Given / New
- the Flow of Writing
Li Zhang
Granville TAFE
What is this lesson about?
It aims to illustrate how information is being
organised as we move from one sentence to
the next in report writing.
It looks at:
 The themes of the sentences
 The new information in the sentences
 The pattern of things which are appearing as the themes
and as new information in the sentences
Given/New

The natural element or information to make the theme
of a sentence is the information already given to the
reader in the text. The theme in English sentences
tends to be already known or familiar information.

Information which we place at the end of the sentence
is typically new information for the reader. It is
information which we have not yet told the reader
about.
Theme/Given/Starting-point
The theme/starting-point of a sentence is
what comes first in the sentence. It is a
significant feature of English as the theme
of the sentence is what we choose to
make the starting-point of our message to
the reader.
 By changing the theme of a sentence you
can significantly change the meaning of
the sentence.

Theme/Given/Starting-point
i. He came at half past eight.
 ii. Half past eight he came.

Which speaker do you think is annoyed and how do you know?
The second speaker puts the time in theme position in the
sentence which gives the emphasis to the time. By doing this we
can sense that this person is not happy about the late arrival.
Theme/Given/Starting-point
The important points about theme are:
Every sentence begins with a theme. We
can tell the theme of a sentence by seeing
what comes first in the sentence.
 The theme of a sentence is the starting
point for what the writer wants to tell
the reader.

The New Information

The new information the writer wants to
give the reader comes at the end of the
sentence. So the same time as a writer
chooses the theme of a sentence, he/she
chooses what new information is for the
reader.
Theme/Given/Starting-point

By choosing the theme of a sentence and
what new information is in the sentence
the writer decides how to package
information for the reader.
Theme-Given (example 1)
a) Last Thursday the committee met.
 b) The committee is now evaluating the
report.

Look at where the words the committee come in the two sentences.
In the first sentence it is new information which comes last in the
sentence. In the second sentence the committee is not new
information, it is known or given information and it becomes the
theme of the second sentence. The newsworthy element of the
second sentence is that the report is being evaluated. The writer
highlights this information as being news to the reader by placing it
at the end of the sentence.
Theme-Given (example 2)

a) Last Thursday the report was tabled.
b) The report is now being evaluated by
the committee.
In these sentences the writer has packaged the information
differently. In the second sentence the theme or starting-point of
the message is the report because it has been introduced in the
previous sentence.
The writer always has a choice of what to make the theme or
starting-point of a sentence and what to choose as the news of the
sentence. By doing this the writer is signalling to the reader how
the message is to be understood.
Given/New (example 3)

Coles analysis of the process is
complicated by the non-normal
distribution and stratification of the
measurements.
Coles analysis is the natural theme/starting-point of the sentence.
The new information of this sentence is the non-normal
distribution and stratification of the measurements. The natural
place for the new information is at the end of the sentence. The
packaging of information in this sentence follows the normal
pattern where given or known information is the theme of the
sentence and new information is at the end of the sentence.
Given/New

Once new information has been
introduced it can subsequently be picked
up to become the theme of the following
sentence – the starting point for the
message of the next sentence.
Given/New (example 4)
Let’s see how this pattern occurs in the following two sentences from
a report:
a)
b)
TAA analysis of the process is complicated by the nonnormal distribution and stratification of the measurements.
The non-normal distribution of the measurements makes it
difficult or impossible to determine the TAA status of
the process.
The news in the first sentence – the non-normal distribution and
stratification of the measurements – becomes the theme of the
second sentence.
Given/New
Coles analysis of the process
the non-normal distribution and measurements
stratification of
The non-normal distribution
the Coles status of the process of the measurements
This is a very common pattern in writing. The new information of one sentence becomes the
theme or starting-point for the next sentence.
Theme
New information
Theme
New information
Theme
New information
The Flow of Information

By looking at the pattern of what is made
theme and what comes as new
information we can track the flow of
information through the report.

The choice of themes we make in writing
paragraphs is essential to the writing of
well organised and coherent paragraphs.
Reference

Baylis, Joyce & Slade Effective Report Writing,
Centre for Workplace Communication and
Culture