What are sentence functions?

• Based on the notion that there are implicit relations between propositions,
• eg: The kitchen is cold. The central heating is off.
• Most readers would probably interpret the second proposition as a cause of the first. This is called relational structure.
• Because these textual relations are choices determined by the purposes of the writer (his/her task) and by the writer's assumptions about the reader and by the propositions demanded by the subject, they are called rhetorical choices.

• Many propose that there is a highly recurrent set of sentence relations that we apply again and again when we write.
• Many have attempted to construct finite lists of the types of sentence relations used in different genres of writing.
• Kaldor, Herriman & Rochecouste (1998) has suggested that some relationships are independent (complete within the one sentence, eg STATE, INTRODUCE, DEFINE, etc), while others are dependent (relying on another sentence for completion of the idea, eg EXEMPLIFY, STATE CONSEQUENCE OF, etc).

• We already know that sentences have meaning which is generated by the combination of words
• Sentences also have rhetorical functions, eg "There's a spider on your shoulder!" not only describes the fact that there is a spider on your shoulder but it also 'warns' you about this, so the rhetorical function of the sentence is a 'warning'.

So an important aspect about the rhetorical functions of sentences is how they are signalled to the reader. In the first example above you will see that the words In addition have been used to tell the reader that something else about the previous class of things is to follow. In the second example the word However signals to the reader that there is something else, slightly contrary to the first sentence, which follows. This type of signalling is called explicit signalling. Often, when we are talking about more of the same thing, we don't signal this fact to the reader. It is possible to have no signal at all (implicit signalling) where the relationship between the two sentences is worked out from the content, as in the following example:

In the above example, the second sentence exemplifies the particular sub-disciplines of Educational Psychology but there is no explicit signal to show that this sentence has the function of 'exemplifies'. We say that the relationship is expressed implicitly but the rhetorical function is still the same. Implicitly related sentences are perfectly acceptable for some rhetorical functions but not for others. If the sentences are providing more of the same information, ie, more in terms of examples, more in terms of detail etc, then no signal is required. But as soon as the information is, in some way, contrary to the preceding sentence, then the reader needs to be warned. Look what happens when this sort of information is not signalled.

These two sentences actually contradict each other. The first sentences tells you one thing about the invention of paper and the next sentence tells you something quite different (even the opposite) about the invention of paper. The writer would be assumed to be contradicting himself/herself. But if a signal such as "however" is inserted then it is clear to the reader that the writer is providing contrasting information:

These devices (conjunction demonstrating the relationships between sentences stem from the English notion that that 'the reader needs to be warned', 'the reader needs to be told' etc. This is because, in English, we write for the reader, that is, it is the writer's responsibility to make their text readable (understandable for the reader). It is not the responsibility of the reader to work out what you are trying to say. Other languages are reader responsibile where a writer can imply something and it is the reader's role to work our the message - but not with English!