an analysis of clause expansion in two thanksgiving day gentlemen based on systemic functional grammar and suggestions for teaching writing = phân tích về cú mở rộng trong tác phẩm hai quý ông trong ngày lễ tạ ơn

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY - HANOI
UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES
DEPARTMENT OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES

NGUYỄN THUỲ LINH

AN ANALYSIS OF CLAUSE EXPANSION
IN ‘TWO THANKSGIVING DAY GENTLEMEN’
BASED ON SYSTEMIC FUNCTIONAL GRAMMAR AND
SUGGESTIONS FOR TEACHING WRITING

Phân tích về cú mở rộng
trong tác phẩm ‘Hai quý ông trong ngày Lễ Tạ ơn’
dựa trên quan điểm Ngữ pháp Chức năng Hệ thống
và một số gợi ý trong giảng dạy viết

M.A. MINOR THESIS

FIELD: ENGLISH LINGUISTICS
CODE: 60 22 15

HA NOI - 2010


VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY - HANOI
UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES
DEPARTMENT OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES

NGUYỄN THUỲ LINH

AN ANALYSIS OF CLAUSE EXPANSION

IN ‘TWO THANKSGIVING DAY GENTLEMEN’
BASED ON SYSTEMIC FUNCTIONAL GRAMMAR AND
SUGGESTIONS FOR TEACHING WRITING

Phân tích về cú mở rộng
trong tác phẩm ‘Hai quý ông trong ngày Lễ Tạ ơn’
dựa trên quan điểm Ngữ pháp Chức năng Hệ thống
và một số gợi ý trong giảng dạy viết

M.A. MINOR THESIS

FIELD: ENGLISH LINGUISTICS
CODE: 60 22 15
SUPERVISOR: PHẠM THỊ THANH THUỶ, M.A.

HA NOI - 2010


TABLE OF CONTENTS
Page
Acknowledgement

i

Table of Contents

ii

Chapter I: INTRODUCTION
1.1. Rationale of the study

1

1.2. Aims of the study

2

1.3. Scope of the study

2

1.4. Methods of the study

3

1.5. Design of the study

3

Chapter II: THEORETICAL BACKGROUND
2.1. O‘ Henry and his work

5

2.1.1. O‘ Henry

5

2.1.2. O‘ Henry‗s stories

8

2.1.3. Two Thanksgiving Day Gentlemen

10

2.2. Systemic Functional Grammar & Clause

11

2.2.1. Systemic Functional Grammar & Its Three Metafunctions

11

2.2.2. Clause

14

2.3. Above the Clause: the Clause Complex

14

2.3.1. Clause Complex and Sentence

14

2.3.2. Parataxis and Hypotaxis

15

2.3.3. Projection and Expansion

16

a. Expansion

16

b. Projection

18

2.4. Summary

18

Chapter III: EXPANSION IN “TWO THANKSGIVING DAY GENTLEMEN”
AND SOME SUGGESTIONS IN TEACHING WRITING
3.1. Expansion in ―Two Thanksgiving Day Gentlemen‖ by O‘Henry

20

3.1.1. Clause Complexes in ‗Two Thanksgiving Day Gentlemen‘

20

3.1.2. Expansion in ‗Two Thanksgiving Day Gentlemen‘

21

3.1.3. Conjunctions for Expansion in ‗Two Thanksgiving Day Gentlemen‘ 32
3.2. Some Suggestions for Teaching Writing

36

Chapter IV: CONCLUSION
4.1. Recapitulation

41

4.2. Limitations of the study and Suggestions for Further Research

41

REFERENCES

43

APPENDIX 1

I

APPENDIX 2

VI

APPENDIX 3

XI

CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION

1.1. Rationale of the Study
The world has seemed to become smaller and smaller together with the process of
globalization which is considered natural. People around the world need to know one
common language to communicate and that language now is obviously English. English
has been used as an international language - a tool for numerous economic, cultural and
social activities worldwide.
Realizing the importance of the language, English has been put in Vietnamese
schools for a long time. With this action, the movement of learning English has been
blooming in all areas of the country, from the North to the South. However, it seems that in
primary and high schools, more attention has been paid on grammar and reading skill than
on any other ones such as writing, speaking and listening. Fortunately, learners have
recently paid more attention to speaking and listening because they need these two to
communicate well. Then, how about their writing skill?
As an instructor at the Faculty of Foreign Languages of Thai Nguyen University, I
was many times disappointed when receiving students‘ writings with simple errors. A
majority of these errors are not grammatical ones. This means students do not meet many
difficulties with tenses or structures of noun phrases, verb phrases or prepositional phrase.
Most of their mistakes lie on higher structures. Many of them are confused about relations
between clauses: how to connect them together, whether it should be one sentence with
one clause or one sentence with two clause, etc. The thought of providing a theoretical
framework for instructors and first year students to apply into studying writing skill is the
main reason for this paper.
The story ―Two Thanksgiving Day Gentlemen‖ by O. Henry is chosen to analyze.
Any stories can be the material for analyzing, but I find this one particularly interesting so
I choose it for the thesis. Students can take O. Henry‘s way of writing as example to
compare and correct their own writings (especially the ways to connect clauses in one

sentence).


O. Henry is a well-known American writer to Vietnamese. Many people have read
his famous short story – The Last Leaf. Personally, I am interested in his stories not only
because of the simple way of writing, surprising endings but also because of the humanity
that we can sense through them. ―Two Thanksgiving Day Gentlemen‖ is really a moving
short story which is worth reading. That is the reason why the story is chosen in this
analysis but not others.

1.2. Aims of the Study
Within the framework of a minor M.A. thesis, the study attempts to:
- provide an overview of O.Henry and his work;
- re-examine some of the most important issues related to Functional Grammar;
- analyze the case of expansion in the story ―Two Thanksgiving Day Gentlemen‖
by O. Henry;
- offer some suggestions for teaching writing clause complex for first year students
at Thai Nguyen Faculty of Foreign Languages.

1.3. Scope of the Study
This study is hoped to help students improve their writing skills. It seems to be a
very big challenge. Thus, in order to make the task manageable in keeping with the aims of
the paper, there are some limitations:
- Only issues relating to clause complex are taken into consideration because
students often make mistakes with these.
- The approach of grammar used to analyze in the paper is Systemic Functional
Grammar developed by M.A.K Halliday because of its clear system and easiness
to understand as applied into the analysis.
- Only one short story of O. Henry, Two Thanksgiving Day Gentlemen, is
discussed due to the time constraints, knowledge restriction, and also the scope

of an M.A. thesis.
- Students mentioned in the study are all first year ones from Faculty of Foreign
Languages of Thai Nguyen University.


1.4. Methods of the Study
As the title of this the study has suggested, the following steps should be taken so
as to make full analysis of the research paper.
Firstly, the original of ―Two Thanksgiving Day Gentlemen‖ by O. Henry will be
searched on some famous and reliable websites for reading. There are some versions from
Bookworm or A Ladder Edition, in which the story was re-written in simpler ways to meet
with different reading levels of readers. However, in this paper we would analyze the
original one by O. Henry through which his ways of writing complex clauses can be seen
better.
Secondly, related issues such as Systemic Functional Grammar, Clause and
especially notions about Clause Complex in the light of Functional Grammar will be made
clear. This would make it easier for readers to understand when the analysis of the story is
shown.
Thirdly, ―Two Thanksgiving Day Gentlemen‖ will be analyzed in order to see what
kind of expansion and what devices to connect clauses the author used in his writing.
Finally, the results of the analysis and difficulties in studying writing of first year
students will be discussed in details to come to the suggestions about teaching writing for
students in Faculty of Foreign Languages of Thai Nguyen University.
In order to achieve the goals of the study, two successive methods will be applied
for better research results. They are descriptive and analytical. The general research
methodology adopted in the paper is inductive.

1. 5. Design of the Study
This thesis is designed in five chapters.
Chapter one, Introduction, presents the rationale for choosing the topic, the aims,

scope of the study and methods to be applied in the paper.
Chapter two, Theoretical Background, provides a careful examination of the
fundamental, theoretical concepts and necessary knowledge as those about the author O‘
Henry, issues about Systemic Functional Grammar, Clause Complex, which are relevant to
the purposes of this study.


Entitled Expansion in “Two Thanksgiving Day Gentlemen” and Suggestions in
Teaching Writing, chapter three, which is the focus of the study, is aimed at describing the
ways clauses are linked in a sentence. This part is further divided into three sections. Each
section describes one aspect of expansion found in the stories. After analyzing cases of
expansion found, some suggestions for teaching writing for first year students are given
out, applying expansion relationship.
The last chapter, Conclusion, is set up to summarize the whole paper and provide
some suggestions for further research.


CHAPTER II: THEORETICAL BACKGROUND
2.1. O. Henry and his work
2.1.1 O. Henry
O. Henry was the penname of William Sidney Porter who was born on September
11, 1862, in Greensboro, North Carolina. His middle name at birth was Sidney; he changed
the spelling to Sydney in 1898. His parents were Dr. Algernon Sidney Porter (1825–1888),
a physician, and Mary Jane Virginia Swaim Porter (1833–1865). They were married April
20, 1858. When William was three, his mother died from tuberculosis, so he and his father
moved into the home of his paternal grandmother. As a child, Porter was always reading.
He read everything from classics to dime novels. His favorite work was One Thousand and
One Nights.
Porter graduated from his aunt Evelina Maria Porter's elementary school in 1876.
He then enrolled at the Lindsey Street High School. His aunt continued to tutor him until

he was fifteen. In 1879, he started working in his uncle's drugstore and in 1881, at the age
of nineteen, he was licensed as a pharmacist. At the drugstore, he also showed off his
natural artistic talents by sketching the townsfolk.
Porter traveled with Dr. James K. Hall to Texas in March 1882, hoping that a
change of air would help alleviate a persistent cough he had developed. He took up
residence on the sheep ranch of Richard Hall, James' son, in La Salle County and helped
out as a shepherd, ranch hand, cook and baby-sitter. While on the ranch, he learned bits of
Spanish and German from the mix of immigrant ranch hands. He also spent time reading
classic literature. Porter's health did improve and he traveled with Richard to Austin in
1884, where he decided to remain and was welcomed into the home of the Harrells, who
were friends of Richard's. Porter took a number of different jobs over the next several
years, first as pharmacist then as a draftsman, bank teller and journalist. He also began
writing as a sideline.
Porter led an active social life in Austin, including membership in singing and
drama groups. Porter was a good singer and musician. He played both the guitar and
mandolin. He became a member of the "Hill City Quartet," a group of young men who
sang at gatherings and serenaded young women of the town. Porter met and began courting


Athol Estes, who was seventeen years old and from a wealthy family. Her mother objected
to the match because Athol was ill, suffering from tuberculosis. On July 1, 1887, Porter
eloped with Athol to the home of Reverend R. K. Smoot, where they were married.
The couple continued to participate in musical and theater groups, and Athol
encouraged her husband to pursue his writing. Athol gave birth to a son in 1888, who died
hours after birth, and then a daughter, Margaret Worth Porter, in September 1889. Porter's
friend Richard Hall became Texas Land Commissioner and offered Porter a job. Porter
started as a draftsman at the Texas General Land Office (GLO) in 1887 at a salary of $100
a month, drawing maps from surveys and field notes. The salary was enough to support his
family, but he continued his contributions to magazines and newspapers.
In the GLO building, he began developing characters and plots for such stories as

"Georgia's Ruling" (1900), and "Buried Treasure" (1908). The castle-like building he
worked in was even woven into some of his tales such as "Bexar Scrip No. 2692" (1894).
His job at the GLO was a political appointment by Hall. Hall ran for governor in the
election of 1890 but lost. Porter resigned in early 1891 when the new governor was sworn
in. In the same year, Porter began working at the First National Bank of Austin as a teller
and bookkeeper at the same salary he had made at the GLO. The bank was operated
informally and Porter had trouble keeping track of his books. In 1894, he was accused by
the bank of embezzlement and lost his job but was not indicted. He then worked full time
on his humorous weekly called The Rolling Stone, which he started while working at the
bank. The Rolling Stone featured satire on life, people and politics and included Porter's
short stories and sketches. Although eventually reaching a top circulation of 1500, The
Rolling Stone failed in April 1895, perhaps because of Porter's poking fun at powerful
people. Porter also may have ceased publication as the paper never provided the money he
needed to support his family. By then, his writing and drawings caught the attention of the
editor at the Houston Post.
Porter and his family moved to Houston in 1895, where he started writing for the
Post. His salary was only $25 a month, but it rose steadily as his popularity increased.
Porter gathered ideas for his column by hanging out in hotel lobbies and observing and
talking to people there. This was a technique he used throughout his writing career. While
he was in Houston, the First National Bank of Austin was audited and the federal auditors
found several discrepancies. They managed to get a federal indictment against Porter.


Porter was subsequently arrested on charges of embezzlement, charges which he denied, in
connection with his employment at the bank.
Porter's father-in-law posted bail to keep Porter out of jail, but the day before Porter
was due to stand trial on July 7, 1896, he fled, first to New Orleans and later to Honduras.
While holed up in a Tegucigalpa hotel for several months, he wrote Cabbages and Kings,
in which he coined the term "banana republic" to describe the country, subsequently used
to describe almost any small, unstable tropical nation in Latin America. Porter had sent

Athol and Margaret back to Austin to live with Athol's parents. Unfortunately, Athol
became too ill to meet Porter in Honduras as Porter planned. When he learned that his wife
was dying, Porter returned to Austin in February 1897 and surrendered to the court,
pending an appeal. Once again, Porter's father-in-law posted bail so Porter could stay with
Athol and Margaret.
Athol Estes Porter died on July 25, 1897 from tuberculosis (then known as
consumption). Porter, having little to say in his own defense, was found guilty of
embezzlement in February 1898, sentenced to five years jail, and imprisoned on March 25,
1898, as federal prisoner 30664 at the Ohio Penitentiary in Columbus, Ohio. While in
prison, Porter, as a licensed pharmacist, worked in the prison hospital as the night druggist.
Porter was given his own room in the hospital wing, and there is no record that he actually
spent time in the cell block of the prison. He had fourteen stories published under various
pseudonyms while he was in prison, but was becoming best known as "O. Henry", a
pseudonym that first appeared over the story "Whistling Dick's Christmas Stocking" in the
December 1899 issue of McClure's Magazine. A friend of his in New Orleans would
forward his stories to publishers, so they had no idea the writer was imprisoned. Porter was
released on July 24, 1901, for good behavior after serving three years. Porter reunited with
his daughter Margaret, now aged 11, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where Athol's parents
had moved after Porter's conviction. Margaret was never told that her father had been in
prison - just that he had been away on business.
Porter's most prolific writing period started in 1902, when he moved to New York
City to be near his publishers. While there, he wrote 381 short stories. He wrote a story a
week for over a year for the New York World Sunday Magazine. His wit, characterization
and plot twists were adored by his readers, but often panned by critics. Porter married
again in 1907, to childhood sweetheart Sarah (Sallie) Lindsey Coleman, whom he met


again after revisiting his native state of North Carolina. However, despite the success of his
short stories being published in magazines and collections (or perhaps because of the
attendant pressure that success brought), Porter drank heavily.

His health began to deteriorate in 1908, which affected his writing. Sarah left him
in 1909, and Porter died on June 5, 1910, of cirrhosis of the liver, complications of
diabetes and an enlarged heart. After funeral services in New York City, he was buried in
the Riverside Cemetery in Asheville, North Carolina. His daughter, Margaret Worth
Porter, died in 1927 and was buried with her father.

2.1.2 O. Henry‟s stories
O. Henry stories are famous for their surprising endings, to the point that such an
ending is often referred to as an "O. Henry‘s ending." He was called the American answer
to Guy de Maupassant. Both authors wrote twist endings, but O. Henry‘s stories were
much more playful and optimistic. His stories are also well known for witty narration.
Most of O. Henry's stories are set in his own time, the early years of the 20th century.
Many take place in New York City, and deal for the most part with ordinary people: clerks,
policemen, waitresses….
Fundamentally a product of his time, O. Henry's work provides one of the best
English examples of catching the entire flavor of an age. Whether roaming the cattle-lands
of Texas, exploring the art of the "gentle grafter," or investigating the tensions of class and
wealth in turn-of-the-century New York, O. Henry had an inimitable hand for isolating
some element of society and describing it with an incredible economy and grace of
language. Some of his best and least-known work resides in the collection Cabbages and
Kings, a series of stories which each explores some individual aspects of life in a
paralytically sleepy Central American town while each advancing some aspects of the
larger plot and relating back one to another in a complex structure which slowly explicates
its own background even as it painstakingly erects a town which is one of the most detailed
literary creations of the period.
The Four Million is another collection of stories. It opens with a reference to Ward
McAllister's assertion that there were only 'Four Hundred' people in New York City who
were really worth noticing. To O. Henry, everyone in New York counted. He had an

obvious affection for the city and many of his stories are set there—but others are set in
small towns and in other cities.
Among his most famous stories are:
* "The Gift of the Magi" is about a young couple who are short of money but
desperately want to buy each other Christmas gifts. Unbeknownst to Jim, Della sells her
most valuable possession, her beautiful hair, in order to buy a platinum fob chain for Jim's
watch; while unbeknownst to Della, Jim sells his own most valuable possession, his watch,
to buy jeweled combs for Della's hair. The essential premise of this story has been copied,
re-worked, parodied, and otherwise re-told countless times in the century since it was
written.
* "The Ransom of Red Chief" is the story in which two men kidnap a boy of ten.
The boy turns out to be so bratty and obnoxious that the desperate men ultimately pay the
boy's father $250 to take him back.
* "The Cop and the Anthem" is about a New York City hobo named Soapy, who
sets out to get arrested so he can avoid sleeping in the cold winter as a guest of the city jail.
Despite efforts at petty theft, vandalism, disorderly conduct, and flirting with a young
prostitute, Soapy fails to draw the attention of the police. Disconsolate, he pauses in front
of a church, where an organ anthem inspires him to clean up his life — and is ironically
charged for loitering and sentenced to three months in prison.
* "A Retrieved Reformation" tells the tale of safecracker Jimmy Valentine, recently
freed from prison. He goes to a town bank to check it over before he robs it. As he walks to
the door, he catches the eye of the banker's beautiful daughter. They immediately fall in
love and Valentine decides to give up his criminal career. He moves into the town, taking
up the identity of Ralph Spencer, a shoemaker. Just as he is about to leave to deliver his
specialized tools to an old associate, a lawman who recognizes him arrives at the bank.
Jimmy and his fiancée and her family are at the bank, inspecting a new safe, when a child
accidentally gets locked inside the airtight vault. Knowing it will seal his fate, Valentine
opens the safe to rescue the child. However, the lawman lets him go.
* "After Twenty Years", set on a dark street in New York, focuses on a man named
"Silky" Bob who is fulfilling an appointment made 20 years ago to meet his friend Jimmy

at a restaurant. A beat cop questions him about what he is doing there. Bob explains, and
the policeman leaves. Later, a second policeman comes up and arrests Bob. He gives Bob a


note, in which the first policeman explains that he was Jimmy, coming to meet Bob, but he
recognized Bob as a wanted man. Unwilling to arrest his old friend, he went off to get
another officer to make the arrest.
* ―Friends in San Rosario‖, about embezzlement, a bank audit and loyalty to an old
friend, bears poignantly upon Porter's real-life prison experience.

2.1.3. Two Thanksgiving Day Gentlemen
This is a story about two men in one Thanksgiving Day. One is Stuffy Pete, a poor
and homeless man and another character is named the Old Gentleman. As reading the first
few lines, readers may wonder about the name of the story and why O. Henry put it ―Two
Thanksgiving Day Gentlemen‖ while there seems to be only one Old Gentleman. The
answer can not be found until we reach the middle of the story.
There has been an implicit tradition for nine years between the Old Gentleman and
Pete that every Thanksgiving Day they would meet in the same place – the third bench on
the right from the East Gate in Union Square, at the same time – promptly at one o‘clock.
The Old Gentleman would lead Pete to the same table in the same restaurant and watch
him eat a big dinner. However, this year one thing is different. Pete is not hungry at all. On
the contrary, he is too full because of being overcharged by an unexpected super bountiful
dinner, and he can not have anything else. Nevertheless, Stuffy Pete still comes to the
place to meet the Old Gentleman. He still comes with the Old Gentleman to the restaurant,
eats as if he was starved for a long time. Finally, as the meal ends and they part at the same
door, the Old Gentleman going south, Stuffy north; he falls down at the corner and is taken
to hospital because of eating too much.
Is Stuffy Pete too greedy? No. So why does he need to eat that second big meal?
Why does he make things difficult to himself like that? Why he does not simply say ―No‖
to the Old Gentleman‘s invitation? Up to this point, readers perhaps can understand why

the name of the story is ―Two Thanksgiving Day Gentleman‖. Not only the Old Gentleman
is a gentleman but also the homeless, poor Stuffy Pete who sacrifices his own feeling to
make the old man happy is also called Gentleman. This is the humane value which can be
seen in almost all O.Henry‘s stories.
However, that is not all for the story. O. Henry‘s stories are also famous for their
―surprising twists‖. Readers one more time feel surprised and moved as they read the last


lines. It turns out that the Old Gentleman who feeds Stuffy Pete a big Thanksgiving meal is
also carried to the hospital, but not for being overcharged but for having nothing to eat for
three days. So two men, one tries to eat though he is too full and one tries not to eat to give
food to the other though he is too hungry. They do so, sacrifice their happiness maybe even
their lives in order not to disappoint and to see the happiness of others though they are
strangers.
―Two Thanksgiving Day Gentlemen‖ is a moving short story that leaves many
thoughts and feelings on readers. That is a story about humanity, about people who can
devote for others. Reading the story of the two men, we once look back on ourselves and
try to live for others more, to make life more meaningful. It is that value of the story that
makes me remember and decide to put ―two Thanksgiving day Gentlemen‖ into analysis in
this research paper.

2.2. Systemic Functional Grammar & Clause
2.2.1. Systemic Functional Grammar & Its Three Metafunctions
Systemic Functional Grammar is an approach to linguistics developed by Halliday.
It sees language in a social context. The conceptual framework on which it is based is
functional rather than formal. In other words, it regards language not as a set of rules but a
source used for communication. The theory is designed to account for how language is
used. It is functional in a way that everything either spoken or written is not arbitrary but
natural. It can unfold in some specific context of use. Everything can be explained by
reference to how language is used (Halliday, 1994: xiii). According to Systemic Functional

Grammar, language performs three main functions which are called metafunctions in the
terminology of the theory.
- The ideational function is to organize speaker‘s or writer‘s experience of the real
world, including the inner world of his own consciousness.
- The interpersonal function is to indicate, establish or maintain social relationship
between people.
- The textual function is to provide links with language itself and with the features
of the situation in which it is used.
(Van, H. V, 2006: 28)


Each of the three metafunctions is about a different aspect of the world, and is
concerned with a different mode of meaning of clauses. Each of the function is realized by
different set of systems. The ideational function is realized through the system of
Transitivity which is defined as the grammar of processes – material, mental, relational,
verbal, behavioral, existential; the participants in the processes and attendant
circumstances. These notions can be seen more clearly through the following examples.
I

kicked

the ball

Actor

Material. Pro

Goal

I

heard

a noise

outside

Sensor

Mental. Pro

Phenomenon

Circumstance

He

is

good

Carrier

Relational. Pro

Attribute

He

ordered

two beers

Sayer

Verbal. Pro

Verbiage

She

cried

softly

Behaver

Behavioral. Pro

Circumstance

There is

a man

in the room

Existential. Pro

Existent

Circumstance

(Van, H. V, 2006: 48, 49, 50, 51)
The second function, interpersonal, is realized through the system of Mood
structure. As an exchange, a clause can consist of two components: Mood and Residue.
Mood is the component whose function is to carry the syntactic burden of the exchange
and to carry the argument forward. Mood consists of two elements: Subject and Finite.
Subject is a nominal component while Finite is a verbal component which has the function
of making the proposition finite.


The remainder of the clause is the Residue which consists of three functional
components: the Predicator, the Complement, and the Adjunct. The predicator is realized
by a verbal group. The complement is an element which has the potential of being a
subject and typically realized by a nominal group. The adjunct is often known as an
adverbial group (of place, time or manner). Examples to illustrate interpersonal function
can be as follows.
She

is

learning

in the room

Subject

Finite

Predicator

Adjunct

Mood

Residue

The boy

hit

Subject

Finite

Mood

Predicator

the dog
Compliment

Residue

.

(Van, H. V, 2006: 56)
The third function of language, according to Systemic Functional Grammar, the

textual function is realized by the system of Thematic structure. In this realization, we have
Theme and Rheme. Theme is considered the point of departure of the message which is
coincided with the initial element of the clause. Theme provides the settings for the
remainder of the sentence – Rheme. Rheme is the remainder of the message in a clause in
which Theme is developed. Rheme provides the additional information added to the
starting point and which is available for subsequent development in the text. Theme may
be realised by a nominal group, prepositional phrase, an adverbial group or even a clause.
Below are two examples illustrating the thematic structure.
She

loved dancing

Theme

Rheme

On the table

there is a book

Theme

Rheme

(Van, H. V, 2006: 59)


2.2.2. Clause
The meaning of a text is constructed by its component parts: its sentences, its clauses,
its words… Linguistics uses the notion of ‗rank‘. In other words, a sentence consists of one

or more clauses; a clause consists of one or more groups; a group consists of one or more
words; and a word consists of one or more morphemes. Each of these ranks refers to a unit
of meaning, as being shown in the table below.
Sentence

/// the little boy shouted when he saw the wolf ///

Clause

/// the little boy shouted // when he saw the wolf ///

Group

// [ the little boy] [ shouted] //

Word

[ {the} {little} {boy} ]

Morpheme

{<shout> <ed> }
The rank scale (Thompson, 1996: 22)

From the table above, we can see that clause has a special place in a language when
expressing meaning. It is at clause rank that we can begin talking about how things exist,
how things happen and how people feel in the world around. Instead of simply uttering
sounds or single words such as the, little, boy, the systems of clauses allow us to express
ideas such as the little boy shouted… In Systemic Functional Grammar, clause is
considered the basic unit to analyze a discourse.

2.3. Above the Clause: the Clause Complex
Although clause is considered the standard unit in Systemic Functional Grammar
by Halliday, clause complex and relationships between clauses are the main subjects of the
analysis in this paper.

2.3.1. Clause Complex and Sentence
The term ―sentence‖ has been familiar to every one, from language learning
beginners to linguists. Sentence can be classified as follows in terms of its structure:


- A simple sentence is the one that consists of one independent clause, as in John bought
the ticket.
- A compound sentence is the one consisting of two independent clauses, linked in a
relationship of coordination, as in John bought the ticket and Mary parked the car.
- A complex sentence consists of one independent clause and one or more dependent
clauses, linked in a relationship of subordination, as in While John bought the ticket, Mary
parked the car.
(Downing, 1995: 275)
In Systemic Functional Grammar, the concept of ―unit complex‖ has been
introduced in which a larger unit can be understood in terms of another ―unit complex‖
smaller in rank. For example verbal group, adverbial group, nominal group could be
interpreted as a ―word complex‖; that is, a head word together with other words that
modify it (Halliday 1994: 215)
Nevertheless, a sentence, being the largest grammatical unit, can not play a part in
the structure of a larger unit. It is only identified by the structure of its own. Thus, like the
interpretation of ―group‖ as ―word complex‖, ―sentence‖ can be interpreted as ―clause
complex‖ which is a head clause together with other clauses that modify it (Halliday 1994:
215). The term ―sentence‖ gives way to ―clause complex‖. A sentence will be defined as a
clause complex. This enables us to account in full for the functional organization of

sentences (Halliday 1994: 216).
Thus, from now on, in this research paper only the term clause complex will be
found as a grammatical unit which is recognized above the clauses.

2.3.2. Parataxis and Hypotaxis
The clauses which make a clause complex are related in two different ways:
syntactically and logico-semantically.
Syntactically, clauses are related to each other basically in one of two ways: either
the relationship is one of equivalence, both or all clauses having the same syntactic status,
or the relationship is one of non-equivalence, the clauses having a different status.
When clauses are linked in a relationship of equality, that relationship is paratactic.
Parataxis is the relationship between units of equal status. However, the second or last of a
series of paratactically related clauses will be the most prominent in terms of information


focus, while the first represents the point of departure of the message. We shall call the
primary clause in a paratactic sequence the initiating clause, and the secondary or further
clauses are the continuing clause(s).
Conversely, when clauses of unequal status are related, the relationship is
hypotaxis. In hypotactically related clauses, one clause is subordinated to another or to a
series of clauses. We shall keep the usual term main for the independent clause in
hypotactic clause complex and call the subordinate clause the dependent.

2.3.3. Projection and Expansion
Apart from syntactic relationship, clauses are related in a relationship called logicosemantic one. The logico-semantic relations are grouped into two main types: expansion
and projection.
a. Expansion
Expansion is the relationship by which one clause expands the meaning of another
by elaborating, extending, or enhancing it, either paratactically or hypotactically. These
combinations are shown below:

Expansion
a. Elaboration

Paratactic
Tom kept quiet,
1

Hypotactic
Tom kept quiet,
α

he said nothing.

which was unusual.

=2
b. Extension

=β

Tom kept quiet,
1

Tom kept quiet
α

but Ed spoke out.

whereas Ed spoke out.

+2
c. Enhancement

Tom was afraid,
1

+β
Tom kept quiet,
α

so he kept quiet.

because he was afraid.

×2

×β
(Downing, 1995: 281)