Analysing Clause Structure using Systematic Functional Linguistics

Analysing clause structure includes finding the functional parts of the clause from the three perspectives, the metafunctions.

Ideational: Process, Participants, Circumstances-time, actor, process, place eg. (Recently Apple have expanded into China).

In the textual metafunction, a clause is analysed into Theme and Rheme. Theme is the first element in an English clause. When the theme is changed, the textual meaning or arrangement of the information changes.

In the interpersonal metafunction a clause is analysed into mood and residue.

Analysing clauses from the two texts using the 3 metafunctions

From Article 1:

“Officers made several arrests” and seized more than 50 weapons, including spears, axes and clubs.

In the textual metafunction, ‘officers’ is the theme and ‘made several arrests’ the rheme.

In the ideational metafunction ‘offices’ is the participant/actor, ‘made several arrests’ is the process. In the interpersonal metafunction the ‘officers made’ is the mood and ‘several arrests’, the residue.

From Article 2:

“Young people were not allowed” to be in the declared "high risk" area unless they had a valid reason, such as work, sport or making their way home.

In the textual metafunction, ‘young people’ is the theme and ‘were not allowed’ the rheme.

In the ideational metafunction ‘young people’ is the participant/actor, ‘were not allowed’ is the process.

In the interpersonal metafunction ‘young people’ is the mood and ‘were not allowed’ is the residue.