A study investigated the differences made in the meaning of a passage in English by placing adverbial clauses before (preposing) or after (postposing) the verb. Examples are: "When the wolf arrived, he was picking apples"; "He was picking apples when the wolf arrived"; "While he was picking apples, the wolf arrived"; and "The wolf arrived while he was picking apples." The report is presented in two main parts. The first discusses preposed adverbials, arguing that they have a bidirectional function: serving as a point of departure for communication and also providing a basis for relating the communication to the context. The information contained in such an adverbial is generally of secondary importance in relation to the clause to which it is subordinated. The second part proposes that postposed adverbials serve two purposes: to preserve topic continuity and to convey information of primary importance, perhaps even conveying information that represents a turning point or complication of the story. A 20-item bibliography is included. (MSE)
Authors
- Peer Reviewed
- F
- Publication Type
- Reports - Evaluative
- Published in
- United States of America
Table of Contents
- Stephen H. Levinsohn 2
- 1 Introduction 2 Preposed adverbials 2
- 2.2 Types of coherence 3 Postposed adverbials 2
- 4 Conclusion 2
- 1 Introduction 2
- In section 3 3
- Givein 1990845 whereas he was picking apples is of 3
- In 2b quoted from Sayers vegetable bed serves as the spatial 4
- In 3c Sayers pp. 354f 4
- Werth 198461 in- third little pig at the apple orchard. Similarly in lc pick apples. In both cases need to bring the police in. sentence of rolls of hemp. 6
- Negative coherence Worth loc. Andrews 198578 from an otherwise example in 2 a spatial switch occurs offered. In 6 an individual switch occurs from the earlier expression one man to the other. 6
- The relationship of 6b to 6a is still that of switch. However it is no longer a switch 6
- He had spent Christmas here before 8
- A comparison of 9b from Sayers p. 8
- 357 and 9b 8
- Did you take it mother 9
- No I didnt. If Id seen it 9
- To achieve topic continuity in English 10
- 15 illustrates the same device used by Sayers p. 12
- The party assembled gradually 13
