the constituent of a sentence that adds most new information, in addition to what has already been said in the discourse. The rheme is usually, but not always, associated with the subject
Compare theme (sense 5)
Word origin
C20: from Greek rhēma that which is said
Examples of 'rheme' in a sentence
rheme
Rheme-theme order was strongly preferred to theme-rheme order.
Sasha Calhoun 2017, 'Exclusives, equatives and prosodic phrases in Samoan', Glossahttp://www.glossa-journal.org/articles/196. Retrieved from DOAJ CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/legalcode)
The linear theme and split rheme thematic progression pattern are also found in the abstracts.
Rika Vennia Rahmawati, Eri Kurniawan 2015, 'THEMATIC PROGRESSION ANALYSIS IN INDONESIAN EFL STUDENTS THESIS ABSTRACTS', Indonesian EFL Journalhttps://journal.uniku.ac.id/index.php/IEFLJ/article/view/617/474. Retrieved from DOAJ CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/legalcode)
Theme/rheme plays a major role in organizing the message and in enabling it to be communicated and understood clearly.
Saeideh Ahangari 2013, 'Thematic Organization in MA TEFL Students' Argumentative, Cause and Effect, and ProcessTypes of Writing', Journal of Applied Linguisticshttp://jal.iaut.ac.ir/article_521651_39d06fe61fecf6162dba86b1a901a707.pdf. Retrieved from DOAJ CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/legalcode)