17.3. Organising information - Order and emphasis - Unit seventeen. Focusing

The Communicative Grammar of English Workbook - Edward Woods, Rudy Coppieters 2002

17.3. Organising information - Order and emphasis
Unit seventeen. Focusing

Sections 411-414

Instead of the subject, you can make another element the topic, by moving it to the front of the sentence. This shift gives the element a kind of psychological prominence, and has three different effects:

(i) Emphatic topic

(ii) Contrastive topic

(ii) Semi-given topic.

Task one **

Indicate which type of topic is fronted in the following sentences - Underline the fronted element E- emphatic topic; C-contrastive topic; S-semi-given topic.

  1. Some awful films they have recommended.
  2. Poor they may be, but they are generous to a fault.
  3. Most of this work an assistant should do.
  4. Some days he works very late, but others he’s home by lunch-time.
  5. Hard work you say it is!
  6. Not many people want to live in an old property; but new houses in a traditional style, buyers are willing to pay a lot for.
  7. Stupid he isn’t, but he’s often careless.
  8. Romantic novels you can buy cheaply; serious works you must pay a lot for.
  9. You’re diving straight into the pool. This I must see.
  10. I’m good at remembering people’s names. Street names I always forget, though.

Task two **

Rewrite the following sentences so that the part underlined is the topic of the sentence. State what kind of topic it is.

  1. They just don’t look afterthat catproperly.
  2. The company has already put into practicethese new working conditions.
  3. They showsome foreign films, but they don’t showthe really important ones.
  4. He may bevery clever, but he isn’tpractical.
  5. She behavedin a very strange wayat the meeting.
  6. They painted the house an awful colour,didn’t they?
  7. His speech at the funeral offendeda lot of people.
  8. I don’t understandthe reason for this celebration.
  9. They gave the money to her; but they gave the paintingto him.
  10. The management looked intothe problems you’re speaking aboutlast week.

Task three ***

Rewrite the following letter freely, making the following elements of the story into topics: i.e. subject or fronted topics:

story structure

shifts between characters

name of main character

movement of characters in the story

descriptions

the philosophy

opportunity for others

Dear Edward,

Many thanks for giving me a chance to read your story. I think it is of importance to all people like us and most will find it reflects their own experience. I was very impressed by the structure of the story. I liked the way the story shifted back and forth between the two protagonists and, because of this, shifted between the seasons to show the development of the main character. I was a bit frightened by the introductory monologue. I think this was because I am shy of exposing myself and you had written this in the first person. I was relieved when I discovered you had called the character Tim. I liked the way the characters moved in and out of the story reflecting the parallels of experience.

I also liked the way you described the town, the sea and the vineyard. I could imagine myself there, especially by the sea and in the vineyard. I found the philosophy underpinning the story interesting. There is never a beginning. Where we think there is a beginning, it is really a development of ideas and events that have gone before. You conveyed this brilliantly.

Well done, Edward. Many thanks again for letting me read this. I hope others will have this opportunity. Your story has a lot to say.

Yours,

Ivan