3.6 OPEN QUESTION

Please describe and comment on the

Thematic progression of the extract.

Everyone wants to go to Venice, and who

can blame them? Covered in jaw-dropping palazzos, this really is a place like

no other. It’s also a place where all the stereotypes are true – to an extent.

Yes, it’s spectacular and it’s just like the photos. But thanks to mass

tourism, it’s also overcrowded and in precarious health.

Yet that’s not the whole story. Even in

the busiest areas, step just one or two blocks away from the fray and you’ll

find empty streets and local voices. Spend more time here – five days is a

decent starter – and you’ll see that the real beauty of Venice isn’t in its

blockbuster sights, like Piazza San Marco or the Rialto Bridge; it’s in the

quieter spaces, where life goes on as it has done for centuries. And once you

glimpse that life, you’ll want to protect it.

The following sub-questions can help

you analyse the extract for Theme.

- Have a look at the themes of the

clauses in the extract. How would you describe the Thematic progression(s) of

the extract?

- Do you notice any differences

between the first and the second paragraphs in terms of clause type and Thematic

progression?

- What tends to get thematised in the

first paragraph and what in the second paragraph?

- Which word(s) mark the differences

between the two paragraphs?

(TIP: to answer these question please

make reference to Thompson 167-180 and to the slides).