John,
Talmy Givon edited a collection "Topic Continuity in Discourse" that may help on this topic. Most of it deals with other languages, but there is a chapter on English narrative prose.
Herb
Herbert F. W. Stahlke, Ph.D.
Emeritus Professor of English
Ball State University
Muncie, IN 47306
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________________________________________
From: Assembly for the Teaching of English Grammar [[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of John Crow [[log in to unmask]]
Sent: July 5, 2008 4:41 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Introductory Elements
Thanks, Craig. I have the Christensen book and can most certainly use his findings. I, like you, remain curious, however: I know I've seen at least one other estimate. I just don't know where.
I appreciate your joining in here. Anyone else know of a source?
John
On Fri, Jul 4, 2008 at 2:38 PM, Craig Hancock <[log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>> wrote:
> John,
Francis Christensen has an essay called "Sentence Openers" now
collected in Notes toward a New rhetoric: 9 essays for teachers", back
in print thanks to the extraordinary and loving efforts of ATEG member
Don Stewart.
He divides the list into narrative and discursive and takes 200
sentence samples from each. (10 writers in each category.) Roughly 20 %
of fiction sentences and 25% of discursive sentences started with
non-subject openers, almost all of them adverbial. There's quite a bit
of variability. Eudora Welty peaks for fiction with 61/200. For Rachel
Carson's "The Sea Around Us", the figure is 79/200, roughly 40%.
I don't know if those patterns hold up with a wider sample. I'm
curious also.
Craig
Does anyone out there know where I can find information on the number of
> sentences of professional authors that begin with something other than the
> subject noun phrase? In other words, in a professionally written piece,
> how
> many sentences, on average, begin with an introductory element or some
> other
> non-subject constituent?
>
> Any leads would be deeply appreciated!
> John
>
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