GRAMMAR III

ASSIGNMENT 1:
THEME – THEMATIC PROGRESSION – METHOD OF DEVELOPMENT

The assignment is to be done in pairs and both students should work on it jointly and are equally
responsible for the end product. The assignment will be handed in a single word-file (so
comments can be made) with same font, indentation and formatting throughout. Assignments
which are the result of simply cutting and pasting the work done separately by each of the students
won’t be accepted. Both should read and edit the complete assignment for grammar, spelling,
expression and analysis. The text or texts used for analysis are to be sent in the same or a separate
file, with numbered lines. Please include the instructions in your work.
The Assignment is due on Thursday, July 6th and is to be sent via mail so as not to overload the
platform. I appreciate your following these instructions closely and your including them in your work.

SECTION A: THEME-RHEME ANALYSIS

Preparatory tasks

1. Select a text with as many different kinds of mood as possible (declarative, interrogative (yes-no and
wh-interrogative questions), imperative, exclamatory clauses, or most of these) and similar in length to
the ones analysed in class (15 clauses in all). If the text is longer, analyse the most interesting
paragraphs and see to it they amount to 15 clauses or around that number. Interviews, narrative plus
dialogic passages in fiction, dialogic passages from advanced EFL textbooks, songs, sitcom or film
scripts, news-articles, opinion-articles, speeches, etc. will make good choices of texts if they have a
variety of moods in their clauses. Try to look for texts which, to your knowledge, are not known to your
classmates and if you happen to know some other pair has chosen the same text you chose, you are
not to engage in consultation with them, or any other classmates for that matter. Evidence of
consultation with other pairs or of use of assignments handed in by students in previous years will
force us to give a non-passing grade.

2. Segment the text or text-excerpt into clauses and number each of them. (3p)
3. Have in mind that you will not be analysing Theme and Rheme in embedded clauses; still you need
to identify them when segmenting the text and signal them as usual by enclosing them in double
brackets. (2p) Analysis tasks
4. Identify Theme and Rheme in each of the clauses in the excerpt you choose. Be sure you analyse
clauses representing different kinds of moods – declarative, interrogative, imperative and exclamatory.
The clauses should also contain Multiple and Single themes and Marked and Unmarked themes and
dependent clauses as marked theme in clause-complex initial position. Remember to make the double
analysis in the case of hypotactic clause complexes with dependent clauses in initial position. Ideally
the clauses should be part of the same section of the text, but you can choose clauses from different
sections of the text or different texts for Mod and Theme type variety if necessary. Only make sure
that the core of your analysis is a passage you can comment on. If some of the clauses you analyse
are isolated clauses, please include the previous and next clauses without analysing them so we
understand the analysis (35p).

SECTION B: THEMATIC PROGRESSION

5. Identify patterns of Thematic Progression in a paragraph or two paragraphs (10 clauses in all) in the
text you chose for task 4, show them diagrammatically (15p), and comment on why those patterns
have been chosen or what effect they have on the way the text is structured throughout or at different
points (15p).

SECTION C: METHOD OF DEVELOPMENT

7. Select three different short texts or sections of text illustrating three different methods of
development. One or more of the sections could be drawn from the text you chose to do tasks 4 and 5
(30p) Comment on how the method is achieved through theme selections, and also comment in more
theoretical terms what type of text each of those methods is used in and why.

SECTION A: THEME - RHEME ANALYSIS

(extract taken from the short story “ The Necklace” by Guy Maupassant)
//She took off the garments (1)//in which she had wrapped her shoulders(2), // so as to see herself in all her
glory before the mirror(3)//.But suddenly she uttered a cry.(4)// The necklace was no longer round her neck!
(5)//

//“ What`s the matter with you?(6)// asked her husband,(7) //already half undressed.(8)//

//She turned towards him in the utmost distress(9).//

//“I….I….I`ve no longer got Madame Forestier's necklace….”(10)//

//He started with astonishment.(11)//

//“What!.(12)//..//Impossible!”(13)//

//They searched in the folds of her dress, in the folds of the coat, in the pocket everywhere.(14) //They
could not find it.(15)//

//“ Are you sure {{that you still had it on}}//(16)when you came away from the ball”(17)// he asked.(18)//

//“Yes, I touched it in the hall at the Ministry(19)//”.

//“But if you had lost it in the street,// we should have heard it fall.(21)//

//“Yes(22)//. Probably we should.(23)// Did you take the number of the cab?(24)//

//“No///. You didn't notice it,// did you?//

Nº TEXTUAL INTERPERSONAL TOPICAL MARKED/ RHEME

UNMARKED

1 she unmarked took off garments

2 in which she unmarked had ……...her shoulders.

4 But suddenly she unamrked uttered a cry

6 what is the matter with you?

 21. marked
Hypotactic
clause But if you we should have heard it
had lost it in fall
the street,

21.a But if you unmarked had lost it in the street,

21.b we unmarked should have heard it fall.

24 Did you unmarked take the………of the cab?

SECTION B: THEMATIC PROGRESSION

( text taken from the book “English Plus 2” , student´s book, page 55, Oxford)

/// 1 Agatha Christie was a British writer./// 2She was born in England in 1890 // 3 and died there in 1976.///
4 She first started writing // 5when she was sixteen./// 6Later, when she was a nurse,// 7 she had the idea
for a detective story //8 and she published her first novel in 1920./// 9 She was a very shy person,// 10so
she was happier to stay in and write than to meet people./// 11Agatha Christie eventually became one of
the most popular writers in history./// 12 She wrote more than sixty novels, // as well as plays and poetry //
13 and sold more than two million books./// 14 There are translations of her books in more than 100
languages./// 15 People love her work // 16because the characters and the mysteries are so interesting.///
DIAGRAM:

Clause 1: Theme A ( Agatha Chritie) Rheme

Clause 2: theme A (She ) Rheme

Clause 3: theme A ( and she) Rheme

Clause 4: theme A (she) Rheme

Clause 5: theme A ( when she) Rheme

Clause 6: theme A (later , when she) Rheme

CONSTANT THEME
Clause 7: theme A ( she) Rheme PATTERN

Clause 8: Theme A ( she) Rheme

Clause 9: theme A (she) rheme

Clause 10: theme A ( so she) Rheme

Clause 11: Theme A ( Agatha Christie) rheme

Clause 12: Theme A ( she ) Rheme

Clause 13: Theme A (and she) Rheme

Clause 14: Theme B (There are ) RHEME DERIVED

THEME
Clause 15: Theme C ( People) Rheme: love her work PATTERN

Clause 16:Theme D ( The characters and the mysteries) Rheme: are so interesting.
ANALYSIS:

In our opinion, there are two theme patterns in this text. The first one, which is present in most part of the
text is the constant theme pattern. This pattern is found in biographical extracts such as the one above
about Agatha Christie. This is an informative text which tells the reader true facts about the author´s life and
achievements. So, all the elements use as theme refer to the person with her personal name, Agatha
Christie, or the substitution of this with the personal pronoun “SHE” as unmarked themes. Consequently,
there are not interpersonal themes. Moreover, there are textual themes such as: and; while; when use to
join clauses or add information about the author´s life. Towards the end of the text, in clauses 14 and 15,
we consider that the writer includes the derived pattern to introduce true important facts about Christies
‘work. In these clauses the writer introduces new information about how people feel about Agatha’s books
and the popularity of these books in many languages. The writer does this through existential there in
theme position and the collective noun “PEOPLE”. In addition to this, towards the end, the author
introduces one final idea with a hypotactic clause. Although the theme of this clause: THE CHARACTERS
AND THE MYSTERIES makes reference to the rheme of the previous one: HER WORKS, we did not
consider it as a linear theme because it is only one isolated case and not a repetitive pattern in the text.

SECTION C: METHOD OF DEVELOPMENT

(TEXT EXTRACTED FROM THE LOUVRE MUSEUM INSTAGRAM ACCOUNT, 3 JULY,2021)

The method of development used in this text is the Meronymic method. This method is appropriate in this
case because the purpose is to describe a piece of art, in this case “The Goddess Dawn”. The method is
achieved through some unmarked themes that make reference to the parts of the statue that is being
descripted. For example: “..her entire body…” ; “ …her tunic….” . There is also, a marked theme realized by
an extended close with a long nominal group : “the flapping drapery with……….folds also” , this elements
are used in the text to make the reader perceive in detailed all the aspects of the sculpture. The Meronymic
method makes reference to whole , as an entity, in this case “ The Goddess Down” and its parts; her body,
her tunic, her arms, etc
The method used in this text is the
chronological method. This method
is present in the text because it
expresses the origins of animated
movies and how they developed in
time. This method is achieved
through circumstances of time such
as: “ In 1880´s.. ; in 1885; in the
1920´s”. These elements are
located in thematic position as
marked theme providing an
orientation or chronology of how the
events happened. This method is
typical in biographies, and historical
recounts as the one that we have
here.
The chronological method is
sometimes confused with the
sequential method. The main
difference between them is that in
the first one we may have dates
signaling the order of events; and in
the second one, the order of events
is reference with: now, then, later,
etc

( Text was extracted from the class

book: English plus 2, second edition,
Oxford)
The method used in this text is the Sequential method. This method is typically found in instructional texts
that give directions in order to achieve a final product. Such is the case of this smoothie recipe. This
method is achieved in the text by Acons. that indicate sequence in time as textual themes, for example:
Next, and. The sequential order of elements is achieved through imperative clauses with unmarked
themes.

We finished!!
Sofía vega
Cecilia Serpa