THEME AND RHEME

Dr. Sridevi s notes on Theme and Rheme analysis

Week 6
TEXT: THE DEADLY DICE GAME page 173
SENTENCE
NO.

TEXTUAL
THEME

INTERPERSONAL
THEME

TOPICAL THEME
MARKED
TOPICAL
THEME

Page 173
sentence 1

After

TOPICAL
THEME
King
Yudishthira

he

Page 173
sentence 2

In tribute,

Page 173
sentence 3

His cousin,
the envious
Prince
Duryodhana,

Page 173
sentence 4

With his Uncle

Shakuni,

Page 173
sentence 5
Page 173
sentence
10
Page 173
sentence
14
Page 175
sentence 3

One day
Then,

the servants

Later,

Duryodhana

For their wives,

and

For their allies,

RHEME

performed a
great
sacrifice at
his capital
city,
Indraprashta
was
recognized
by all the
invited
monarchsof
the world as
the
emperor.
the kings
lavished
upon him
was amazed
by the
magnificient
he studied
the entire
building and
saw .
the prince
circled
quickly
brought
mistook a
crystal door
.
they have
obtained
they gained

Dependent clause as theme:

For dependent clauses there are two ways to analyse them:
SENTENCE
NO.

TEXTUAL
THEME

INTERPERSONAL
THEME

TOPICAL THEME
MARKED
TOPICAL
THEME

Page 173
sentence 1

After

RHEME

TOPICAL
THEME
King
Yudishthira

performed a
great
sacrifice at
his capital
city,
Indraprashta

Sentence 1 can also be analysed as follows;

Dependent clause as Theme
After King Yudhisthira performed a great
sacrifice at his capital city, Indraprashta

Independent clause as Rheme

he was recognized

Other dependent clauses as theme:

Textual theme
Page 173 sentence 7
Page 173 sentence
15

But

Dependent clause as
theme
as soon as he realized
his mistake,
as he tried to pass it,

Rheme
he felt like a fool.
He accidently banged
his head,

For Sentence 6, af first we may be tempted to analyse it as follows:

TEXTUAL
THEME
6

However,

INTERPERSONAL MARKED
TOPICAL
THEME
TOPICAL
THEME
THEME
/
mistaking it for /
a pool of
water,
(supplementive
unit)

he

But on closer examination, we realize that it is a non finite clause although embedded and can be
analysed as a dependent clause as theme:
Embedded clause as

Independent clause as

Page 173 sentence

6

However,

Theme
mistaking it for a pool of
water,

Rheme
he

Other examples on Supplementive units or embedded clauses as Theme:

Page 173 sentence

8
Page 173 sentence
9
Page 173 sentence
11

Then

Embedded clause as
Theme
mistaking a lake with
crystal petals in it for
land,
Seeing this,

Independent clause as
Rheme
he fell

Unaccustomed to
tolerating insults,

Duryodhana could not

the mighty Pandavas