Grammar: Clause: Using the clause to organise text
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Focusing on feelings and attitudes |
What do we mean by focusing on feelings and attitudes?
When we are talking to someone, we are not just concerned with the content of the discussion; sometimes we want to draw attention to the way we feel or to the fact that we may be expressing a personal attitude or opinion.
This may include judgements about probability, usuality, or our opinion about the relevance of what we are saying to our listener.
| "Mr Wing is always late." |  |
Interpersonal meanings include honesty (assuring the listener that we are telling the truth), desirability (how positive or negative is what we are going to say), reliability (how sure or objective can we be), predictability (how expected is this information).
Some of the possibilities for indicating these meanings are summarised as follows. Note that each piece of information can be seen to answer a different question:
| Meaning | Examples |
| Am I telling the truth? | honestly, to be honest, to tell you the truth, believe me, frankly, actually, in fact, as a matter of fact |
| How desirable is this news? | luckily, thank God, unfortunately, regrettably |
| How reliable is this news? | in my opinion, I think, objectively, on the whole, broadly speaking |
| How predictable is this news? | to my surprise, unexpectedly, amazingly, by chance, as predicted, just as we thought, of course |
Although the starting point is the interpersonal meaning, the Theme includes the topic which is being developed:
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Theme |
New Information |
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(focus on interpersonal meaning) |
(focus on topic) |
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| Honestly, | Grandpa | is so forgetful! |
| Luckily, | Bozo | got to school on time. |
| In my opinion, | Miss Lee | is the best teacher in the world. |
| Amazingly, | cats | have got nine lives. |
Note that the easiest way for learners to begin focusing on interpersonal meanings is with adverbs and adverb groups.
For more information, see:
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Grammar: Word classes: Adverbs: Expressing a personal viewpoint |
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Grammar: Groups & phrases: Adverb group: Expressing a personal viewpoint |
Note that the terms New Information and Theme are written with a capital to remind us that they are functional terms.
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Tell me more ... Emphasising the interpersonal nature of the interaction |
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