Theme and

RhemeBy: Adip Arifin

NIM. 2003512046

•Definitions•Types of Theme•Pedagogical Implication

The Goals

Definition• Gerot and Wignell (1994:103)

Theme as the element(s) which come(s) first in the clause, and the rest of the clause is called rheme.

• Thornbury (2005: 38) What the sentence is about (its topic) and what the writer or speaker wants to tell you about the topic (the comment)

• Theme is the given information serving as “the point of departure of a message”. (Halliday and Matthiensen (2004:64)

• Rheme is the remainder of the message in a clause which Theme is developed (Halliday and Hasan, 2004: 64-65).

Example:

I come from down in the valley

themerheme

Theme/ topic(Starting point)

Rheme/ comment (new information)

Our dog, Rufus limped into the room.

His back paw was red with infection

but he forgot all about it.

When he was distracted by the snarling cat

he began to chase her

but his paw prevented him.

It was throbbing painfully.

He whimpered

and (he) turned to Sammy for comfort and attention.

Theme types

Ideational

Interpersonal

Textual

Ideational theme• Unmarked topical themes

Nominal group as themee.g.: Jack went up the hill.Nominal group complex as Themee.g.: Jack and Jill went up the hill.Embedded clause e.g.: (What Jack and Jill did) was go up the hill.

• Marked topical themes Adverbial as theme

e.g.: Down Jack fell. Prepositional phrase as theme e.g.: Up the hill Jack and Jill went. Complement as theme

e.g.: His crown he broke.

Textual themes• Continuatives as Theme (well, right,

OK, now, anyway, of course, etc)e.g.: Well, anyway, we arrived on time.

• Connective as Theme (moreover, furthermore, on the other hand, etc)

e.g.: Moreover, Mr. Johnson, the problem itself is simply too complex to solve now.

Interpersonal Theme• Vocative as Theme

e.g.: Dearly beloved we are gathered here today.

Sweety, we decided to wait until next week.

• Process as Themee.g.: Give me that book, please.

Pedagogical Implications• The system of Theme and Rheme provides

important ways in which textual meanings at the clause level may be established.

• Theme-Rheme structure allows information to flow from one clause to another smoothly.

• The logical flow helps create cohesiveness of the text.

Thank you…