Introducing English Linguistics

ed, looked). In
English, present time is only marked on verbs occurring with singular
subjects: He dislike
s vegetables, The chef bakes bread daily.
text:
A body of language that is usually lengthier than a sentence. A text has
unity of structure
and unity of texture.
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GLOSSARY

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theme:
The first part of a clause, which often contains old information. In The
hurricane had devastating effects. It flooded the entire city, both The hurricane
and It are the theme in the clauses in which they occur. It is additionally
old information. Compare with rheme.
to-infinitive clause:
A clause such as to replace the battery that begins with the infinitive marker
to followed by the base form of the verb. See also non-finite verb.
tone unit:
A sequence of words containing one syllable whose pitch is more promi-
nent than the other syllables in the tone unit. For instance, in the tone
unit the snow is BEAUtiful, the most prominent syllable, or tonic syllable,
would be the first syllable of beautiful.
tonic syllable:
The syllable in a tone unit receiving the greatest stress. The tonic syllable
is usually found on a syllable in the last content word of the tone unit.
topicalization:
A syntactic process whereby some element in a clause, often an object, is
fronted. In the clause Food I like, Food is topicalized because it is moved out
of its normal position following the verb.
traditional grammar:
A grammar based on terminology found in the classical grammars of
Greek and Latin. Early English grammars of the eighteenth century bor-
rowed heavily from early classical grammars because the study of Greek
and Latin was popular during this period.
transition relevance
The place in a speaker turn (e.g. a pause or the end of a grammatical unit)
place (or TRP):
where a new speaker could begin speaking.
transitive verb:
A verb requiring an object: The child