Focus (linguistics)

Focus is a grammatical category that determines which part of the sentence contributes new, non-derivable, or contrastive information. Focus is related to information structure. Contrastive focus specifically refers to the coding of information that is contrary to the presuppositions of the interlocutor. Related terms include Comment and Rheme. Functional approaches Information structure has been described at length by a number of linguists as a grammatical phenomenon.