seminegatives such as hardly, scarcely and only + an
adverb of time all have a marked effect when fronted. Their unmarked position before the main verb
avoids this problem (I have never seen... You must under no circumstances leave...). The positive and
negative elements most commonly thematised in everyday spoken English are so and neither or nor
as substitute words. They behave like initial negatives, provoking operator-subject ordering, but they
have no rhetorical effect.

- All my friends passed the driving-test and so did I.

- Never have I seen such a mess!
- Under no circumstances must medicines be left within reach of children.
- Only then did I realise what he really meant.

Negative Objects

These produce the same inversion, but are much less common. Negative subjects do not produce
inversion. Compare: Not a thing could the patient remember, where not a thing is Object, with
Nobody could remember a thing, where nobody is Subject.

Adverbs followed by verbs of motion

Initial adverbs such as up, down, in and deictics such as here, there and then are commonly used with
verbs of motion such as come, go, run. In short spoken utterances they accompany or signal actions,
such as In you get! (helping someone into a car) or There/ Here you go! (handing something to
someone). There is no inversion when the subject is a pronoun. With a full nominal group, however,
the verb and the subject invert: Down came the rain and up went the umbrellas: There goes my last
dollar! Here comes the bus.
In certain types of written texts such as historical narrative in tourist brochures, this structure can be
used to mark a new stage in the narrative, and in such cases usually initiates a new paragraph, as in:
Then came the Norman Conquest.
Only simple tenses are used in this structure, not the progressive or perfect combinations.
Thematised verbs rarely occur in the declarative clause in English. When they do, it is the non-finite
part that is thematised:

- ([He told me to run,) so] run I did. (Unmarked order: He told me to run, so I did run.)

In the media non-finite and finite forms are sometimes fronted, together with the rest
of the clause:

- Coming up to the stage now is this years winner of the Oscar...

- Snapped back the 18-year-old princess: No comment.

Non-experiential themes

The Theme of an utterance is essentially a constituent of the transitivity structures. It is possible to

allow for a number of non-experiential Themes, which precede the experiential Theme. These can be
grouped into two main kinds: interpersonal Themes and textual Themes.

Interpersonal Themes

These include three main subtypes. Continuative Themes (or discourse markers), such as Oh, well,
Ah, please, have various functions as markers of attention, response, request, state of knowledge,
surprise and hesitation, among others. Overall, they signal acknowledgements by speakers and
transitions from one speaker to another or a move to another point in spoken discourse. Examples
are:

- Now who wants to come to the castle? Oh, actually I have to do some shopping. Well, well see
you later, then.

Another group of interpersonal Themes, Adjuncts of stance, include three main subtypes: epistemic,
(certainly), evidential (apparently) and evaluative (surely, surprisingly)

1 Further sub-types include style adjuncts, such as frankly, honestly, and domain adjuncts, such as
legally, technologically, consumerwise 2, which limit the domain of reference of the rest of the
sentence. A third type is made up of vocatives, such as Doctor! Mum!, and appellatives ladies and
gentlemen which address people by name or by role or status 3.

1) Surely you could find yourself a job somewhere? Honestly, Ive tried.
2) Technologically, though, the new model hasnt been a success.
3) Ladies and gentlemen, please take your seats. The coach will depart in five minutes.

Textual Themes

Textual Themes include a variety of connectors or connective adjuncts such as however, besides,
therefore, now, first, then (non-temporal) next and anyway. These connect the clause to the previous
part of the text by indicating relations such as addition, concession, reason, consequence, and so on.
- I dont feel like playing tennis. Besides, its starting to rain.

All these different types of element can be considered as being part of the Theme,
as long as they are placed before the experiential theme (Subject, Circumstantial, Object or
Complement). Most of them can function in other positions in the clause, and so represent a real
choice when used thematically. Coordinators such as and, but and or, conjunctions such as when and
relative pronouns such as who, which, that are inherently thematic and do not have alternative
placements. For this reason, they will not be taken into account in our analyses.

Given and new information

The distribution of Given and New information is to a great extent the motivation for the
information unit. Each information unit contains an obligatory New element, which is associated
with the tonic of the tone unit, the focus of information. There can also be optional Given elements
of information, which are associated with the rest of the tone unit. Rather than a clear-cut distinction
between Given and New, however, there is a gradation of givenness and newness. This is
compatible with the notion of communicative dynamism, by which the message typically progresses
from low to high information value.
The Given element is concerned with information that the speaker presents as recoverable by the
hearer, either from the linguistic co-text, that is, what has been said before, or because it can be
taken as known from the context of situation or the context of culture. The New element is
concerned with whatever information the speaker presents as not recoverable by the hearer. The
following exchange illustrates the possible relationship of Given and New to information focus:

A. Whats new then?

B. Well, Jims bought a new CAR //, Normas getting a DIVORCE // and Jamies
got CHICKEN-POX //, but apart from that...

In each tone unit, the tonic syllable, identified here by capitals, represents the culmination of the
New information. The syntactic unit in which the tonic occurs (a new CAR, a DIVORCE, CHICKEN-POX)
is in each case in focus. The referents of the proper names Jim, Norma and Jamie are treated as
identifiable and Given, or at least accessible, in the discourse situation (that is the function of proper
names) and there is a gradation from Given to New, with the verbs bought, getting and got marking
the transition:

Jims bought a new CAR

Normas getting a DIVORCE
Jamies got CHICKEN-POX
Given - - - - - - - - - - - - - - New

Unmarked focus and marked focus

In normal, unemphatic discourse, it is customary to start our message from what we think our hearer
knows and progress to what s/he does not know. In other words, the unmarked distribution starts
with the Given and progresses towards the New. This is often called the principle of end-focus. The
neutral position for information focus is therefore towards the end of the information unit. In
grammatical terms, this usually means that unmarked (end-)focus falls on the last non-anaphoric
lexical item or name in the clause, as in the above exchange. Items which occur after the tonic can be
taken as Given and are always unstressed, like about it here:
Petes just COMPLAINED about it.
Given - - - - - - New - - - - - - - Given

Here, the words after complained are both grammatical rather than lexical words: that is, they have a
largely grammatical meaning. Pronouns such as it always refer to something known, unless they are
contrastive and therefore marked (see below). In the following example, the second use of WANT is
anaphoric (the notion of wanting occurs in the question), and is therefore not marked. Instead,
DONT is marked:

A. Dont you WANT it then?

B. No, I DONT want it.

When the focus of information is placed on the last non-anaphoric lexical item in the clause, almost
the whole clause may be New or just one part of it. For example, Jane dropped the COFFEE-POT could
be intended to mean that it was just the coffee-pot and not something else that Jane dropped; or the
whole unit could contain new information. The amount of New material can be verified by
formulating questions. In answer to the first, only the coffee-pot would be New and the rest Given,
while in answer to the second, the whole unit would represent new information:

What did Jane drop? [Jane dropped] the COFFEE-POT

New - - - - - - - - - - - -
What happened? Jane dropped the COFFEE-POT
- - - - - - - - - - - - New - - - - - - - - - - - -

Marked focus occurs when the tonic is placed on any other syllable than the tonic syllable of the last
non-anaphoric lexical item. Marked focus is used for the purpose of contrasting one item with
another, as in 1 and 2, or to add an emotive overlay, as in 3:

1) SHE didnt make the phone call, ROBERT did.

2) The kids didnt SIT on the sofa, they JUMPED on it.
3) Im SO THIRSTY!

Simple linear progression (linear Theme)

In this type, something introduced as new information in the Rheme of the first clause is taken up to
be the Theme of the second. The wording need not be identical.

She has a huge team of people working for her.1 Some of them have been with her for years.2

In this example, Theme 1 is she, while a huge team of people is the focused part of Rheme 1. A
semantic sub-set, some of them, then becomes the Theme of the second clause. We can present it
graphically as follows:

Clause 1 Theme 1 + Rheme 1

Clause 2 Theme 2 + Rheme 2
Continuous progression (constant Theme)

In this type, the same Theme, Mum, is maintained across a series of coordinated clauses, each with
its own Rheme:

Mum was always a hard worker1 and (zero) had plenty of drive2 but, in a small way, she was also
proving to be quite a successful business woman.3

This type of progression can be diagrammed as follows. Note that the same Theme is maintained in
the second clause by zero anaphora, which could be replaced by the corresponding pronoun she.

Mum (T1) was always a hard worker1 (R1) and (she)(T1) had plenty of drive(R2),2 but, in a small way,
she(T1) was also proving to be quite a successful business woman (R3).3

Clause 1 Theme 1 + Rheme 1

Clause 2 Theme 1 + Rheme 2
Clause 3 Theme 1 + Rheme 3

In the illustrations of these two first types of thematic progression, we find that the progression is
made on the basis of topic referent chains. The following news item The lost Van Gogh uses both
simple linear progression and constant Theme.

When Vincent Van Gogh left his home in the Dutch village of Nuenen in 1895,1 having had a blazing
row with the parish priest over his use of female models,2 he left hundreds of his early pictures
behind in his mothers keeping.3 Soon after, his mother, too, left the village for the nearby town of
Breda.4 She packed all her belongings, including a chest containing her sons works, onto a cart,5 and
then left the chest in storage with a family friend.6 The friend, a local merchant, threw many of the
pictures away7 and sold others off the back of his cart for about five cents a-piece.8

Information flow

In any clause, some elements normally express, or refer back to, information that is known from the
preceding discourse, i.e. given, while others present new information. There is a preferred
distribution of this information in the clause, corresponding to a gradual rise in information load. This
could be called the information principle:

1) Inside the house Mr Summers found a family of cats shut in the bathroom.

On the one hand, the clause is grounded in the situation and the preceding discourse, where the
house and Mr Summers have already been mentioned; on the other, it carries the communication
forward by telling us about what Mr Summers found. Thus, the clause characteristically opens with
given or background information and ends with new information. Normal reliance on this
organization simplifies both the planning of the speaker and the decoding of the hearer. However, it
is clearly not true that the climax of information is necessarily at the end of the clause. For example,
in many cases we find clauses opening with new intonnation:
2) A conference table and four chairs, of a type provided for senior public servants, stood between the
tall windows.

In this example, the indefinite noun phrase in subject position expresses new information. In the
study of information flow it is necessary to view clauses in context. Structual parallelism between
neighbouring clauses also plays a part. Furthermore, placement of different types of information is
not the only aspect at issue. Information may also be suppressed entirely, or fragmented, in order to
serve the needs of discourse.

Focus, emphasis, contrast, and intensification

In any clause there is normally at least one point of focus, which is related in speech to the place
where nuclear intonation stress would fall, and whichever clause element includes this point thereby
gains some prominence or emphasis. The general principle governing the placement of focus is that
of end focus, i.e. that focus is normally placed on the last lexical item of the last element in the
clause.
It is quite possible in speech to stress, and thereby place focus on, words in other positions in a
clause, and indeed on more than one, where special emphases need to be conveyed. There is a
variety of ways in which elements at the start of a clause may gain focus, and it is these that are most
important in this chapter. For example, where a locative adverbial is placed before the subject, as in
Inside the house in 1, typically it will be focused. Thus the clause overall achieves double focus.
Similarly in 2 a very long subject phrase, and a non-restrictive modifier, may each have their own
focus, so this sentence could have three focal elements, those ending with chairs, servants, and
windows. Dependent clauses often have their own focus. It is also possible to have clauses with a
single focus in initial position.
In general, it seems accurate to identify two major potential points of prominence in the clause: the
beginning and the end. Compare the natural prominence of the first and last elements in
pronouncing a series: me, two, three, four; English, German, Latin, and French. Devices such as those
dealt with in this chapter are commonly used to place elements in such a way that more than one is
focused, in order to convey desired emphases and various stylistic effects.
The terms intensification and contrast apply to special cases of emphasis arising when elements are
in focus. If what is focused in initial position is an adjective or adverb, the prominence it achieves is
similar to that provided by adding an intensifying adverb premodifier:

- Brilliant that was!

Here brilliant is intensified by being in initial focused position rather as if the speaker had said That
was totally brilliant! On the other hand, a contrast is involved when the emphasized part is so
treated as to highlight its difference from some parallel entity, which is usually explicitly mentioned
in a neighbouring clause:

- It's not the bikers - it's the other vehicle that's on the road.

Here the other vehicle is not only in focus, but also contrasted with the bike in a preceding clause
with a parallel structure. The meaning involved is similar to that of coordinator but and concessive
adverbial clauses.

Weight

In any clause, elements are frequently of different size and complexity, or weight. For instance, a
noun phrase realizing the subject or object clause element may be a single pronoun or a complex
structure with pre- and postmodifiers, the latter containing embedded clauses. There is a preferred
distribution of elements in the clause in accordance with their weight called the principle of end-
weight: the tendency for long and complex elements to be placed towards the end of a clause.
Fronting

Fronting of objects, predicatives, and other elements which are normally in postverbal position is
structurally conditioned and completely regular where they contain wh-words, that is, in
independent interrogative clauses, exclamative clauses, nominal wh-clauses, and relative clauses:

- Oh, [what a memory I have.] <fronted DO>

- Don't you know [what a camp is?] <fronted P>

Fronting is also found in independent declarative clauses in examples of the following kind:

- People choose who they want. [This they had hied [to instill in her in their unobtrusive way.]]
- Instead he says: ["The team is good enough [to stay up]] [but [whether we will do] I don't know."]

In the first example, there is fronting of the direct object of instill; in the second, the object of know
(a nominal clause) is fronted. Fronting in independent declarative clauses is often combined with
subject-verb inversion.
Fronting refers to the initial placement of core elements which are normally found in post-verbal
position. There are patterns which differ in stylistic effect and in register distribution. A full
understanding is not possible without also considering variation in the order of the subject and the
verb. The main discourse functions of fronting are:
- organizing information flow to achieve cohesion expressing contrast,
- enabling particular elements to gain emphasis.
Apart from the grammatically conditioned initial placement of wh-words, fronting of core elements is
virtually restricted to declarative main clauses, and is relatively rare in English.

Inversion

There are two main types of inversion: subject-operator inversion and subject-verb inversion. These
differ both in structure and in their conditions of use.
Subject-operator inversion chiefly occurs in independent interrogative clauses, where it is completely
regular; less commonly, it is found in declarative clauses.
Subject-verb inversion is chiefly found in independent declarative clauses in examples such as the
following, where the SVA pattern becomes AVS:

- There was a dip, a grass ravine, by the road, and some mist was crouching in the deepest part.
Across it hung a wooden bridge leading to the office blocks and the other buildings on the far bank. At
the root of the road were the little mountains that were the roofs of the Chinese village.

This type of inversion is connected with the distribution of information in the text and is far less
common than subject-initial placement. Note that the first sentence in the example is of a different
kind; it has existential there as subject and so has no inversion.

Inversion of subject and verb or operator

Inversion is closeIy connected with fronting. Centuries ago, English was predominantly a verb-second
language: the verb was placed in second position in the clause, whether it was preceded by the
subject or by some other clause element. The latter case caused inversion of subject and verb. In
present-day English, the subject generally stays before the verb with the exception of interrogative
clauses whether there is some other pre-verbal element or not. Nevertheless, given the right
circumstances, inversion does occur in present-day English outside interrogative clauses. There are
two main types:
1)Subject-verb inversion or full inversion, where the subject is preceded by the entire verb phrase (or
whichever potion of it remains if the main verb part of it is fronted.
2)Subject-operator inversion or partial inversion, where the subject is preceded by the operator
rather than by the main verb or a full verb phrase.
As in independent interrogative clauses, the auxiliary do is inserted, if there is no other verb that can
serve as operator. The remainder of the verb phrase follows the subject, if included. Both types are
triggered by some element other than the subject being placed in clause-initial position. In general,
inversion serves several discourse functions:
- cohesion and contextual fit (especially: subject-verb inversion)
- placement of focus (end focus and double focus)
- intensification (especially: subject-operator inversion).

Subject-verb inversion

Subject-verb inversion is found most typically under the following circumstances. The clause opens
with an adverbial, especially one of place, providing the background or setting for a situation. This
adverbial often links the clause explicitly to the preceding text through a definite noun phrase. The
opening element may also be a subject predicative linked to the preceding text. The verb is
intransitive or copular and has less weight than the subject. It often expresses existence or
emergence on the scene. The clause ends with a long and heavy subject introducing new
information, often as an indefinite noun phrase, which may be further developed in the following
text. In other words, these structures conform to the requirements of the information principle and
the end-weight principle. The contextual fit of clauses with subject-verb inversion is such that a
simple reordering of subject and verb is generally excluded for a clause in its context:

- I do her worm for her, when her teacher isn't looking. Then I draw a diagram of the worm, cut open,
beautifully labelled. After that comes the frog. The frog kicks and is more difficult than the worm, it
looks a little too much like a person swimming.

Here it is hardly possible to reorder the subject and the verb because light-weight verbs are not
generally used in final position. The only possible alternative order would be: The frog comes after
that. This is less effective than the word order found in the text, which starts with a reference to the
preceding text (after that) and moves on to the new referent (the frog), which is in its turn the
starting-point of the following sentence. The order in the text also underlines the temporal
sequencing of the events narrated.

Subject-operator inversion

Subject-operator inversion, or partial inversion, differs from subject-verb inversion in a number of

ways:
- Inversion may occur with both transitive and intransitive verbs. Especially with the former, there is
often a weighty predicate occupying end position in the clause.
- The opening elements triggering subject-operator inversion are much more restricted.
- Inversion is obligatory where the triggering elements are found and occurs both with light-weight
unstressed subject pronouns and with noun-headed subjects.
Negative or restrictive opening elements

Subject-operator inversion is found after opening negative or restrictive coordinators or adverbials,

such as: neither, nor, never, nowhere, on no condition, not only, hardly, no sooner, rarely, scarcely,
seldom, little, less, only. In the following examples, inversion is marked in bold and triggering
elements are marked by []:

- I haven't got a copy of club rules. [Nor] have I.

- And she said, you know, [on no account] must he smile.
- [Nor] was there the faintest scent of ink or the cherry gum and oak bark from which it was made.
Nothing.
- [Not before in our history] have so many strong influences united to produce so large a disaster.
- Judged simply in statistical terms these were stunning. [Rarely, if ever], do we find such an area and
social class.
- [Rarely] are all the constraints on shape and function clearly defined at the commencement of the
activity, [even if are they understood and their effect, one on another, recognized by the designer.

Subject-operator inversion after most initial negative restrictive elements has a rhetorical effect and
is virtually restricted to writing. However, subject-operator inversion after initial nor or neither is
found in conversation as well as in the written registers. Note also the colloquial expression no way:

- Oh [no way] do I want to take that.

- And if the case went to trial, there wasn't a damn thing Katheryn could do to stop them. And [no
way] could she get Sarah to understand that.

No way expresses strong negation and is obligatorily placed in initial position.

Order and negative scope

Inversion is found only if the negative scope affects the whole of the clause. Thus there is no
inversion in:

1) No doubt he will issue his instructions.

2) Not surprisingly, most studies have concerned themselves with ill effect, notably that of emotional
stress.
3) Not many years ago, it seemed that almost all readability research, and almost all research in
linguistics confined itself to the analysis of units no larger than a sentence.

In 1 and 2 the negation is part of the stance adverbial only, while in 3 it is part of the modification of
the time adverbial. The main statements are thus expressed in positive terms (e.g. he will issue...).
Occasionally, we find differences in ordering and in some cases meaning with the same or similar
forms. Compare:

Forms with normal word order:

4) [In no time at all] the hotels would be jammed to the doors.
5) I could have gone there. [Only] I didn't care.
6) In the winter, sometimes, [rarely], you can hear the thunder of a siren but it is another county.

Forms triggering inversion:

7) [At no time] did he indicate he couldn't cope.
8) [Only then] did he feel better.
9) [Rarely] can two sets of forwards have covered so much ground.

In no time in 4 clearly does not affect the positive nature of the statement we still conclude that the
hotels would be jammed to the doors, while in 7 the implication is he did not ever indicate that he
couldn't cope. Example 5 illustrates the use of initial only without inversion in the sense of but or
except, rather than in its customary restrictive adverb use as in 8. Finally, 6 illustrates the use of
rarely meaning occasionally, sometimes rather than not very often. In most examples, however,
initial rarely does trigger inversion.

Degree expressions with 'so' and 'such'

There is subject-operator inversion after opening elements consisting of the degree adverb so
followed by an adjective or adverb:

- He refused to stir. [So greatly] had he suffered, and [so far gone] was he thnt the blows did not hurt
much.
- [So badly] was he affected that he had to be taught to speak again. (NEWS)

The pattern has a degree expression in initial position, usually accompanied by a following
comparative complement clause. The effect of the pattern is a further intensification of the degree
expression. Compare similar examples with subject-verb inversion triggered by clause initial such:

- [Such] is the confusion aboard this vessel I can find no one who has the authority to countermand
this singularly foolish order.
- [Such] is the gravity of the situation that it has already sparked an international incident.

Inversion after the linking forms 'so', 'nor', and 'neither'

Inversion can occur after initial so when it is used as a pro-form pointing back to the predicate of a
preceding dame:

1) A: We used to watch that on T.V.

B: Yes, [sol did I.
2) A: French oral's a doddle.
B: Is it?
A: Yeah, [so] is German reading.
3) Gail's in, and [so] is Lisa.
4) She despised him; [so] did Prue Ramsay; [so] did they all.
5) As infations increased in women, [so] did infections in their babies.

This inversion pattern usually includes no part of the verb phrase other than the inverted operator.
The pattern expresses semantic parallelism and could be paraphrazed with subject-verb order plus
additive too, e.g. I did too in 1. This use of so is clearly different from initial so in degree expressions.
The initial so in these examples stands for given information, and so has a cohesive effect, it is also in
initial position, and so emphasizes the parallelism between the clauses. The subject is the main new
communicative point of the clause and is placed in the end focus position after the verb. The result is
a structure with double focus.
Clauses with the initial pro-form so are cIosely related to structures with initial nor and neither, which
express parallelism with respect to a preceding negative clause:

6) She hadn't known much about him [nor] had he.

7) The generalization's truth, if it is true, is not affected by how we count things in question, and
[neither] is its falsehood if it is fate.

The meaning could be paraphrased with subject-verb order plus either, e.g. and he hadn't either in 6.
Again the inversion pattern produces both a cohesive link and a double focus which emphasizes the
parallelism. Unlike no and neither, so is sometimes found with subject-verb order:
8) Aye, he's a bastard, [so] he is.
9) Have we a file? Yes [so] we have.
10) I saw it distinctly, sir! You threw salt over your shoulder!" "[So] I did, sir, I confess it."

In these instances the verb is in end focus rather than the subject. The effect is not of adding a
proposition parallel to that which has gone before but of emphatically affirming the same
proposition implied in the preceding clause; note the combination with aye and yes in 8 and 9.

Postponement

A direct object which is heavy and contains more information than the object predicative may be
postponed, i.e. placed after the object predicative:

- Mr Major has repeatedly made clear his strong opposition to changing the voting system.

More typically, the object predicative clear would occur at the end of the clause:

- Mr Major has made this <Od> clear <Po>.

Another kind of postponement is found where adverbial particles of phrasal verbs are placed after
the direct object:

- I'll help you take your bags up. // I'll help you take up your bags.

Where the direct object is an unstressed pronoun, the particle is obligatorily placed after it:

- I'll help you take them up.

Postponement with ditransitive verbs

Certain ditransitive verbs such as give, deny, grant, lend, owe, show among others allow two
alternative structures:

- Weve given the children bicycles. (SPOiOd)

- Weve given bicycles to the children. (SPOdOb)

This alternative allows us to place end-focus either on the Recipient (the children) or on the other
participant, without using the passive. This way of adjusting the clause, to get the end-focus where
we want it, is especially useful when one of the participants is Given information, often realised by a
pronoun; this will normally be placed in medial position:

- Weve given them bicycles.

- Weve given them to the children.

The passive

Corresponding to the basic patterns containing an object, we find a passive counterpart, as

illustrated below:

- Suddenly, armed soldiers broke the shop windows.

The shop windows were broken (by armed soldiers).
- Together these elements account for more than 99 per cent of the mass of the Earth.
 More than 99 per cent of the mass of the Earth is accounted for (by these eleme ts).

The passive is much more than an order variation with an SVA pattern. It involves a structural
reorganization of the clause, and can be described as a systematic means of choosing a participant
other than the agent as the starting point for a message, without departing from the normal subject -
initial word order. The passive involves a restructuring of the clause, and thus it is not a simple order
variation. It takes two forms: the long passive where the agent is expressed in a by-phrase, and the
short passive where the agent is left unexpressed. The former, which is by far the more common,
involves condensation as well as structural reorganization. Passive and active constructions are by no
means equivalent, and their use varies widely depending upon the type of text.

Existential there

Clauses with be (and some other verbs chiefly denoting existence, appearance, or motion) often have
an anticipatory subject, the so-called existential there, in the ordinary subject position. This
construction serves to introduce new information, usually in the form of an indefinite noun phrase
later in the clause:

- There's a mark on this chair.

- There's always one that you don't like when you're working in a big group.

By using existential there rather than the ordinary SV pattern, it is possible to postpone (and thus
prepare the addressee for) new information, without departing from the normal SV order. Both
syntactic and textual requirements are then fulfilled.
Existential there is a formal device used, together with an intransitive verb, to predicate the existence
or occurrence of something (including the non-existence or non-occurrence of something). Most
typically, a clause with existential there has the following structure:

there + be + indefinite NP (+ place or time position adverbial).

1) A man goes in the pub. There's a bear sitting in the corner. He goes up to the bartender. He says,
why is there a bear sitting over there?
2) There are around 6,000 accidents in the kitchens of Northern Ireland homes every year.

The noun phrase following be is usually indefinite and referred to as the notional subject. Clauses
with existential there may be called existential clauses. The main discourse function of existential
clauses is to present new information. Existential clauses may contain verbs other than be, chiefly
intransitive verbs denoting existence or occurrence:

- Somewhere deep inside her [there] arose a desperate hope that he would embrace her.
- In such relations [there] exists a set of mutual obligations in the instrumental and economic fields.

The notional subject

The notional subject is typically an indefinite noun phrase, with a noun or an indefinite pronoun as
head. The noun phrase is often complex:

- [There] is something extra and a little heroic about him.

- [There] must be an enormous sense of isolation, of being aware of being let down.
- [There] is in fnct a formalism to hand which perfectly expresses the idea of superposition.

The head of the noun phrase may be followed by a non-finite clause:

- There's [a bear sitting in the corner].
A bear is sitting in the corner.
- There are [344 military plants being converted to peaceful uses].
344 military plants are being converted to peaceful uses.
- There are [two scales of temperature used in science].
Two scales of temperature are used in science.

These constructions can be viewed as expansions of a simple finite clause with the verb be as
progressive or passive auxiliary. They occur in all the registers and with a wide range of main verbs,
transitive as well as intransitive. The notional subject is occasionally a definite noun phrase or a
proper noun.

Extraposition

The dummy subject it is frequently used in the ordinary subject position, anticipating a finite or non-
finite clause in extraposition:

- It was hard to believe [that he had become this savage with the bare knife.]
[That he had become this savage with the bare knife] was hard to believe.
- It really hurts me [to be going away.]
[To be going away] really hurts me.

Dummy subject it may also be used to anticipate a following object clause where there is an
intervening obligatory clause element. In this case there is no alternative to extraposition:

- He found it hard [to believe that he had spent a day chasing after them like a madman with a knife.]
- We leave it to the reader [to appreciate what this will mean in due course.]

As with existential there, anticipatory it allows an organization where both syntactic and textual
requirements are fulfilled.

Clefting

Clefting is similar to dislocation in the sense that information that could be given in a single clause is
broken up, in this case into two clauses, each with its own verb. A clause can be clefted, i.e. divided
into two parts, each with its own verb. There are two main types:

it-cleft:

- It was a fibre tip refill that I was trying to get, but I didn't buy a fibre tip refill.
I was trying to get a fibre tip.

It-clefts consist of: the pronoun it, a form of the verb be optionally accompanied by the negator not
or an adverb such as only, the specially focused element (a noun phrase, a prepositional phrase, an
adverb phrase, or an adverbial clause, a relative-like dependent clause introduced by that,
wholwhich, or zero, whose last dement receives normal end-focus).

wh-cleft:

- What I want is a country of real opportunity where everyone is free to choose.

 I want a country of real opportunity.

Wh-clefts consist of: a clause introduced by a wh-word, usually what, with its own point of focus,
typically at its end, a form of the verb be, the specially focused dement (a noun phrase, an infinitive
clause, or a finite nominal clause).

Both cleft types are used to bring particular dements into additional focus, which may be contrastive.
The extra focused dement normally appears early in it-clefts and late in wh-clefts, a property which
means that these structures are also connected with information distribution and cohesion.