Chapter One Discourse and Situation 1
1.1 Language as System and as Activity 1
1.2 Language Use with Purpose and Function 4
1.3 Language in Situation 5
1.4 Analyzing the Context of Situation 8
1.5 Functions of Language 11
1.6 Criteria for a Text 15
Chapter Two Organization of Text 18
2.1 Organizing Ideas 19
2.1.1 Traditional Rhetorical Patterns 19
2.1.2 Tagmemics 20
2.1.3 Synectics 23
2.2 Organizing a Paragraph 24
2.2.1 A Helpful Pattern 25
2.2.2 Topic Sentence 28
2.3 Organizing an Essay 30
2.3.1 A Usual Pattern 30
2.3.2 Thesis Statement 35
2.3.3 Long Essays 37
Chapter Three The Underlying Organization 39
3.1 Organization of an Event and Its Description 39
3.2 Narratives in Real Life 42
3.2.1 Details of a Process 42
3.2.2 Complexity of a Process 43
3.2.3 Presentation of a Process 44
3.2.4 Speakers' Perspectives on a Process 47
3.3 From Narration to Argumentation 51
3.4 Argumentation in Real Life 52
3.5 A Philosophical Note 56
Chapter Four Functions of a Clause 60
4.1 Rank Scale in English Grammar 60
4.2 Functions of a Clause 64
4.3 Ideational Function 65
4.3.1 Transitivity 66
4.3.2 Tense,Epithesis and Circumstance 68
4.3.3 Logical Meaning 69
4.4 Interpersonal Function 72
4.4.1 Mood and Modality 73
4.4.2 Person,Attitude and Comment 75
4.5 Textual Function 76
4.5.1 Structural Cohesion(by Rank) 77
4.5.2 Structural Cohesion(Cross-Rank) 79
4.5.3 Non-Structural Cohesion 83
4.6 Multiple Functions of Linguistic Items 87
Chapter Five Reference 90
5.1 Personal Reference 90
5.1.1 Basic Concepts 90
5.1.2 Generalized Exophoric Reference 92
5.1.3 Tricky "It" 94
5.1.4 Archaic "He" 94
5.2 Demonstrative Reference 95
5.2.1 Basic Concepts 95
5.2.2 "Here," "There," "Now" and "Then" 96
5.2.3 "This"(and"These") vs."That"(and "Those") 97
5.2.4 "It"vs. "This," "That" and Others 99
5.2.5 "The" 103
5.2.5.1 Weak Pointing Power 103
5.2.5.2 A Difficult Item for Chinese Students 104
5.2.5.3 The Two-Question Rule 105
5.3 Comparative Reference 109
5.3.1 Basic Concepts 109
5.3.2 General Comparison 111
5.3.3 Particular Comparison 113
5.4 The Role of Exophora in Text 115
5.4.1 A Doubtful Status 115
5.4.2 Exophora in Everyday Life 117
5.4.3 Towards a Better Understanding of Reference 119
Chapter Six Substitution 121
6.1 Nominal Substitution 122
6.1.1 "One" and "Ones" 122
6.1.2 Different Uses of "One" 125
6.1.3 "The Same" 130
6.1.4 Comparison Between" One" or "Ones" and "the Same" 133
6.2 Verbal Substitution 135
6.2.1 Structure of the Verbal Group(Ⅰ) 135
6.2.2 "Do" as a Substitute 136
6.2.3 Different Uses of "Do" 138
6.3 Clausal Substitution 143
6.3.1 Difference Between Clausal and Verbal Substitution 143
6.3.2 Environments for "So" and "Not" 144
6.3.3 Conditions for Clausal Substitution 147
6.3.4 Different Uses of "So" 149
Chapter Seven Ellipsis 152
7.1 Nominal Ellipsis 152
7.1.1 Structure of the Nominal Group 152
7.1.2 Meaning of Nominal Ellipsis 153
7.1.3 Presupposition in Nominal Ellipsis 156
7.1.4 Types of Nominal Ellipsis 158
7.2 Verbal Ellipsis 164
7.2.1 Structure of the Verbal Group(Ⅱ) 165
7.2.2 Two Kinds of Verbal Ellipsis 167
7.2.3 Presupposition of Verbal Ellipsis 168
7.2.4 Verbal Ellipsis in the Clause 172
7.3 Clausal Ellipsis 174
7.3.1 Ellipsis in Fact Clauses 174
7.3.2 Ellipsis in Reported Speech 175
7.3.3 Adjacent Pairs 176
7.4 Ellipsis:Emphasizing the New 181
Chapter Eight Conjunction 185
8.1 Conjunctive Items 186
8.1.1 "Internal" and "External" Context 187
8.1.2 Additives 190
8.1.3 Adversatives 193
8.1.4 Causals 197
8.1.5 Temporals 201
8.1.6 Conjunction in Use 206
8.1.6.1 Textual and Structural Conjunction 206
8.1.6.2 Metalingual Comments 207
8.1.6.3 Cohesion and Coherence 210
8.2 Parallelism 214
8.2.1 Matching in Parallelism 215
8.2.2 "Matching" across the Text 220
8.2.3 Thematic Structure 223
8.2.3.1 Thematic Development of the Text 223
8.2.3.2 Organizing Themes for Your Audience 227
Chapter Nine Lexical Cohesion 232
9.1 Reiteration 233
9.1.1 Types of Reiteration 233
9.1.2 Reference in Reiteration 235
9.2 Discourse Marking 237
9.3 Lexical Net 240
9.3.1 Types of Lexical Links 240
9.3.2 Identifying Links 242
9.3.3 Bonds and Net 246
Chapter Ten Discourse Coherence 251
10.1 Concept of Coherence Revisited 251
10.2 Interactive Construction of Meaning 253
10.2.1 Falsity of the "Pipeline" Model 253
10.2.2 Why Construct Meaning 254
10.2.3 Being in the Other's Shoes 256
10.2.4 The "Least Effort" Principle 257
10.3 Theories about Discourse 263
10.3.1 Cooperative Principle 264
10.3.2 Politeness Principle 265
10.3.3 Speech Act Theory 266
10.3.4 Schema Theory 268
10.3.5 Dialogism 270
References 274
Index 276