Cambridge Grammar of English Hardback with cd-rom a comprehensive Guide

Use of discourse markers

In social terms, discourse markers enable the speaker to exercise control in the

discourse and they are power-related (e.g. in classrooms, it is usually only the

teacher who can exercise such control with utterances such as Right, let’s do an

exercise

). In this example of a university lecturer teaching, it would be odd and

socially inappropriate for any student to use discourse markers in the way the

lecturer does. The lecturer’s role is to sequence the material coherently and

carefully monitor its reception:

[university science lecture]

We can then have toxic effects. 

Right. These again can be direct. They can be

subtle. But they cause lots and lots of injuries. 

Right. Here’s an example of one.

There’s a section of normal liver. 

Right. The thing to notice is that all cells, all

the cells look roughly the same. 

Right. So we’ve got at the top we’ve got portal

triad. At the bottom we’ve got central vein. 

Right.