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Hub AI
Topic and comment AI simulator
(@Topic and comment_simulator)
Hub AI
Topic and comment AI simulator
(@Topic and comment_simulator)
Topic and comment
In linguistics, the topic, or theme, of a sentence is what is being talked about, and the comment (rheme or focus) is what is being said about the topic. This division into old vs. new content is called information structure. It is generally agreed that clauses are divided into topic vs. comment, but in certain cases, the boundary between them depends on the specific grammatical theory that is used to analyze the sentence.
The topic of a sentence is distinct from the grammatical subject. The topic is defined by pragmatic considerations, that is, the context that provides meaning. The grammatical subject is defined by syntax. In any given sentence the topic and grammatical subject may be the same, but they need not be. For example, in the sentence "As for the little girl, the dog bit her", the subject is "the dog", but the topic is "the little girl".
The topic is what is being talked about and the subject is what is doing the action. They may be distinct concepts from the concept agent (or actor), which is the "doer" and is defined by semantics: the contextual meaning of the sentence in the paragraph. In English clauses with a verb in the passive voice, for instance, the topic is typically the subject, and the agent may be omitted or follow the preposition by. For example, in the sentence "The little girl was bitten by the dog", "the little girl" is both the subject and the topic, but "the dog" is the agent.
In some languages, word order and other syntactic phenomena are determined largely by the topic–comment (theme–rheme) structure. Such languages are sometimes referred to as topic-prominent language. Korean and Japanese are often given as examples.
The sentence- or clause-level "topic", or "theme", can be defined in a number of different ways. Among the most common are
In an ordinary English clause, the subject is normally the same as the topic/theme (example 1) even in the passive voice, when the subject is a patient, not an agent such as in example 2:
Those clauses have different topics: the first is about the dog, and the second is about the little girl.
In English, it is possible to use other sentence structures to show the topic of the sentence such as these:
Topic and comment
In linguistics, the topic, or theme, of a sentence is what is being talked about, and the comment (rheme or focus) is what is being said about the topic. This division into old vs. new content is called information structure. It is generally agreed that clauses are divided into topic vs. comment, but in certain cases, the boundary between them depends on the specific grammatical theory that is used to analyze the sentence.
The topic of a sentence is distinct from the grammatical subject. The topic is defined by pragmatic considerations, that is, the context that provides meaning. The grammatical subject is defined by syntax. In any given sentence the topic and grammatical subject may be the same, but they need not be. For example, in the sentence "As for the little girl, the dog bit her", the subject is "the dog", but the topic is "the little girl".
The topic is what is being talked about and the subject is what is doing the action. They may be distinct concepts from the concept agent (or actor), which is the "doer" and is defined by semantics: the contextual meaning of the sentence in the paragraph. In English clauses with a verb in the passive voice, for instance, the topic is typically the subject, and the agent may be omitted or follow the preposition by. For example, in the sentence "The little girl was bitten by the dog", "the little girl" is both the subject and the topic, but "the dog" is the agent.
In some languages, word order and other syntactic phenomena are determined largely by the topic–comment (theme–rheme) structure. Such languages are sometimes referred to as topic-prominent language. Korean and Japanese are often given as examples.
The sentence- or clause-level "topic", or "theme", can be defined in a number of different ways. Among the most common are
In an ordinary English clause, the subject is normally the same as the topic/theme (example 1) even in the passive voice, when the subject is a patient, not an agent such as in example 2:
Those clauses have different topics: the first is about the dog, and the second is about the little girl.
In English, it is possible to use other sentence structures to show the topic of the sentence such as these: