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Discourse Mr.
G V Vyavahare Discourse is a linguistic unit and it is longer than a sentence. Actually it is a group of sentences containing a unified theme. Consider, for example, the following sentences
The world is a stage
There are two stools in my house
You get ripe mangoes in summer
Meena doesn’t like films
What’s your problem This is a group of sentences. But the sentences do not have a unified theme. Each sentence talks about a different topic. Therefore it is not a discourse. One can call such sentences isolated sentences. They have different contexts. Now read the following sentences :-
Indians are emotional and religious people.
They love each other
An elder brother sacrifices his career for younger brothers and sisters.
A wife gives up her job for the progress of her husband and children.
Old parents stay with their children.
Indians are fond of festivals and they celebrate these with pomp and
gaiety.
When one reads these sentences he immediately makes out that the author is talking about Indians. And if he reads the sentences carefully he can discover that the author is talking about the qualities of Indians. Thus these sentences have a single theme running through them and therefore we can say that they make a paragraph. Please remember that isolated sentences do not make a paragraph. To form a discourse it is not enough to have a single theme. We should also have a well-structured discourse. The sentences should be properly inter-connected and sequenced. Consider, for example, the following group of sentences. One
day when she was out for collecting wood a cobra entered her house.
A girl lived in a small village.
The brother thought that it was a toy.
She had a two year old brother.
The cobra died on the spot.
So he followed it and tried to catch it.
She had an axe in her hand.
Luckily the girl returned home at the same time. The
Villagers admired her courage and the president of India gave away a bravery
award to her.
She immediately hit the cobra with it. After reading these sentences one knows that this is a story of a brave girl. However, the sentences are not logically sequenced. Therefore it is not a discourse.
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H M Patel Institute of English Training & Research, Vallabh Vidyanagar - 388120, Gujarat, India Phone : 091-2692-230193, 091-2692-230079 |
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