ABSTRACT
There have been numerous studies of grammar and discourse over the last few decades, as researchers have come to realize that the description of function is as important as structure. In most cases, these studies have focused on linguistic features that have two or more structural or semantic variants. By studying these features in naturally occurring discourse contexts, researchers have been able to identify systematic differences in the functional use of each variant (see, e.g. Prince 1978; Thompson 1985; Schiffrin 1981).
