Theme and rheme theory divides any clause into two parts: the theme, which is the starting point or what the clause is about, and the rheme, which is the remainder of the clause that comments on or adds new information about the theme. The theme is often realized by the subject of the clause but can also be marked elements like objects or adverbials. Different types of clauses can have different unmarked themes, such as wh- words for interrogatives or the predicator for imperatives. Theme helps structure discourse and link ideas between sentences and paragraphs.

1. Department of Turkology and Language Theory
AL-FARABI KAZAKH NATIONAL UNIVERSITY
Functional English grammar (lecture)
April 5, 2023
Marina Zhambylkyzy

2. Theme and Rheme
Lecture 12

3. • Theme and Rheme
• Types of Theme
• Marked and Unmarked Themes
Theme and Rheme

4. Theme – rheme theory: a brief introduction
• The term “Theme” is first put forward by
Mathesius, a linguist of the Prague school and
developed by Halliday and many other
linguists.
• According to Mathesius, any sentence can be
semantically devided into parts: Theme and
Rheme.

5. Definitions Of Theme And Rheme
The main idea that you
are talking about and lets
the reader or listener
know what the clause
is going to be about.
What you say
about
the main idea.
Theme
Rheme

6. What is a Theme position?
• Refers to the main idea or message of a text.
... In a clause the theme comes in
first position and indicates what the sentence
is about.
• Theme is important at different levels of text
organisation.

7. Theme in the clause: Hallidayan Model
• Theme: “what the clause is about”
• In English, the first constituent of the
clause:
John loves Mary
Theme Rheme
Mary is loved by John
• The rest of the clause is called the Rheme

8. Theme in the clause: Berry’s Model
Theme Rheme
• Main difference in Berry’s model: Distinguishes
between:
– “Basic Theme” (the Subject)
– “Additional Theme” (any fronted Adjuncts)
On a clear day, you can see forever.
Add. Theme Basic Theme Rheme
Halliday:
On a clear day, you can see forever.
Berry:

9. A very important cohesive element at
discourse level (Fries, Martin)
The Theme/Rheme construct has been widely
studied in English over the last few years proving
to be a very important cohesive element at
discourse level (Fries, 1981, 1992, 1994, 1995;
Martin, 1992, 1995, inter alia).

10. Theme/Rheme
Theme/Rheme can be very helpful as a tool of
instruction for the teacher to evaluate L2 writing at
the level of the discourse.

11. Theme/Rheme (M.A.K. Halliday)
• Theme is the starting point of a clause; while the
remainder is the rheme. Theme is “the element which
serves as the point of departure of the message. It
introduces the main information to be conceived later
by the rheme (Halliday, 1985:38).

12. Theme/Rheme (M.A.K. Halliday)
• For M.A.K. Halliday, whose contribution to linguistics in
the form of systemic-functional grammar is having a
profound effect on how language is looked at, “the
textual function of the clause is that of constructing a
message” and the Theme/Rheme structure is the “basic
form of the organization of the clause as message’’
(Halliday, 1985: 53).

13. What is the difference between theme and
rheme?
• Theme is the starting point of a clause; while the
remainder is the rheme. Theme is “the element which
serves as the point of departure of the message. It
introduces the main information to be conceived later
by the rheme (Halliday, 1985:38).

14. Different from Topic and Given information
• Theme is considered to be a structural category realized
by clause initial position in English and different from
Topic and Given information (Halliday, 1970; Fries,
1981; Downing, 1991; inter alia), although they may be
conflated and thus represented by the same element in
the clause.

15. Topic and Given information
• Topic refers to the word or sentence, which states the
main subject of the work, i.e. the one with which the
entire work is related.
• Given information is information that is assumed by
the speaker to be known to, assumed by, or inferable by
the addressee at the time of the speaker's utterance,
because it is: common knowledge. part of the
extralinguistic context. previously established in the
discourse.

16. Topic and Given information
• Accordingly, Topic is a non-structural discourse
category which describes what a text is about
(Brown and Yule, 1983; van Oosten, 1986) and
Given/New information is a structural category
realized in English by focus placement in tone
units (Halliday, 1967, 1985; Downing & Locke,
1992).

17. Theme is the idea
• Theme’s main function to signal the relationship
between the thought in the speaker’s mind and its
expression in discourse (Vasconcellos, 1992:147), that
is, speakers/writers choose one element or another for
thematic position based on the thought they wish to
express and on how they wish to connect that thought
to the surrounding text.
• This same conception is shared by Thomas Bloor and
Meriel Bloor when they state that Theme in English is
the idea represented by the constituent at the starting
of the clause (1995:72).

18. Text’s THEMATIC PROGRESSION (Danes, 1974) or
METHOD OF DEVELOPMENT (Fries, 1981).
• Frantisek Danes and later on, Peter H. Fries have
claimed that the way in which lexical strings and
reference chains interact with Theme is not random;
rather the patterns of interaction realizes what they
refer to as a text’s THEMATIC PROGRESSION (Danes,
1974) or METHOD OF DEVELOPMENT (Fries, 1981).
• By thematic progression, Danes means “the choice and
ordering of utterance Themes, their mutual
concatenation and hierarchy, as well as their
relationship to the hyperthemes of the superior text
units (such as paragraph, chapter...). to the whole of
text, and to the situation” (Danes, 1974: 114).

19. First of all, Topic is a non-structural discourse category which
describes what the text is about (Brown and Yule, 1983; van
Oosten, 1986).
Theme is considered to be a structural category realized by
clause initial position in English (Halliday, 1994; Downing, 1991).
The traditional sentential characterization of Theme as the
starting point of the clause (Halliday 1967a, 1967b, 1970, 1994)
or as known information (Prague School) has been extended by
other researchers working within the systemic-functional frame-
work.

20. For example, Fries (1981/1983, 1992, 1994, 1995a, 1995b),
Martin (1992, 1995) and Berry (1996), among others, have
pointed out that Theme is not only a clause category, but fulfills
other roles in the structuring and the development of discourse.
For Brown and Yule (1983:133), Theme is not only the starting
point of the message, but it also has a role of connecting to
what has been already said. And its discourse function is to
orient “the listener/reader to the message that is about to be
perceived and provide a framework for the interpretation of
that message” (Fries, 1995a: 318).

21. Other researchers like Vasconcellos (1992) or López García (1994)
have approached the notion of Theme from a more cognitive
perspective since they establish a link between language and the
speaker’s perception of reality. Indeed, for Vasconcellos (1992),
the function of Theme is “to signal the relationship between the
thought in the speaker’s mind and its expression in discourse”
(ibid: 147).
She bases her conception of Theme on work done by Travnicek
(1962), who reached the conclusion that the principle of the
Theme flows from the relationship between the speaker’s object
of thought and its expression in text.
This same conception finds echo in Bloor and Bloor when they
state that Theme in English is the idea represented by the
constituent at the starting of the clause (1995:72).

22. THEMATIC PROGRESSION
Frantisek Danes proposes the following major patterns of
thematic progression:
• A) simple linear progression, where an item from the Rheme
of the first clause becomes the ‘theme of the subsequent
clause
• B) constant progression, where the item in the Theme of the
first clause is also selected as the theme of the following
clause
• C) derived hypertheniatic progression, where the particular
Themes in subsequent clauses are derived from a hyper
rheme or from the same overriding Theme:
• D) spl¡t progress¡on, where the Rheme of the first clause is
split into two items, each in turn being then taken as a Theme
element in the subsequent clause:

23. What is an example of a theme?
• Examples. Some common themes in literature
are "love," "war," "revenge," "betrayal,"
"patriotism," "grace," "isolation,"
"motherhood," "forgiveness," "wartime loss,"
"treachery," "rich versus poor," "appearance
versus reality," and "help from other-worldly
powers."

24. Theme examples:
Theme (in some sources, also “topic,”
“background,” or “presupposition”) is the
semantic point of departure of a clause (or more
broadly, discourse) about which some
information is provided:
1)Tom likes travelling.
2) Our friends have invited us.
Theme is often the subject of the sentence;
however, passive voice violates this rule.

25. What is a Rheme?
• The constituent of a sentence that adds most
new information, in addition to what has
already been said in the discourse.
The rheme is usually, but not always,
associated with the subject.

26. Rheme examples
Rheme (in some sources, also “comment,” “focus,” or
“pre dictation”) is the destination where the
presentation moves after the departure point:
3) Tom likes travelling.
4) Smoking is harmful for our health.
Structurally, rheme usually follows theme in English.
Theme – rheme relationship produce cohesion
(Bussmann, 1998) making parts of a sentence a
communicative whole.

27. Unmarked theme and marked theme
• Theme is divided into two sub-types, which
are unmarked theme and marked theme.
• In a declarative clause, an unmarked theme is
one that functions as the subject, while
a marked theme is referred to as something
else apart from the subject.

28. Types of Theme
Theme Rheme
Theme Rheme
.
Subject Theme (Unmarked theme)
I am writing a poem.
Adjunct Theme (Partially marked)
On a clear day, you can see forever.
Fronted Objects and Complements (Marked Themes)
Fish I like.
Letters I am writing to my friends.
Theme Rheme
Interpersonal Theme

29. Theme in different mood of a clause
Theme in
declarative
sentences
Theme in
exclamative
clauses
Theme in
interrogative
sentences
Theme in
imperative
sentences

30. Theme in declarative sentences
- Unmarked (Theme = Subject)
a.The two Indians stood waiting.
b.The Indian who was rowing them was working very hard.
c.Of course it’s an accident.
- Marked (Theme =/Subject): A Theme that is something other than the subject, in a
declarative clause, we shall refer to as a marked theme.
a.Across the bay they found the other boat.
b.What she had felt he never knew.
The most usual form of marked Theme is an adverbial group, such
as today, suddenly…, or prepositional phrase, such as at night, in the
corner, without much hope, functioning as adjunct in the clause.

31. Theme in exclamative clauses
Theme in exclamative clauses: WH-element
as Theme, normally nominal group
oradverbial group functions as exclamative
(WH-) element.
How cheerfully
he seems to grin!
What tremendously
easy questions
you ask!

32. Theme in interrogative sentences
in here
The natural theme of a question is‘what I want to know’.
Polarity (yes/no) questions: unmarked Theme = finite + Subject (What the speaker
wants toknow is the polarity ‘yes or no?’). Normally, the first word (finite operator)
of verbal group together with nominal group functions as Subject.
a. Are you interested in Syntax?
b. Would you like a cup of tea?
Wh-questions: unmarked Theme = Wh-word (What the speaker wants to know is
theidentity of some element in the content.) Nominal group, adverbial group or
prepositionalphrase functions as interrogative (WH-) element
a. What are you doing here?
b. Then, in the name of goodness, why does she bother?
c. Which platform does it leave from?
Marked Theme choices are relatively rare with questions, please see the
following sentence.
After the party, where did you go?

33. Theme in imperative sentences
The imperative is the only type of clause in which the
Predicator (the verb) is regularly found as Theme. Verbal group
functions as Predicator, pluspreceding don’t if negative.
a. Wake me up before the coffee break.
b. Don’t disturb me while I’m taking a nap.
c. Let’s have a look at this recipe.
d. Please stop it.

34. Theme in clause complexes
As the universe expended, the temperature
of the radiation
decreased.
Theme Rheme
As the universe expended, the temperature of the radiation decreased.
There are two different ways of analysing of the dependent
clause and each captures differentaspect of what is going
on.
Theme Rheme Theme Rheme

35. Textual theme, functioning to relate
the meaning of the particular clause
to other parts of the text.
Multiple Themes
Interpersonal theme, often functioning to
code the speaker’s or writer’s personal
judgement on meaning.
Topical/Ideational theme, functioning as the
point of orientation for the experiential
meanings of the clause.

36. Textual Theme
Halliday & Matthiessen (2014:107-108) state
that Textual Theme is any combination of
Contituative, Conjunction, and Conjunctive
Adjunct.

37. Interpersonal Theme
According to Paltridge (2006:147),
“Interpersonal Theme refers to an item that
comes before Rheme which indicates the
relation between the participants in the text, or
the position or point of view that is being taken
in the clause.” This may include vocative,
modal/comment adjuncts, and finite verbal
operators (Halliday & Matthiessen, 2014:108).

38. What is interpersonal theme?
• Interpersonal theme: it is an item that shows
a point f view on the content of the remainder
of the clause. ...
• The interpersonal theme in the clause is
mostly realized by a set of lexical items which
indicates the speaker's comment on the
ideational content of the clause.

39. Ideational/topical Theme
Topical Theme is the theme of a clause that
ends with the first constituent that is either
participants, circumstances, or processes
(Halliday & Matthiessen, 2014:105). This type of
theme is presented by a nominal group (e.g.,
everyone), a prepositional phrase (e.g., on
Saturday night), or an adverbial group (e.g.,
merrily).

42. Conclusion
• We believe Theme is the point where the
thought in the speaker’s mind meets with the
preceding discourse and initiates “the semantic
journey” (Davies, 1997) throughout the
discourse.
• Theme plays a very important role in the
structuring of discourse and should be taken
into account by teachers of L2 writing.