Repositioning The Meaning Of A Verbal Group Complex As The Meaning Of A Clause

Doran, Martin & Zappavigna (2025: 69-70):

More broadly, it is common for propositions to establish action exchanges. Kristy does this when she says don’t want to go out today. It is a declarative, grammatically speaking, and can be rendered as a proposition (e.g., through neither do I; yeah, same; yes, I know). But she in fact is saying this as a proposal to not go out. Her mother recognises this and so rejects it not in terms of the proposition of whether or not Kristy wants to go, but rather in terms of the proposal by characterising what it will be like when she goes out (you’ll have a lovely day pet). In this sense, this example also repositions a proposal as a proposition. In this instance, we can interpret this in terms of the relationship between the want to and the go out in the Process (which (Halliday & Matthiessen, 2014, pp. 584-587) describe in terms of projection). Rendering the move as a proposition will focus on the want to, while rendering it as a proposal will focus on the go out.

Reviewer Comments:

To be clear, if don’t want to go out today is analysed as a single clause — rather than a clause nexus with a projected proposal to go out today — then the Process is realised by a verbal group complex that realises a proposal: idea. Halliday & Matthiessen (2014: 587):

That is, the clause realises a proposition, whereas the verbal group complex realises a proposal. The authors interpret the meanings realised at different ranks in the lexicogrammar as a repositioning outside language at the level of context, such that the meaning of the verbal group complex (proposal) is repositioned as the meaning of the clause (proposition).