Information structure

How information structuring is organised in English grammar

The grammatical pattern of spreading information across the subject and the predicate maps against the pragmatic signals we usually expect, with given information coming before new information. This is illustrated below:

In other words, the grammatical pattern is overlayed with a pragmatic pattern that speakers use in order to identify the important information in the clause. Here are some examples showing how English can reorganise the word order to allow different aspects of the clause to be in focus.

In addition to the passives and cleft constructions illustrated below, existentials, dislocation and inversion can all be used to reorganise word order in English.

Topic comment

The topic comment structure is the normal strategy for organising a series of sentences in English discourse. In this pattern, each sentence begins by referring to the 'topic'. This is done by invoking an established idea or entity. The sentence is completed by providing a 'comment' on the topic. The following excerpt from ABC News online and AAP is a good example of this strategy, with each sentence after the first referring back to a person already mentioned in the preceding text.

In this example, the topic of most clauses is also the grammatical subject. This is true for each of the following clauses:

• Lawyers for former Gold Coast doctor Mohamed Haneef have welcomed the resignation of Australian Federal Police Commissioner Mick Keelty.

• Commissioner Keelty will leave his post on September 2

• He has been in the position since 2001

• his current appointment was due to run until 2011

• Commissioner Keelty was in charge of AFP during the investigation into Dr Haneef's alleged links to the failed terrorist attacks in London and Glasgow in 2007

• Dr Haneef was imprisoned for two weeks and had his visa revoked during the investigation

If we rewrote the text so that the topic and comment of each clause were reversed the text is much more difficult to understand. Some of it doesn't seem to make much sense at all... (We have left the first sentence as it was since there is no preceding context to indicate what the topic should be in this case.)

This illustrates that if you want your hearer or reader to follow along with what you are trying to communicate, it is a good strategy to provide connections through the text by identifying established entities in the discourse in the topic slot and using them to anchor the rest of your message.

End focus

Another way of thinking about this strategy of starting with established information is to think about the contrast between given and new information. Since we are all used to the strategy of identifying given information with the start of the sentence, we are all good at keeping an eye out for new information later in the sentence. In fact, as English speakers, we all typically work on the assumption that the new information, that is, the part of the sentence that deserves to be the focus of our attention will be the end of the sentence. This is the principle of 'end focus'. If you want the reader or hearer to take in new information, a good place for it to be is at the end of your sentence.

This also represents an alternative perspective on the difficulties posed by the news report we have been playing with above. In reading the modified text we are troubled by finding old information in positions where we would expect to be told something new.

Front focus

Doing the unexpected is a great strategy for drawing attention to something. So, if you really want to grab your hearer's or reader's attention, it is also possible to deliberately put new information at the front of the sentence. By putting new information where it is not expected, you signal to your audience that you have something to highlight. Here's another modified version of part of the same text with the adverb phrases expressing time in front focus. Notice how placing the time of each event in front focus changes the feel of the whole text.

End weight

We tend to process texts most efficiently when given information is presented before new information. In addition, we also understand sequences in which short and simple sequences come before long and complex ones better than the other way around. As a result, people tend to put these 'heavier' elements towards the end of the sentence. This is the principle of 'end weight'. As with front focus, there are a range of strategies available in English to overcome the usual order of subject then predicate to ensure that end weight is managed appropriately.

Consider the following example, taken from the comments submitted in connection with the article quoted above:

This excerpt shows how it can be difficult to balance competing goals and strategies. The writer of this comment has failed to follow the end weight principle and comes off sounding rather verbose as a result. Perhaps this choice in ordering the phrases reflects the importance the writer attached to highlighting their version of particular details about the events in question, leading them to place this rather 'heavy' sequence in the front focus position. In order to follow the principle of end weight, we could edit the sentence as follows: