some discourse features of requests and their responses in short conversations in the listening comprehension section of toefl materials

LIST OF TABLES Table 2: Primary and secondary clauses Halliday, 1994:219 8 Table 3: Basic types of clause complex Halliday, 1994:220 10 Table 4: Inserted conjunctions in the short conver

FACULTY OF POSTGRADUATE STUDIES

Một số đặc điểm diễn ngôn của yêu cầu và đáp lại yêu cầu

trong các hội thoại ngắn trong mục nghe hiểu

của tài liệu luyện thi TOEFL

M.A MINOR THESIS

FIELD: ENGLISH LINGUISTICS CODE: 60 22 15

HANOI – 2010

FACULTY OF POSTGRADUATE STUDIES

Một số đặc điểm diễn ngôn của yêu cầu và đáp lại yêu cầu

trong các hội thoại ngắn trong mục nghe hiểu

của tài liệu luyện thi TOEFL

M.A MINOR THESIS

FIELD: ENGLISH LINGUISTICS CODE: 60 22 15

SUPERVISOR: PHẠM XUÂN THỌ, M.A

HANOI – 2010

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Declaration i

Acknowledgments ii

Abstract iii

Table of contents v

List of tables vii

PART I: INTRODUCTION 1 1 Rationale for the study 1 2 Aims of the study 3

3 Scope of the study 3

4 Methods of the study 4 5 Design of the study 4 PART II: DEVELOPMENT 5 Chapter 1: Theoretical background 5 1.1 Introduction 5 1.2 Systemic Functional Grammar and the clause 5

1.2.1 A brief overview of Systemic Functional Grammar 5

1.2.2 The clause 6 1.3 Above the clause: the clause complex 7

1.3.1 Clause complex and sentence 7

1.3.2 Types of interdependency in clause complexes: parataxis and hypotaxis 8 1.3.3 A brief overview of logico-semantic relations in clause complexes: expansion and projection 9

1.3.4 Expansion 10

1.3.4.1 Elaboration 10

1.3.4.2 Extension 12

1.3.4.3 Enhancement 13

1.3.4.4 Embedded expansions 14

1.3.4.5 Implicitly marked logical-semantic relations in expansion 15

1.4 Summary 17

Chapter 2: Expansion in the requests and their responses of the short conversations18 2.1 Introduction 18

2.2 Clause complexes in the requests and their responses of the short conversations 19

2.3 Expansion in the requests and their responses of the short conversations 24

2.4 Conjunctions for expansion in the requests and their responses of the short conversations 32

2.5 Summary 37

PART III: CONCLUSION 38

1 Major findings 38

2 Implications 39

3 Suggestions for further research 40

References 41

LIST OF TABLES

Table 2: Primary and secondary clauses (Halliday, 1994:219) 8

Table 3: Basic types of clause complex (Halliday, 1994:220) 10

Table 4: Inserted conjunctions in the short conversations 22

Table 5: Percentages of paratactic expansion in the short conversations 31

Table 6: Percentages of hypotactic expansion in the short conversations 31

Table 7: Original conjunctions in the short conversations 33

PART I: INTRODUCTION

1 Rationale for the study

Besides IELTS (International English Language Testing System), TOEIC (Test of English for International Communication), and TOEFL iBT (Test of English as a Foreign Language: Internet-based Test), TOEFL ITP (Test of English as a Foreign Language: Institutional Testing Program), which is composed of previously administered TOEFL Paper-based Test forms or TOEFL PBT, has often been used to test the English competence of learners A certain acceptable TOEFL ITP score is now one of the conditions and options which can help professionals get a higher degree or advancement in their career or both This is manifested in Circular number 08/2009/TT-BGDĐT from the Ministry of Education and Training of Vietnam that candidates who have a valid minimum TOEFL ITP score of 400 or higher do not have to take the English entrance examination for his M.A In addition, candidates who have a valid TOEFL ITP score of 450 or higher are allowed to defend their M.A dissertation without taking the final exam in English This

is also manifested in Circular number 10/2009/TT-BGDĐT from the Ministry of Education and Training of Vietnam that candidates who have a valid minimum TOEFL ITP score of

450 or higher do not have to take the Ph.D entrance examination for English, and candidates who have a valid TOEFL ITP score of 500 or higher are allowed to defend their Ph.D dissertation without taking the final exam in English Realizing the importance of English, the President of Thai Nguyen University issued Decision number 805QĐ/TCCB stating that from 2008, a TOEFL ITP score is one of the conditions and options used to decide the job status of the lecturers in all member institutions of the University Specifically, only applicants with a minimum TOEFL ITP score of 400 can sign teaching contracts; only applicants with a minimum TOEFL ITP score of 450 can apply for a permanent teaching position A considerable number of other institutions, like Hanoi University of Education, also require their lecturers to have a valid and acceptable TOEFL ITP score

As a teacher of English in Thai Nguyen University, I have had some experience in instructing quite a large number of students in TOEFL ITP During the lessons, I have found that listening seems to be a challenge to my students One reason is that their English is not good enough Our students are graduates, so they probably have the

necessary experience and knowledge about the world However, their knowledge of English is quite limited because they were not English majors, and the majority of them do not use English much in their jobs Thus, they tend to do poorly in the listening comprehension section of the practice tests in TOEFL PBT materials designed and introduced by ETS (Educational Testing Service), in which the short conversations between two people in part A are the first challenge Besides the high speaking speed of the native speakers in the recordings and the fact that test takers are allowed to listen to the recordings only one time without taking notes, the meaning of each conversation conveyed

by the grammatical structures seems to be one of the linguistic components affecting the students‘ understanding This means that to comprehend these conversations, the students have to combine their knowledge of the world and their experience with their knowledge

of English, in which phonetics and semantics are logically structured and conveyed in grammar to create communication or language in use known as discourse in social contexts This also means that grammar is the base supporting meaning in discourse and discourse analysis This role of grammar has been recognized by Halliday (1994: xvi):

… But whatever the final purpose or direction of the analysis, there has to be a grammar

at the base … The current preoccupation is with discourse analysis, or ‘text linguistics’; and it is sometimes assumed that this can be carried on without grammar – or even that it

is somehow an alternative to grammar But this is an illusion A discourse analysis that is not based on grammar is not an analysis at all, but simply a running commentary on a text: …

The requests and their responses in the short conversations between two people in part A of the listening comprehension section of the TOEFL PBT practice tests by ETS consist of clause complexes formed by clause expansion in Systemic Functional Grammar These clause complexes help the speakers in these conversations express their intentions in

a logical way known as the logico-semantic relations among their clauses in Systemic Functional Grammar The reason for the analysis of the clause complexes in the requests and their responses in these conversations also originates from Halliday‘s (1994:224) viewpoint:

The clause complex is of particular interest in spoken language, because it represents the dynamic potential of the system – the ability to ‘choreograph’ very long and intricate patterns of semantic movement while maintaining a continuous flow of discourse that is

coherent without being constructional This kind of flow is very uncharacteristic of written language

All the reasons above have encouraged us to conduct an analysis of clause expansion in the requests and their responses in these short conversations in light of Systemic Functional Grammar so as to know how it functions to display their typical discourse features, which can contribute to improving the teaching and learning of the

conversations of this kind

2 Aims of the study

As stated in the title and the rationale for the study, this study is intended to find out the typical discourse features of the requests and their responses in the short conversations

in the listening comprehension section of the TOEFL PBT practice tests in light of clause expansion in Systemic Functional Grammar To achieve this aim, the study attempts to answer the following research questions:

1 How does clause expansion function in relation to the other aspects of Systemic Functional Grammar to display the typical discourse features of the requests and their responses in the short conversations in the listening comprehension section of the TOEFL PBT practice tests?

2 Which typical discourse features in light of clause expansion in Systemic Functional Grammar can be generalized from the analysis of the requests and their responses in the short conversations in the listening comprehension section of the TOEFL PBT practice tests?

3 Scope of the study

As stated in the aims of the study, within the framework of an M.A minor thesis,

we can only focus on the issues concerning clause expansion in Systemic Functional Grammar in the requests and their responses in the short conversations in the listening comprehension section of the TOEFL PBT practice tests These issues are the components

of clause expansion and clause expansion-related aspects of Systemic Functional Grammar, which are discussed and realized throughout the study Twenty short conversations containing requests and their responses were selected from Part A of the listening comprehension scripts of the book ―TOEFL Preparation Kit Workbook 2002-

2003, Volume 1‖ designed and introduced by ETS Each of the short conversations

consists of two utterances, each of which is made by a man or a woman Only the clause complexes in the requests and their responses are analyzed in light of clause expansion in Systemic Functional Grammar The twenty short conversations under analysis were selected according to Quang‘s (2007:151-172) and Nguyen and Vinh‘s (2008:182-184) suggestions for identifying and using requests and their responses, which will be discussed

in more detail in the introduction of chapter two of the dissertation

4 Methods of the study

The basic methods applied to this study are descriptive, comparative, and analytical methods of language research which are generally inductive Firstly, the issues concerning clause expansion in Systemic Functional Grammar are extracted, described, compared, and discussed in chapter one of the thesis to set up the theoretical background underlying the analysis, discussion, and generalization in chapter two and part three of the dissertation Then, the thirty-two clause complexes in the requests and their responses in the twenty selected short conversations are analyzed in light of clause expansion in Systemic Functional Grammar In chapter two and part three of the thesis, the results of the study will be discussed and generalized based on the statistics to be able to contribute to improving the teaching and understanding of the conversations of this kind

5 Design of the study

This dissertation consists of three main parts:

Part one presents the rationale for the study, the aims, scope, methods, and design

of the study

Part two consists of two chapters Chapter one discusses clause expansion and its relevant issues in Systemic Functional Grammar that underlie the analysis of the clause complexes in the requests and their responses in the short conversations in chapter two Chapter two analyzes the clause complexes in the requests and their responses in the short conversations in light of clause expansion in Systemic Functional Grammar and discusses their typical discourse features Each section of this chapter analyzes and discusses one aspect of expansion in the requests and their responses

Part three summarizes the major findings of the study, draws out the theoretical and pedagogical implications of these results, and suggests the directions for further research

PART II: DEVELOPMENT

Chapter 1: THEORETICAL BACKGROUND

1.1 Introduction

This chapter discusses the main issues concerning clause expansion in Systemic Functional Grammar that underlie the analysis of the clause complexes in the requests and their responses in the short conversations in chapter two We will present an overview of Systemic Functional Grammar in which the clause and clause expansion creating the clause complexes play a crucial part Then, the main components and features of the clause complex and clause expansion will be discussed Projection, which is not the main issue of the study, will also be discussed briefly because it also contributes to clause expansion to create clause complexes

1.2 Systemic Functional Grammar and the clause

1.2.1 A brief overview of Systemic Functional Grammar

Systemic Functional Grammar is based on the functions of language suggested by Halliday (1970, 1985, cited in Van (2006a:28-29)) According to him, language performs

three metafunctions which are ideational function, interpersonal function, and textual

function The ideational function reflects the speaker‘s experience of the real world, including the inner of his consciousness known as the ―content‖ The ideational function consists of two subtypes, namely the experiential function and logical function Language gives structures to experience and helps determine our way of looking at things and combining things in a logical way to serve this function The interpersonal function serves

to establish and maintain social relations among people who play the role of a questioner

or a respondent by asking or answering a question and getting things done The textual function provides links with language itself and with the situation in which language is used This function enables speakers and writers to create situationally relevant discourses This function also enables listeners and readers to distinguish a discourse from a random set of utterances and sentences

According to Halliday‘s (1978, 1985, 1994, cited in Van (2005a, 2005b, 2006b), each of the three metafunctions above is realized through a different system The ideational metafunction is realized through the transitivity system or system of process types There

are six types of processes in the transitivity system, namely relational process, verbal process, mental process, behavioural process, material process, and existential process, all

of which are related to the participants and the circumstances in which they occur The interpersonal metafunction is realized through the mood structure The mood structure consists of mood and residue Mood is composed of subject and finite Residue is composed of predicator, complement, and adjunct The textual metafunction is realized through the thematic structure The thematic structure consists of theme and rheme Theme coincides with the initial component(s) of the clause Thus, theme is known as the point of departure of the message of the clause Rheme is the remainder of the message which develops theme by adding more information to theme in the clause The following example illustrates how these metafunctions are realized through their respective systems in a clause:

Clause expansion and projection are the components of the logical function which gives structures to experience and helps determine our way of looking at things and combining things in a logical way The clause complexes formed logically by the clauses like the example above will be dealt with in the next chapters of the thesis

1.2.2 The clause

According to Thomson (1996:22), the meaning of a text is composed of its smaller components, i.e it‘s sentences, clauses, groups, words, morphemes, which are called

―rank‖ in linguistics More specifically, a sentence consists of one or more than one clause;

a clause consists of one or more than one group; a group consists of one or more than one word; a word consists of one or more than one morpheme Each unit of meaning is expressed in one rank, which is shown in the following table:

Table 1: The rank scale (Thomson, 1996:22)

Sentence ///The little boy shouted when he saw the wolf///

Clause ///The little boy shouted//when he saw the wolf///

Group //[The little boy] [shouted]//

Word [{the}{little}{boy}]

Morpheme {<shout> <ed>}

As can be seen from the table above, the clause plays an important role in expressing meaning in language in use or discourse At the clause rank, people can express how they feel, what they think, how they do things, and how entities exist and happen It is this role of the clause that makes it a basic unit in discourse analysis in Systemic Functional Grammar

1.3 Above the clause: the clause complex

1.3.1 Clause complex and sentence

In Systemic Functional Grammar, the concept of ―unit complex‖ means that a larger unit can be interpreted through another ―unit complex‖ smaller in rank Specifically, according to (Halliday, 1994:215-216), a verbal group, an adverbial group, and a nominal group can be interpreted as a word complex in which a Head word is modified by other words Similarly, a sentence can be interpreted as a clause complex in which a Head clause

is modified by other clauses In these two cases, the group evolves by expanding outwards from the word, and the sentence evolves by expanding outwards from the clause Consequently, the expansion causes the word complex to replace the group and the clause complex to replace the sentence The expansion appears, reflecting the dynamic potential

of language in use Therefore, ―the notion of ‗clause complex‘ enables us to account in full for the functional organization of sentences‖ while the sentence is simply ―the orthographic unit that is contained between full stops‖ This is the reason why ―a sentence is a constituent of writing while a clause complex is a constituent of grammar‖ (Halliday:

1994:216) This means that clause complex is the grammatical unit above the clause in Systemic Functional Grammar Therefore, the term clause complex is the only grammatical unit above the clause used in the dissertation from now on

1.3.2 Types of interdependency in clause complexes: parataxis and hypotaxis

This section discusses the interdependency or taxis which is composed of parataxis and hypotaxis among the clauses in a clause complex According to Halliday (1994:218),

in a clause complex, the types of interdependency among its clauses depend on their status

If the status is unequal, the modifying clause is dependent on the modified one If the status

is equal, they are independent clauses Hypotaxis is the relation between a dependent clause and its dominant one on which it is dependent Parataxis is the relation between two clauses of equal status in which one initiates and the other continues Halliday (1994:218) uses the Greek letter notations: , , … to represent hypotactic structures and the numerical notations: 1, 2, 3, … to represent paratactic structures in a clause complex, e.g

I would if I could, but I can‘t

Looking at the clause complex above, we can find that the relationship between ―I would if could‖ and ―but I can‘t‖ is paratactic with 1 and 2 as the notations respectively In 1: ―I would if I could,‖ the relationship between ―I would‖ and ―if I could‖ is hypotactic with  and  as the notations respectively

Halliday (1994:218) also suggests the term clause nexus formed by primary and secondary clauses He explains that the primary is the initiating clause in a paratactic nexus and the dominant clause in a hypotactic; the secondary is the continuing clause in a paratactic nexus and the dependent clause in a hypotactic This is shown in the following table:

Table 2: Primary and secondary clauses (Halliday, 1994:219)

The difference between the numerical notations and the Greek letter notations is that there is only one ordering presented by the sequence of 1, 2, 3, … in paratactic

relations while there are various orderings between at least two clauses in hypotactic relations, which are shown as follows in Halliday (1994:222-223):

(i) The dependent clause follows the dominant one, e.g

You never can tell till you try ()

(ii) The dependent clause precedes the dominant one, e.g

If wishes were horses, beggars would ride ()

(iii) The dependent clause is enclosed in the dominant one, e.g

Picture, if you can, a winkle (<<>>)

(iv) The dependent clause encloses the dominant one, e.g

He might, he said, finish it himself (<<>>)

1.3.3 A brief overview of logico-semantic relations in clause complexes: expansion and projection

Before discussing expansion in more detail, we would like to present a brief overview of the logico-semantic relations among the clauses in a clause complex Besides the interdependency among the clauses in a clause complex, Halliday (1994:219-220) also introduces the logico-semantic relations among them which are expansion and projection Projection is not the main issue of the study; it still contributes to the expansion of the clauses in a clause complex, however According to Halliday (1994:219), expansion may

be defined as a case in which the secondary clause expands the primary clause by elaborating it, extending it, or enhancing it One clause expands another by elaborating on

it (or some portion of it): restating in other words, specifying in greater detail, commenting, or exemplifying to give us the notion of elaboration One clause expands another by extending beyond it: adding some new element, giving an exception to it, or offering an alternative to give us the notion of extension One clause expands another by embellishing around it: qualifying it with some circumstantial feature of time, place, cause

or condition to give us the notion of enhancement Projection may be defined as a case in which the secondary clause is projected through the primary clause, which instates it as a locution or an idea In projection of locution, one clause is projected through another, which presents it as a locution, a construction of wording In projection of idea, one clause

is projected through another, which presents it as an idea, a construction of meaning

Halliday (1994:219) uses (=) for elaboration, (+) for extension, and (x) for enhancement in expansion He uses (―) for projection of locution and (‗) for projection of idea The examples in the following table illustrate Halliday‘s (1994:219-220) descriptions above:

John didn‘t wait;

= 

(b) extension

John ran away,

1 and Fred stayed behind

+ 2

John ran away,

 whereas Fred stayed behind

+ 

(c) enhancement

John was scared,

John thought to himself:

implicitly marked logical semantic relations in expansion

1.3.4 Expansion

1.3.4.1 Elaboration

Halliday (1994:225) describes elaboration as follows:

In elaboration, one clause elaborates on the meaning of another by further specifying or describing it The secondary clause does not introduce a new clement into the picture but rather provides a further characterization of one that is already there, restating it, clarifying

it, refining it, or adding a descriptive attribute or comment The thing that is elaborated may be the primary clause as a whole, or it may be just some part of it – one or more of its constituents

In parataxis, elaboration is categorized as three types which Halliday (1994:226) calls exposition, exemplification, and clarification

He explains that in exposition the secondary clause restates the thesis of the primary clause in different words, to present it from another point of view, or perhaps just

to reinforce the message For example:

That clock doesn‘t go; it‘s not working

She wasn‘t a show dog; I didn‘t buy her as a show dog

Each argument was fatal to the other: both could not be true

(Halliday, 1994:226) The logical-semantic relation in exposition can be expressed explicitly by ―or (rather)‖, ―in other words‖, ―that is to say‖, or ―i.e.‖ in writing

He also explains that in exemplification the secondary clause develops the thesis of the primary clause by becoming more specific about it, often citing an actual example For instance:

We used to have races – we used to have relays

Your face is the same as everybody else has – the two eyes so, nose in the middle, mouth under

(Halliday, 1994:226)The logical-semantic relation in exemplification can be expressed explicitly by ―for example‖, ―for instance‖, ―in particular‖, or ―e.g.‖ in writing

He describes clarification as a case in which the secondary clause clarifies the thesis of the primary clause, backing it up with some form of explanation or explanatory comment For example:

Alice could only look puzzled: she was thinking of the pudding

They weren‘t show animals; we just had them as pets

He never said anything to her; in fact his last remark was evidently addressed to a tree

I wasn‘t surprised – it was what I had expected

(Halliday, 1994:226) The logical-semantic relation in clarification can be expressed explicitly by ―in fact‖, ―actually‖, ―indeed‖, ―at least‖, or ―i.e.‖, or sometimes ―viz.‖ in writing

In hypotactic elaboration, Halliday (1994:226-229) explains that the primary clause

is elaborated by non-defining relative clauses According to him, both finite and non-finite classes of this kind can function as elaboration For example:

They decided to cancel the show, which upset everybody alike

Inflation, which was necessary for the system, became also lethal

Have you been to Wensleydale, where the cheese comes from?

I worked for a local firm at that time, selling office equipment

It‘s my own invention – to keep clothes and sandwiches in

(Halliday, 1994:227-229)

1.3.4.2 Extension

Halliday (1994:230) states that the meaning of one clause can be extended by another clause This can be just an addition, a replacement or an alternative According to him, in parataxis, extension is composed of addition, variation, and alternation In addition relation, ―one process is simply adjoined to another; there is no implication of any causal

or temporal relationship between them‖ In variation relation, ―one clause is presented as being in total or partial replacement of another‖ In alternation relation, ―one clause is offered as alternative to another‖ Extension relation is typically expressed by ―and‖,

―nor‖, ―or‖, ―but‖, ―instead‖, ―except‖, in which addition is typically expressed by ―and‖,

―nor‖, ―but‖, variation is typically expressed by ―instead‖, ―except‖, and alternation is typically expressed by ―or‖ These are illustrated in the following examples cited from Halliday (1994:230-231):

I breed the poultry, and my husband looks after the garden

They don‘t give any instructions, nor would it help if they did

Either you go ahead and take the plunge or you wait till you think you can afford it, which you never will

Don‘t stand there chattering to yourself like that, but tell me your name and your business.

In terms of hypotaxis, Halliday (1994:231) categorizes extension as addition, variation (replacement and subtraction), and alternation, but only the dependent clause which is finite or non-finite extends

In the finite form, hypotactic addition can be typically expressed by the conjunctions ―whereas‖ and ―while‖; hypotactic subtraction in addition relation can be typically expressed by ―except that‖, ―but (for the fact) that‖; hypotactic alternation can be typically expressed by ―if … not‖ (―if not a, then b‖) There is no hypotactic replacement

in the finite form, however These are illustrated in the following examples cited from Halliday (1994:231):

The executioner, the King and the Queen were all talking at once, while all the rest were quite silent

If you haven‘t lost it, then it‘s in that cupboard

He kept on pretty well, except that he had a habit of now and then falling off side ways.

In the non-finite form, Halliday (1994:231-232) also suggests imperfective clauses

in hypotactic extension, which are introduced by a preposition or preposition group functioning as a conjunctive like ―besides‖, ―apart from‖, ―instead of‖, ―other than‖,

―without‖ These are illustrated in the following examples cited from Halliday 232):

(1994:231-We used to go away at the weekend, taking all our gear with us

You won‘t get rid of it, other than giving it away.

1.3.4.3 Enhancement

Halliday (1994:232) states that one clause can enhance the meaning of another by referring to the time, place, manner, cause or condition According to him, enhancement also consists of parataxis and hypotaxis In hypotactic enhancement, both finite and non-finite clauses can combine with their dominant one The following examples cited from Halliday (1994:234-238) illustrate these:

* Finite:

(i) Temporal:

It‘s the Cheshire Cat: now I shall have somebody to talk to

Alice didn‘t want to begin another argument, so she said nothing

I like to follow up one line at a time, otherwise there‘s a muddle

* Non-finite:

They must be crazy, throwing all that good stuff away

To claim your rebate simply fill in the voucher and post it to us

Turn off the lights before leaving.

1.3.4.4 Embedded expansions

Halliday (1994:242) defines embedding as a mechanism whereby a clause or phrase comes to function as a constituent within the structure of a group, which itself is a constituent of a clause

He also uses the notation ―[[ ]]‖ to contain each of the embedded clauses in a clause complex According to him, embedded clauses can elaborate, extend, and enhance their preceding group which itself is a constituent of a clause Embedded elaboration is composed of finite or non-finite relative clauses which can function as Postmodifier clauses or Head clauses introduced by ―who‖, ―which‖, ―that‖ Embedded extension is composed of possessive relative clauses introduced by ―whose‖, ―of which‖ Embedded enhancement is composed of time, place, manner, cause or condition circumstances introduced by their respective clauses The following examples cited from Halliday (1994:243-248) illustrate these:

* Finite:

The man [[who came to dinner]] stayed for a month

She couldn‘t find anyone [[she could give the message to]]

The reason [[why I like her]] is she doesn‘t have favourites

* Non-finite:

Alice was too much puzzled [[to say anything]]

[[Threatening people]] will get you nowhere

I heard [[the water lapping on the crag]].

1.3.4.5 Implicitly marked logical-semantic relations in expansion

In many cases, the identification of the logical-semantic relations in expansion does not depend only on the explicit use of their markers Halliday (1994:239) states that in both spoken and written English, we find unconjoined sequences which seem to be functioning

as clause complexes, yet which do not seem to be restricted to the elaborating type This arises in the analysis of both finite and non-finite clauses In the case of finite clauses, Halliday (1994:239) introduces an example from spontaneous speech in which the clauses are related by expansion marked off by commas:

At the last meeting somebody almost got drowned, he was practising rescuing somebody, no-one had really shown how to do it, he had to be dragged out by some of the older lads, nobody really thought it was that bad, they just thought he‘d got cramp or something Halliday suggests two ways to approach this problem Firstly, he suggests that we can insert a conjunction without changing the logical-semantic relation wherever we can recognize a relation of expansion Thus, without paying attention to projections, the example above can be reworded and analyzed as follows:

///At the last meeting somebody almost got drowned;//he was practising rescuing

somebody,//‗but‘ no-one had really shown how to do it,//‗so‘ he had to be dragged

+ 3α 3‘β out by some of the older lads.///Nobody really thought it was that bad;//they just

thought he‘d got cramp or something.///

= 2α 2‘β

(Halliday, 1994:239)

Secondly, he suggests that we do not need to reword the example text by inserting the conjunctions as above Thus, the text can be analyzed as follows:

///At the last meeting somebody almost got drowned;//he was practising rescuing

= 2α 2‘β

(Halliday, 1994:240)For non-finite clauses, Halliday suggests that we can depend on the contexts to define the types of expansion Accordingly, if the nearest finite form is a non-defining relative clause, then the non-finite is elaborating; if it is a co-ordinate clause, the non-finite

is extending; if it is an enhancing clause, the non-finite is enhancing and it can probably be introduced by a conjunctive preposition The following examples cited from Halliday (1994:240) illustrate these:

He left the house, closing the door behind him

I worked for a local firm, selling office equipment

; I sold … (‗I was doing some work, which was …‘)

[elaborating] Not wanting to offend, Mary kept quiet

Having said goodbye, John went home

Some precipitation is expected, falling as snow over high ground

The Sonora road was opened by Mexican explorers, supplanting the Anza trail

in part three of the thesis

Chapter 2: EXPANSION IN THE REQUESTS AND THEIR RESPONSES OF THE CONVERSATIONS

2.1 Introduction

This chapter presents the analysis of the clause complexes in the requests and their responses in 20 short conversations in terms of clause expansion in Systemic Functional Grammar The twenty short conversations were selected from part A of the listening comprehension scripts of the book ―TOEFL Preparation Kit Workbook 2002-2003, Volume 1‖ designed and introduced by ETS, which consists of seven practice tests The practice tests are similar to the real ones in format Part A is the first part in section one – listening comprehension of the tests There are thirty short conversations in part A, each of which consists of two utterances made by a man or a woman After listening to each conversation and its question, test takers have to choose the best answer from the four options given in the question paper In the description of section one of the tests, ETS (2004:18A) introduces:

The topics of the conversations are relevant to student life on campus, such as returning a book to the library, asking about a homework assignment, or taking a bus to class

The people in the conversations have many different purposes for speaking to each other For example, in one conversation someone may be apologizing, in another someone might

be giving advice, and in another someone might be asking for information

The twenty short conversations under analysis are selected according to Quang‘s (2007:151-172) and Nguyen and Vinh‘s (2008:182-184) suggestions for identifying and using requests and their responses The selection of the conversations was also request-based in that the following discourse markers for the requests in Quang‘s (2007:151-157) and Nguyen and Vinh‘s (2008:182)‘s suggestions are the criteria: ―Can/could you .?‖,

―Will you .?‖, ―Do you think you could …?‖, ―I/we would/‘d like …‖, ―I need …‖,

―Come on! …‖, ―Let‘s …‖, ―I‘m looking for …‖, ―I‘m calling to see …‖ In the following section, these twenty short conversations will be analyzed and discussed in terms of clause complex analysis, clause expansion analysis, and conjunction analysis respectively

2.2 Clause complexes in the requests and their responses of the short conversations

In order to analyze the clause complexes in the requests and their responses effectively, we number the conversations from one to twenty, each of which consists of two utterances The first one is the request, and the second one is the response We also use the notation ―///‖ for the clause complex boundaries and the notation ―//‖ for the clause boundaries in the requests and their responses of the conversations The clause simplexes

in the conversations do not have any notations The conjunctions in bold type were inserted according to Halliday‘s (1994:239) suggestion that we can insert a conjunction without changing the logical-semantic relation wherever we can recognize a relation of expansion The embedded clause expansions are put into the notation ―[[ ]]‖ Each of the clause complexes is numbered in brackets at the end of it Following is the analysis of the requests and their responses in the short conversations in terms of clause complexes:

Conversation 1:

were still a few there yesterday.///(1)

Conversation 2:

Conversation 3:

interested in something later this week?///(3)

Conversation 4:

Conversation 5: