Discourse analysis and grammar

Grammatical cohesion and

textuality
Spoken and written discourses display
grammar and connexions between
individual clauses and utterances. For
our purposes, these grammatical links
can be classified under three broad
types: reference, ellipsis, and
conjunction.
 Grammatical cohesion and
textuality
 Reference: Reference is considered as a cohesive tie “when two or
more expressions in the text refer to the same person, thing or
idea” (Bloor, 2004:93)
Example: pronouns, demonstratives, articles,
and such.
Types of Reference:
 Anaphoric reference: When a word or phrase refers to
something mentioned earlier in the discourse.
 Exophoric reference: is the use of a pronoun to refer to
someone or something outside the text.
 Cataphoric reference: a word in text refers to another later in
the text and you need to look forward to understand.
 Grammatical cohesion and
textuality
 Ellipsis: the omission of elements normally required by the grammar which the
speaker/writer assumes are obvious from the context and therefore need not be raised.
When to use ellipsis:
 Omission/leaving out
 Pause
How to make an ellipsis
 On a word processor, type three periods with spaces in between:
 Many word processing programs will automatically create ellipsis if you type
three periods in a row.
 If the ellipsis is in the place of a word or part of a sentence, leave a space on
each side of the ellipsis.
 If the ellipsis is used to replace words at the end of a sentence, it should be
followed by a period, question mark, or exclamation point to end the sentence.
 Use an ellipsis with a question mark after a training thought.
 Substitution: the replacement of one item by another.
 Grammatical cohesion and
textuality
 Conjunction: shows meaningful relationships
between clauses.
examples: therefore, however, so, etc
Grammatical cohesion and
textuality
Theme and Rheme
Theme: is the element which serves as the point to departure
of the message, it is that with which the clause is concerned.
(can be found in the middle of the sentence)
Example: conflict between individuals and society, coming of
age, humans in conflict with technology, etc

Rheme: when the theme is developed. (usually cooment,

focus, or predictation.
Example: exemplified by actions, utterances, or thoughts of a
character in a novel.
Grammatical cohesion and
textuality
Tense and Aspect

Tense: tells us when a situation occurs

English language has 2 tenses: past and present
No future: modal verb will or present progressive

Aspect: tells us how it occurs or how it is viewed by the

speakers, in terms of frequency, its duration and whether or
not it is complicated.
English language has 4 aspects: simple, progressive, perfect,
perfect progresive