In studying the structure of a sentence, we are faced with a problem which has been receiving ever greater attention in linguistic investigations of recent years. This is the problem of dividing a sentence into two sections, one of them containing that which is the starting point of the statement, and the other the new information for whose sake the sentence has been uttered or written. This has been termed “functional perspective”. It cannot be said that every sentence must necessarily consist of two such sections. Some sentences (especially one-member sentences) cannot be divided up in this way, and doubts are also possible about some other types.

Let’s first clarify some notions;

“psychological subject”, “psychological predicate” (proposed by the German scholar H. Paul)- what is objectively expressed in it, independently of a hearer’s personal views or tastes.

“Lexical subject”, “Lexical predicate” (proposed by prof. A. Smirnitsky)- analyze the function of a word or a word group within a sentence expressing a certain thought; their function, that is, in expressing either what is already assumed or what is new in the sentence uttered.

“Theme”/ “Rheme”. These terms came into use lately, particularly in the works of several Czech who have especially studied the problem. Notably with reference to the English language (both from the modern and the historic viewpoint).

The terms “Theme” and “Rheme” are both derived from Greek, and are parallel to each other. The term “theme” comes from the Greek root the- “to set”, or “established” and means “that which is set or established”. The term “rheme” is derived from the root rhe- “to say”, or “tell” and means “that which is said or told”.

The means of expressing a thematic or a rhematic quality of a word or phrase in a sentence to a great extent depend on the grammatical structure of the given language and must differ considerably, according to that structure.

Thus, in a language with a widely developed morphological system and free word order, word order can be extensively used to show the difference between theme and rheme.

Russian: Старик вошел и Вошел старик

English: The old man came in (We cannot make the words old man express the rheme without introducing further changes into the structure of the sentence).

In Modern English there are several ways of showing that a word or phrase corresponds either to the rheme or to the theme.

Rheme. A method characteristically analytical and finding its parallel in French is the construction it is… that (it is…who) with the word or phrase representing the rheme enclosed between the words it is and the word that (who, which)

For it is the emotion that matters (Emotion is in this way shown to represent the rheme)

Other constructions: though-clause

It is….that (parentheses – (вводное слово) after all, possibly come in within the frame)

Particle (only, even, etc) + a phrase or a word in question

The indefinite article (owing to its basic meaning of “indefiniteness” the indefinite article tends to analyze the new element in the sentence, that which represents the rheme. The definite article tends to point out that which is already known, that is the theme)

1. Suddenly the door opened and a little birdlike elderly woman (rheme) in a neat grey skirt and coat seemed almost to hop into the room.

2. Suddenly the door opened and the little birdlike elderly woman in a neat grey skirt and coat seemed almost to hop into the room (rheme).

3. Suddenly the door opened (rheme) and the little birdlike elderly woman in the neat grey skirt and coat seemed almost to hop into the room.

There are also some other means to show the theme of the sentence:

1. Definite article.

2. A loose parenthesis introduced by the prepositional phrase.

As for (as to), while the main body of the sentence there is bound to be a personal pronoun representing the noun which is the centre of the parenthetical as-for-phrase.

As for the others, great numbers of them moved past slowly or rapidly, singly or in groups, carrying bags and parcels, asking for directions, presenting time-tables, searching for something familiar like the face of a friend or the name of a particular town cranked up in red and gold… (the rest of the sentence represents the rheme).

There are two more points to make concerning functional sentence perspective:

1. The theme need not necessarily be something known in advance. In many sentences it is, in fact, something already familiar. There are sentences in which the theme, too, is something mentioned for the first time and yet it is not the centre of the predication. It is something about which a statement is to be made. The theme here is the starting point of the sentence, not its conclusion.

Jennie learned forward and touched him on the knee.

2. Many questions concerning functional sentence perspective have not been solved yet and further investigation is required. It is by no means certain that every sentence can be divided into two clear-cut parts representing the theme and the rheme respectively. In many cases there are probably intermediate elements, not belonging unequivocally(недвусмысленно, ясно) to this or that part, though perhaps tending rather one way or another.