Thread: Subject at the end of phrase?

They talked about the cause of the floods (theme). The rheme is "heavy rains".
You have to ask the question of the sentence. The answer will be the rheme. The question is "What was the cause of the floods?" Heavy rains.

Originally Posted by Marcus

They talked about the cause of the floods (theme). The rheme is "heavy rains".
You have to ask the question of the sentence. The answer will be the rheme. The question is "What was the cause of the floods?" Heavy rains.

We have found out that "questions" are mostly useless for foreigners. You have to know the answer to ask the right question.

Originally Posted by radomir

Thanks for your answer.I understand that the beginning of the phrase is kept for the new and that we want to be underlined.
A flood occured yesterday.
Extremely dangerous became the flood (previously mentioned).
Thank you.

A flood occurred yesterday. The flood (previously mentioned) was very dangerous (new information).

We left Brasilia yesterday. Why? We were in danger because of a flood (you didn't know about the flood).

They have finally discovered the cause of the flood in Brasilia (we already know about the flood). It was heavy rains (new information).

Thank you.