The Problem With Exercise 5: Recognising Pre-Elements

Martin, Matthiessen & Painter (2010: 208):

Exercise 5 Recognising Pre-elements

Analyse the following nominal groups, labelling Focus, Deictic, Numerative, Epithet, Classifier, Thing, Qualifier as required. See 2.1.3 (ii).

1. both his maths exams
2. his two maths exams
3. some of the wine
4. the first light of day
5. the top of the cupboard with mirrors

6. one of the most popular writers of thrillers

Blogger Comments:

[1] To be clear, as previously demonstrated, the authors' notion of a Focus element is theoretically redundant and internally inconsistent.

[2] From the perspective of SFL Theory (Halliday 1985, 1994), the 'Focus' in each of these nominal groups is a Pre-Numerative:

[3] From the perspective of SFL Theory (Halliday 1985, 1994), the 'Focus' in each of these nominal groups is a Pre-Deictic:

[4] To be clear, in these two nominal groups, Head and Thing are 'in phase':