Unit 5

Question 1

The following list is a basic summary of what we have learned about constituent order so far:

Answer 1

1. The default order is to place the verb first (with certain exceptions, such as conjunctions)
2. The default order can be violated by placing constituents in a marked position in front of the verb
3. Marked preverbal constituents can be of two types: points of departure and marked focus
4. Points of departure can be either referential or situational
5. Points of departure look backward, signaling a shift from a prior referent or situation, and also look forward, providing a starting point for what follows
6. Points of departure always appear before marked focus constituents

Question 2

How are most sentences structured

Answer 2

most sentences are structured as topic-comment expressions with the comment making an assertion about the sentence’s topic. The topic of a sentence will be presupposed information, that is, information that has already been explicitly mentioned in the preceding context or that is otherwise established by its associations with what has already been stated.

Question 3

What is it called when a sentence presents all new information?

Answer 3

a presentational sentence

Question 4

Examples of topic-comment sentences

Answer 4

“[1] Once upon a time there lived a man with his son, Jacob. [2] Jacob had a beautiful chestnut-colored stallion. [3] The stallion had a fiery temperament and could run like the wind.”

The second and third sentences are topic-comment sentences. Notice that the topic of the second sentence is “Jacob,” which is established information since Jacob was introduced in the first sentence. The predicate of the second sentence, “had a beautiful chestnut-colored stallion,” is the comment. The topic “Jacob” is the established concept that the second sentence is about, and the comment “had a beautiful chestnut-colored stallion” is what is asserted about the topic. In the third sentence, the topic shifts to “the stallion,” about which a new comment is made, namely that, it “had a fiery temperament and could run like the wind.”

Question 5

What is the term that refers to the information that is typically new and that is being asserted in a clause?

Answer 5

Focus (this will typically be in the comment portion of the topic-comment sentence; the topic will typically be information that has already been established, or is easily related to something already mentioned. But sometimes at the beginning of a discourse, the focus can be an entire sentence (“Once upon a time there lived a man with his son, Jacob”) since everything in the sentence is new and being asserted.)

Question 6

Topic

Answer 6

Information Type: old

Information Status: presupposed

Question 7

Focus (i.e. comment)

Answer 7

Information Type: typically new

Information Status: asserted

Question 8

What is a clause-focus construction?

Answer 8

A sentence that consists entirely of new asserted information (typically, but not always is the first sentence)

Question 9

What is a predicate-focus construction?

Answer 9

Where there is a topic that is presupposed (already having been introduced previously) and the rest of the sentence asserts new information.

Question 10

What is a narrow-focus construction?

Answer 10

When the focus is limited to a single element or constituent in the clause and everything else is presupposed (both the topic and some information in the focus are already established, but there is only a limited amount of new information)

Question 11

Examples of clause, predicate, and narrow focus?

Answer 11

(Husband to relatives) [1] Mr. Smith lives next door. [2] He has three daughters.
(Wife to Husband) [3] Mr. Smith has two daughters.
Sentence one is clause-focus; sentence two is predicate focus; and sentence 3 is narrow focus.

Question 12

Summary of the three types of focus constructions:

Answer 12

1. Clause Focus: the subject and the verb are asserted information as well as most or all of the other constituents of the clause.
2. Predicate Focus: the subject is presupposed but some if not all of the information in the predicate is asserted.
3. Narrow Focus: only one constituent is asserted information, and this constituent fits into a presupposed framework.

Question 13

When will you most often see a clause focus? (aka presentational clause)

Answer 13

1. when a new participant is introduced, whether for the first time or whether to an existing scene. In the earlier example “Once upon a time there lived a man with his son, Jacob,” everything in the sentence is new information. More common, however, is to introduce a new participant to an existing scene, in which case we are likely to find a bit of old information in the clause-focus (or presentational) construction as a way of linking the new participant to the existing scene.

[Mark 5:2 provides an example of this. In this case a new participant, the man possessed by a legion of demons, is introduced to a scene in which Jesus is arriving on shore: εὐθὺς ὑπήντησεν αὐτῷ ἐκ τῶν μνημείων ἄνθρωπος ἐν πνεύματι ἀκαθάρτῳ (“immediately a man with an unclean spirit greeted him from the tombs.”) Almost everything in this clause is new: the subject (“a man with an unclean spirit,” the verb (“greeted”), and the place from which he emerged (“from the tombs”). The only piece of established information is the pronoun αὐτῷ, referring to Jesus. This mention of Jesus allows the demon-possessed man to be connected to the current scene by means of the most important participant in the Gospel of Mark, Jesus.]

Question 14

True or False? Constituent order in Greek is more about the organization of information rather than the position of subjects and objects

Answer 14

Your answer : True

Question 15

Which kind of information is typically referred to by the term focus?

1. topical information
2. unimportant information
3. presupposed information
4. asserted information

Answer 15

4. asserted information

Question 16

In the clause-focus construction, which is the asserted information?

1. the verb
2. the topic
3. the subject
4. the subject and the verb plus other constituents

Answer 16

4. the subject and the verb plus other constituents

Question 17

In the predicate-focus construction, which is the asserted information?

1. the entire clause
2. the subject and the object (if there is one)
3. the verb and its subject
4. constituents other than the subject

Answer 17

4. constituents other than the subject

Question 18

rue or False? Topics are presupposed information.

Answer 18

Your answer : True

Question 19

What type of information is typically included in a narrow-focus construction?

Answer 19

(1) a correction, [Husband to Relative: Mr. Smith lives next door. He has three daughters.
Wife to Husband: Mr. Smith has two daughters.]

(2) a choice between alternatives or [Teacher: You must skip recess or write 100 sentences.
Student: I will skip recess.]

(3) a question or an answer to a question. [Where did John eat dinner?
He ate dinner at Giordano’s Pizza.]

Question 20

What type of information is most often included?

Answer 20

questions and answers

Question 21

In the ordering of constituent parts, where does the construction of the narrow-focus usually go, and why is this a problem? And how does this get resolved?

Answer 21

1. before the verb
2. this is where a point of departure normally goes
3. points of departure always precede preverbal focus constituents.

Question 22

True or False? The narrow-focus construction makes an assertion about a single grammatical element in the clause.

Answer 22

True

Question 23

Consider the question/answer pair: “Where did John eat dinner? He ate dinner at Giordano’s Pizza.” In the answer, which is the narrow focus?

Answer 23

Your answer : at Giordano’s Pizza

Question 24

Where do we normally expect a narrow-focus constituent to appear in the clause?

1. directly after the verb
2. preceding the point of departure
3. in front of the verb

Answer 24

Your answer : in front of the verb
Correct! In other words, we expect it in a marked position. Note that since it is the new information of the clause, if it appeared after the verb, it would still be focal (i.e., it would still be in “focus,” just not in “marked focus”).

Question 25

In a narrow-focus construction, the information status of the rest of the clause is which of the following?

Answer 25

Your answer : presupposed information

Question 26

True or False? If you have both a point of departure and a fronted focal constituent, the point of departure will precede the focal constituent.

Answer 26

True

Question 27

Clause focus is primarily associated with the introduction of what?

Answer 27

A participant to the scene

Question 28

What will typically be new information and what will not be?

Answer 28

1. A key feature of clause-focus constructions is that the subject will be new. Additionally, the verb and most (if not all) of the constituents in the predicate will be newly asserted.
2. Sometimes, however, a bit of established (i.e., old) information will also appear, especially when the narrative introduces a participant to an existing scene. This makes sense because the narrator will want to tie the new participant to the scene in some say.

Question 29

Consider Mark 5:23–24: καὶ παρακαλεῖ αὐτὸν πολλὰ λέγων ὅτι Τὸ θυγάτριόν μου ἐσχάτως ἔχει, ἵνα ἐλθὼν ἐπιθῇς τὰς χεῖρας αὐτῇ ἵνα σωθῇ καὶ ζήσῃ. καὶ ἀπῆλθεν μετʼ αὐτοῦ. Καὶ ἠκολούθει αὐτῷ ὄχλος πολύς, καὶ συνέθλιβον αὐτόν. Which of the following clauses is clause focus?

Answer 29

Your answer : Καὶ ἠκολούθει αὐτῷ ὄχλος πολύς

Correct! This clause introduces a large crowd that is following Jesus.

Question 30

True or False? Movement from specific to generic is typical when introducing participants to a scene.

Answer 30

Your answer : False

Correct! Generic to specific is less jarring

Question 31

Consider Mark 5:12: 1: Πέμψον ἡμᾶς εἰς τοὺς χοίρους ἵνα εἰς αὐτοὺς εἰσέλθωμεν in Mark 5:12? Which kind of focus construction appears in the subordinate clause ἵνα εἰς αὐτοὺς εἰσέλθωμεν?
Select one:
a. predicate focus 
b. narrow focus 
c. paragraph focus 
d. clause focus

Answer 31

a. predicate focus

Question 32

If information can be classified as “focus,” it is typically which of the following kinds of information?
Select one:
a. unimportant information 
b. new information 
c. old information 
d. topical information

Answer 32

b. new information