What is Prominence?

Inversion
We use inversion when we want to give one element in the idea Inversion is another way of giving
special emphasis or PROMINENCE. prominence, in this case to the
negative idea that we again place
If you remember from your first year, you studied prominence at the beginning of our sentence.
when you dealt with Passive Voice. Prominence is the movement There are other techniques for
in the most frequent order of the elements in a sentence to prominence but first we should
give special relevance/emphasis to one of its elements. In the know the theory underlying these
case of Passive Voice, for example, our topic is the OBJECT and movements, i.e. we need to
that is why we mention it at the beginning of the sentence. speak about theme and rheme.
Besides, the doer is obvious or not important.

Halliday’s speaks about experiential meaning, interpersonal meaning and textual meaning.
The experiential meaning speaks about what happens/ed and gives the different elements a role
according to meaning; Actor is the subject, a process is the verb, circumstances are the adverbials.
The interpersonal meaning has to do with the people’s interactions like for example, giving an order
or making a question. The textual meaning includes the connectors, for example, that will help us
understand or organize a text.

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 of order
A technique that is sometimes used in narratives to give prominence to an
element is inversion of order. Inversion happens in English for emphasis,
dramatic purpose or formality. In order to invert, the normal sentence order of
subject, verb and object is changed in some way.

Inversion after negatives or limiting verbs

Ex. Never, hardly, no, only, etc. In cases where the tense does not use an
auxiliary verb in the affirmative, such as the
In order to change normal sentence order, we
present simple or the past simple, one must be
move the negative adverbial to the BEGINNING
ADDED.
of the sentence and we INVERT the auxiliary
verb and subject. I rarely go outside = Rarely do I go outside.
Adverb + aux verb + subject
I had never met someone so interesting. =
She seldom worked very hard =
Never had I met someone so interesting.
Adverb + aux verb + subject Seldom did she work very hard.
Adverb + aux verb + subject

The words/phrases followed by inversion are negative in meaning: Never, No longer, Nowhere, Not
often, Not always, Seldom, Rarely, Hardly ever, Under no…( circumstance)

Inversion after Adverbial clauses

Some negative or limiting adverbials require you to complete a WHOLE CLAUSE before the inversion
takes place. It’s kind of a two stage process.. So, for ex.:
I didn’t know what to do until I saw what had happened.
Main clause

Not until I saw what had happened did I know what to do.
Adverbial clause Aux verb + Subject

The inversion takes place after the Adverbial clause, in the MAIN CLAUSE. And this is common with
adverbs like: not and only in the following combinations:

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 until
Not
before

while
when … I saw what was happening did I know what to do
Only after
once
} as

Only when I arrived home, did I notice that I didn’t have my keys.

Inversion within the Adverbial clause

In the cases of “No sooner”, “Hardly“ the inversion happens within the adverbial clause. It is mostly
used with the Past Perfect to signify that one action finished just before another started. The
following clause is connected by the word “THAN” or “WHEN”
No sooner had I stepped into the shower THAN the telephone rang.
Adverbial clause

Hardly had I got home THAN the dog started barking.

Adverbial clause

Hardly had he got into the bath WHEN the phone rang.
Adverbial clause

“LITTLE DID THEY KNOW” is extremely dramatic and it’s often found within books
Little did they know that he had stolen all of their money.
Adverbial clause

[sentences]
[sentences

] construction that gives both thematic and focal

A cleft sentence is a special
prominence to a particular element of the clause. It is a way of cutting a sentence
in half so that you can give emphasis to the important or new information. It
tells the listener or reader WHAT INFORMATION they need to pay attention to.
It is ONE IDEA divided in sentences. From one sentence I divided into Complex
sentence (Dependent). We use it to CONTRAST INFORMATION

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 Cleft sentence It-type

It + is/was + Emphasis + (that) + rest of message

It was Rob that (who) ate my biscuits
It was my biscuits that Rob ate.
It was yesterday that Rob ate my biscuits.

I LOVE MY HUSBAND.
It is my husband that I love. IT-CLEFT SENTENCE
It is love that I feel for my husband. IT-CLEFT SENTENCE
Who I love is my husband. WH-CLEFT SENTENCE
All I love is my husband. ALL-CLEFT SENTENCE
It is for my husband that I feel love.

Cleft sentence Wh-type

A NOUN CLAUSE, like an it-cleft sentence, can be used to highlight one element for contrast. It
can be either subject or complement of the verb “be” (The subject position is more common). With
this variety we make emphasis on the NOUN.
I like watching TV.
WHAT/ALL + UNDERSTOOD INFO + IS/WAS + EMPHASIS
It’s watching TV that I like (It-type)
What I hated most was the insects everywhere.
What I like is watching TV (Noun clause–subject)
What I need now is a holiday.
Watching TV is what I like (Noun clause–complement)
All I want for Christmas is you!

Emphasise verb Emphasise whole sentence

WHAT/ALL + subject + do/does/did + IS/WAS + verb WHAT happens/happened+ is/was + clause
What they did was move us to another town. What happened was we got to the hotel and
realised that our room had been double booked.
All I did was touch the shower.

Comparison of it-type and wh-type cleft sentences

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 The it-type and the wh-type cleft sentences cannot always be used in the same circumstances.
For example, the it-type is more flexible in certain ways.
a- The focus of the wh-type sentence normally has to be in the form of a noun phrase or noun
clause. An adverbial clause or prepositional phrase can sometimes be the focus of the wh-type
sentence, but it sounds less natural in this construction than in the it-type sentence.
Example:
It was on foot that we arrived home.
*How we arrived home was on foot.

b- The wh-type sentence sounds somewhat better when the wh-clause comes last.
Example:
On a day like this was when I first met him.

c- A wh-type sentence using the wh-words who, whom or whose is usually awkward or impossible.
Example:
It was my mother who gave us the money.
*Who gave us the money was my mother
We can, however, say:
The one/person who gave us the money was my mother.

The wh-type cleft sentence is more flexible than the it-type in these ways:
a- The wh-type can focus on the complement of a clause, whereas the it-type normally cannot.
Example:
He is a genius.
What he is is a genius.
*It`s a genius that he is.

b- The wh-type can focus on the verb, by using the substitute verb DO
Example:
She has messed up her whole life
What she has done is mess up her whole life.
*It’s mess her whole life that she has done.
Notice that the complement of the wh-type sentence takes the form of a non-finite clause.

IMPORTANT!!
Cleft sentences are to be contrasted with sentences with introductory there and anticipatory it.
In anticipatory it-sentences, it introduces a clause, and there is no emphasis on one element to act
as focus.
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 Non-finite clauses
Non-finites clauses contain verbs that can take
forms that do not correspond to any structure of
tenses.
The non-finite forms of the verbs are the
What are Gerunds?
participles (present or past), gerunds and Gerunds perform the same function
infinitives. We have also shown that although this as NOUN do: They act as subjects,
so-called clauses do not explicitly mention a direct and indirect objects, and
subject and do not express any time, we can, objects of prepositions.
from the context or the rest of the idea “recover” Some prepositions are subordinates.
that information Ex. After
Infinitives and gerunds function as NOUNS. So
when we analyse the functions of each category,
we will see that there is a coincidence with those
of the noun clauses.

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Inconsiderate skiers give skiing a bad name.

A SUBJECT COMPLEMENT is a word/phrase which refers to the SAME person, place or thing as
the subject and further identifies or describes it.
SUBJECT + VERB TO BE + GERUND
1) My favourite activity is fishing. ACTIVITY
noun – gerund

¿Puede la actividad favorita pescar?

2) Peter is fishing. ACTION VERB

Present participle

Peter is the subject, he fishes

Lying on bed in a warm afternoon is delicious.

Gerund SUBJECT

El gerundio puede tener su propio sujeto.

Lying on bed in a warm afternoon, I fell sleep.

PRESENT PARTICIPLE (Adv. of time) S

“DOER” of the action of the Gerund

When the DOER of the action of the Gerund is NOT the same as in the sentence, we use a
POSSESSIVE NOUN OR PRONOUN before a GERUND.

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 Mr. Begay was amused at my getting annoyed with him. =
Possessive pronoun

Mr. Begay was amused that I got annoyed with him. (NOUN CLAUSE)

At first I was irritated by Mr. Begay’s taking so long to do things.

Possessive noun

At first, I was irritated that Mr. Begay took so long to do things. (NOUN CLAUSE)

GERUND – NON-FINITE – THE ACTIVITY

I’m interested in learning
I’m interested in my son’s learning. COMPL. PREP.
Subj. of gerund

Always a genitive case

I’m interested in his learning.

When we know who refers to

Smoking worries me.

My husband’s smoking worries me.
S  I’m talking about other person

How to identify Present Participle and Gerunds

- BEGINNING as SUBJECT - BEGINNING as ADVERBIAL

Gerund + verb Indep. Clause, Subject + verb
Smoking a lot causes a lot of problems in the lungs. Smoking a lot, he confessed his crime.
DifferenceVERBbetween
SUBJECT Participle and Gerund PARTICIPLE (ADV) SUBJ. VERB
Participle – Verb
Gerund – Noun – Activity

When we analyse, not to hurry! Not to take a decision without considering.

Always pay attention to what are you analysing.

What are Infinitives?

Gerunds perform the same function
that regular NOUN do: They act as
subjects, objects and complements.
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SUBJECT It is nice to meet you.
To be or not to be is the question.
SUBJECTIVE COMPLEMENT
DIRECT OBJECT The doubt is to buy or not
I want to retire.
POST MODIFIER OF A NOUN
COMPLEMENT OF ADJECTIVES This is a room to rent.
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Gerunds as subjects are more frequent.
D.O. – Infinitives are more frequent.

Subjective complement are not very frequent as gerunds and infinitives.


It is essential to look after ourselves (Sigue siendo sujeto)
It is difficult to understand how to use the infinitives.

/
What for? No reason. An infinitive of purpose explains the purpose of an ACTION. It often answers
the question “WHY?”
The doctor’s office was always sending out notices to get patients to make appointments.
I went to the cinema to see the new movie.
Adv. of purpose

To use Adverbials of purpose I need the same idea with two subjects. I’m talking about the same
person.

 IN ORDER
This form is more formal and less common in speech and informal writing than to + the base form.
If the subjects are different I need the preposition “for”.
The doctor’s office was always sending out notices in order to get patients to make appointments
 IN ORDER NOT TO
We use in order not to to express a NEGATIVE PURPOSE.
She wrote a reminder to herself in order not to forget to call

“ ”
.When the subject of the Independent Clause is different from the doer of the action of the
infinitive, the INFINITIVE can have its OWN SUBJECT expressed before the infinitive with the
preposition FOR.

I looked after my children for my husband to rest.

Who is the SUBJECT? Subject of the infinitive
Who will do the activity?

I study English to be a good teacher = I study and I will become a good teacher.
I study English for my mother to be pleased = I study and my mother will be pleased
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That is why infinitives are clauses.
I.O. + INFINITIVE
= Functions as noun clauses
La única diferencia con infinitives is adv. of purpose.

Types of Verbs

INTRANSITIVE
Intransitive[verbs]

Shows action in space, environment. It doesn’t need an object (what?) (noun/noun phrase). AFTER
THE VERB. We use adverbials (prep. Phrase, subordinated clause).

He arrived at my house.
He arrived after my mother had left.

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He arrived (at) home. ALTHOUGHT IT IS A NOUN, it doesn’t answer the question What? Here, we
have the ellipsis of the preposition “at”.

Using INTRANSITIVE VERBS we have two types:

1) Verbs of complete predication: Just by using the verb, the sentence is complete. I don’t need
more information.
Ex. I arrive / I creid.
2) Verbs of incomplete predication. It needs OBLIGATORY the adverbial.
Ex. I went….. It is not complete, I need to say WHERE. It necessarily needs to say something
else.

I don’t swim in the pond.

S Int. Verb Prep. Phrase

“Swim” doesn’t do anything to “the pond”.

 How the doer of the Action moves in “the pond”.
Prepositional phrase or Adverb: Talking about where the ACTION moves in the ENVIRONMENT.

copular
[verbs]

Verbs + adjective/noun/noun clause/ noun phrase (they complete the Idea of the verb by giving
information about the Subject)
She looks pretty.
COPULATIVE COMPLEMENT (ALSO SUBJECIVE COMPLEMENT)

According to some grammarians, it is Subjective complement because it talks about “She”.

According others grammarians, the Copulative complement talks about the verb.

Some verbs are not copulative all the time, for example the verb FEEL.
She feels bad  “Bad” is completing the idea of the feeling
Copulative ¿What does she feel? I can’t answer “bad”.

She felt the air in her face.

Direct Obj, ¿What does she feel?

 COPULATIVE COMPLEMENT AS PREPOSITIONAL PHRASE (SPECIAL CASE)

A pesar de no ser un adjetivo ni un sustantivo. Here, the prepositional phrase is functioning as an
Adverb of Place.

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She is at school.  Copulative of the verb TO BE
I went to school. Not refer to the SUBJECT
She was lying on the floor.
COP. VERB PREP. PHRASE

Some grammarians considered that the copulative complement is a subtype of intransitive of

incomplete predication.

SUBTYPE OF INTRANSITIVE, OR NOT?

Algunos grammarians no lo consideran intransitive porque en “She looks pretty”, “Pretty” está dando
información sobre el sujeto “SHE”. En el caso del intransitive “I went to school”, “To school” no me
está dando ninguna información sobre el sujeto “I”.

 LINKING VERBS

I am a teacher.
Complement (noun/adjective hat talks about the SUBJECT)

I am very very handsome.

Adjective

The food smelled great.

Adjective

LINKING VERBS: Copulative/copular verbs

The action is transferred from me to the food through the verb “smelled”
I smelled the food.

TRANSITIVE [verbs]
0

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I teach students
S Trans. Verb OBJ

The ACTION goes from “me” to “the student”. The ACTION is “teach”. The action is transferring
from “I” to “the students”.
It needs obligatorily an object.

MONOTRANSITIVE: Only followed by the DIRECT OBJECT (noun, etc)

I read a book.  One object. MONOTRANSITIVE
S MONOTR. D.O.

HOW CAN I IDENTIFY A MONOTRANSITIVE?

A good test for transitivity is the application of the PASSIVE RULE. If a sentence has an
acceptable Passive voice paraphrase, the NP that becomes the subject in the passive version starts
out as the object in the original active counterpart.

A book is read by me.

D.O SUBJ..

- DITRANSITIVE: Followed by the DIRECT (noun/ WHAT?) and INDIRECT OBJECT (pronoun/
WHO?). The order will depend on the verb pattern. Ditransitive are used in transactions.
I asked him his name.  DITRANSITIVE
DITR. I.O. D.O.

I gave money to my son DITRANSITIVE. With this pattern I need a PREPOSITION.

DITR. D.O. PREP I.O.

I gave my son money  DITRANSITIVE

Peter showed me his photos / Peter showed his photos to everybody.

I will buy my mother a present/ I will buy a present for my mother.

PASSIVE
In the case of passive voice, we have to look carefully because the order of the sentence is
changed.
I was offered a new position in my company.  DITRANSITIVE I.O: “WHO?”
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I.O. D..O.

= My company offered me a new position.

I.O. D.O.

A new policy was announced. MONOSTRANSITIVE. NO ES INSTRANSITIVO, EL SUJETO

NO TENGO O.D. PORQUE EL SUJETO PASA ADELANTE CAMBIO ADELANTE
= The government announced a new policy..
Only OBJECS may be promoted to subject status. INTRANSITIVE and COPULAR SENTENCES lack
passive versions because they have NO OBJECTS.

Verbs which need the DIRECT OBJECT but at the same time the Idea is not complete. I need an
objective complement.
VERB + OBJECT + OBJECTIVE COMPLEMENT (adjective/ participle/ noun)
También se lo llama Predicate complement por su estructura u Objective complement por su
significado.

I considered Peter a nice man.

Information about Peter

I saw Jack running.

VERB D.O. PRED/OBJECTIVE COMPLEMENT

Yesterday, I called Peter at his house.  MONOTRANSITIVE.

Yesterday, I called Peter stupid at his house.  COMPLEX TRANSITIVE

 COMPLEX TRANSITIVE WITH PREPOSITIONAL PHRASE (SPECIAL CASE)

VERB + DIRECT OBJECT + PREDICATE COMPLEMENT (PREP. PHRASE)
 Here, the OBJECTIVE COMPLEMENT complements the idea of the verb.
I put the book on the table.
Here, the IDEA is incomplete OBJ. COMPL.

I left the book on the table.

Here, the IDEA is complete

Depending on the Idea, the verbs could be copulative or another.

He became a doctor. DON’T ANALYSE TENSES. BOTH ARE ALWAYS COPULATIVE

COPULATIVE

It is getting cold.
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 He got the job.  MONOSTRANSITIVE
 It depends how you use it  Copulative or not

This apple has gone sour  COPULATIVE

My father has gone to China  DITRANSITIVE

Dependiendo del context, puede ser copulativo u otro tipo de verbo.

Outline of the story What do we use

Resolution (part 2) /evaluation flashbacks for?
Abstract/Orientation Flashbacks are useful in
Complicating events in the flashback stories to explain/understand
Resolution (part 1) what and why something is
Evaluation/coda happening at the moment or
to show the reasons, emotions
that have caused the
You may choose to begin with a particular event and then situation in the story.
use flashback narration to describe the events up to this
(usually in Past Perfect) before continuing with the rest
of the story.
Flashback: a scene in a film, play, book, story that shows
something that happened before that point in the story.

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 How do we get into a flashback?
- Ensure that your TRIGGER is relevant to the CONTEXT.
While packing my desk1, I caught sight of an old photo album which was tucked quietly
between my pile of books. I picked it up and a smile crept across my face. I know what it
was. I leafed through the pages of photographs that captured his growth. How fast time has
flown by! I still remember vividly the day I got him five years ago like it was just yesterday…
1) Provides context as to why the character was looking through the photo album.
-j
- Enhance your TRIGGER through the use of SENSORY DETAILS.
While packing my desk, I caught sight of an old photo album2 which was tucked quietly
between my pile of books. I picked it up and a smile crept across my face. I know what it
was. I leafed through the pages of photographs that captured his growth. How fast time has
flown by! I still remember vividly the day I got him five years ago like it was just yesterday…
2) The character was looking through the photo album. In this case is sense of sight,
but it could be others such as touch, smell3, taste, hearing.
A familiar scent of roses wafted to my nose when I walked past the garden 3. It reminded
me of the very first bouquet of flowers that I gave my mother. One crystal bead escaped
from my right eye and a rush of gratitude filled me. Memories of that day when I visited
her at the hospital came rushing back to my mind.
Cold rain pelting mercilessly on your skin  Sense of touch
An unappetising meal of curry chicken  Sense of taste

- Add in a description of a relevant EMOTION.

A FLASHBACK occurs because the memory holds enough significance for the character to
remember it vividly. Also, FLASHBACKS should evoke also EMOTIONS.
Greg raised his head to admire the lights at the carnival. The memories of that incident
came rushing back to him. TOO PLAIN.
Greg raised his head to admire the lights at the carnival. The memories of that incident
came rushing back to him. The atmosphere was as electrifying as he remembered it to be
when he was there with Amanda two years ago. “Come on! You will love it!” her words ran in
his ears. He could not stop the smile that begun forming in his face. Staring at the colourful
lights, memories of that day came rushing back to him.
The addition of the EMOTION gives life to the story and it also made it more interesting!
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It is important to notice that the narrative doesn’t finish with the flashback. On the contrary, the
flashback helps to understand what is happening but the narrative must have a resolution. So the
same way as you got into the FB, you need to indicate that you have returned to your original story.

Useful phrases for leading into Useful phrases for leading out of
flashbacks flashbacks
- (Sitting by the fire that night), he/she let his/her mind - With a star, X brought himself/herself back to the
drift back to how it all began. … present.
- Later, (on the way home), he/she went over everything - Suddenly, (the noise of a clock striking/children playing)
that had happened in his/her mind. … roused X from his/her thoughts.
- To think that (the day/the trip/the holiday) had all - Sighing/Smiling, X returned to the present.
started so normally. …
- Now, (back in his/her flat), X could at last begin to forget
- Looking back, he/she could scarcely believe all that had what had happened.
happened.
- If only he/she hadn’t chosen (that day/that person/that
holiday) to …

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