1.
Thematic Structure : Theme and Rheme
One way of explaining the
interactional organization of sentences is to suggest that a clause consists of
two segments. The first segment is called the theme. The theme is what
the clause is about. It has two functions: (a) it acts as a point of orientation
by connecting back to previous stretches of discourse and thereby maintaining a
coherent point of view, (b) it acts as a point of departure by connecting
forward and contributing to the development of later stretches. In Ptolemy’s
model provided a reasonably accurate system for predicting the positions of
heavenly bodies in the sky, the theme is Ptolemy’s model. This is
what the clause is about.
