In linguistics, a rheme is the part of a sentence that provides new or relevant information, as opposed to the theme, which is the part of the sentence that provides background or already-known information.
The rheme is often the second part of a sentence, following the theme. For example, in the sentence "John ate an apple," "John" is the theme and "ate an apple" is the rheme. The theme provides the background information, that is, who did the action, while the rheme provides the new or relevant information, that is, what action was done by John.
The concept of rheme is particularly important in functional grammar, which is a type of linguistic analysis that emphasizes the communicative function of language in context. By identifying the theme and rheme in a sentence, functional grammar can help to determine how speakers and writers use language to convey information and create meaning.
