Introducing English Linguistics

The structure of English texts
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other two examples). Because the Bush Administration did not want the
E.P.A. to regulate emissions, the ruling is described not just as a loss for
the Bush Administration but “a strong rebuke.” Advocates of regulating
gases were not simply pleased with the ruling but “exultant.” The choice of
language in these examples is not just descriptive but helps convey the
editorial perspective of the newspaper in which they occur.
While the headline and lead are obligatory and occur in a specific
order, there is more variability in the Story section of a news story. The
Episode will come first but where the Background and Comments are
placed can vary, as can exactly how much information is placed in each of
these sections. One source of this variability is that the length of an arti-
cle is often constrained by the amount of space that is available for an arti-
cle. Thus, editors can always cut out or trim sections of the Story if neces-
sitated by space limitations.
For a text to achieve coherence, it is not enough that it have a hierarchi-
cal structure. Additionally, all of its component parts must fit together in
a manner that is recognizable to the hearer or reader. The individual parts
of a text – the sentences and clauses within it – must also be linked.
Various devices work together to achieve what is referred to as unity of tex-
ture: constituents within a clause are ordered in a specific way so that the
thematic structure of the clause promotes the easy flow of information
from clause to clause, and relationships between clauses are indicated by
various markers of cohesion, such as logical connectors like therefore or
however. Without specific linkages between clauses, hearers and readers
would have to infer how everything is related, making comprehension dif-
ficult if not impossible.