Exercises on SFG
Truong Van Anh
Sai Gon University

A. Fill in each blank with ONE appropriate word.
1. A ___________________ approach to grammar
is much more concerned with meaning than a
formal approach might be.
2. Experiential meaning has to do with the ways
language represents our __________________ of
the outer world as well as the inner world.
3. _______________________ is the term used to
refer to a thing which does the action in an action
process clause.
4. Verbs (give, take, have, make) that have their
lexical meaning removed in some sense are
called __________________ verbs.

5. A _______ has a structure which makes it
more like a miniclause.
6. There are four kinds of __________: articles,
demonstratives, possessives and inclusives.
7. _______ verbs can be used both in Affectedonly clause and in Affected + causer clauses.
8. The ________ in a mental process is the
participant that sees, likes, wants, thinks, etc.
9. The ________ is the participant that is seen,
liked, wanted, thought, etc.
10. ________ tense (present, past or future)
locates a process in time relative to now.

11. Questions, statements, directive and offer
are four basic speech act __________.
12. Two areas of _________ are likelihood and
requirement.
13. The ________ of a clause is its point of
departure as a message.
14. Thematized Objects and Complements are
highly ________.
15. In ________, one clause is dependent, and
the other is independent.

1. Functional 2. experience
3. Actor
4. delexical
5. Phrase
6. referrers
7. Ergative
8. Senser
9. Phenomenon 10. Absolute
11. Categories
12. modality
13. Theme
14. marked
15. binding

B. Identify the types of the reference of the
underlined words /expressions. Write G for
generic,D for definite orI forindefinite in the
spaces provided.
1. _____
She said about sharks that they will
never attack unless they are hungry. .
2. _____
The giant panda, which is an
endangered species, feeds on bamboo shoots.
3. _____
Elephants are killed for their tusks
and are therefore an endangered species.

C. Analyze the transitivity of the following
clauses.
e.g. He [senser] saw [mental process] something
[phenomenon] in there [circumstance]
1. Dylan sang a few of his classic numbers.
2. Neurotoxins will kill the insects.
3. The young boy slipped on the ice.
4. The prisoners were given small concessions.

D. Identify expressions of modality in the
following sentences and say which meaning
(likelihood or requirement) is expressed in each
case. Underline the expressions and write L for
likelihood or R for requirement in the spaces
provided.
e.g.
L
It can't be true.
1. _____
In case you should need any help,
here's my number.
2. _____
You should be learning English now.
3. _____
He must be in the cupboard. I can
hear scratching noise.

E. Underline the Themes in the following clauses.
e.g. The young man was puzzled.
1. What I can stand is the noise.
2. Coming up to the stage now is this year's
winner of the Oscar.
3.

F. What kinds of Themes are the underlined
units? Circle the correct choice.
1. Poor Jim, he must be out of his mind.
a. Absolute Theme
b. Picked up Theme
c. Unmarked Theme
2. Jane, I'm truly sorry it didn't work out.
a. Textual Theme b. Interpersonal Theme
c.
Experiential Theme
3. Few are those who live to be seventy.
a. Unmarked Theme b Marked Theme
c. Non-experiential Theme

G. Re-write the clauses.
1. A musical genius was the Austrian composer
Mozart.
2. At the age of fiveHe began writing music.
3. In the great cities of Europetwo years later his
father took him to play at concerts.
4. church music, opera and nearly 50
symphoniesMozart wrote.
5. At the age of 35 he died very poor.

Good luck!