Abstract: The division of theme and rheme in system functional grammar has great significance in the study on sentence function. As both the grammatical constituents of sentence and the medium of language,theme and rheme not only stress the importance of different information but also reflect the characteristics of various languages. Only when we understand these can we successfully translate between English and Chinese. In this thesis,we compare the differences and similarities of theme and rheme in English and Chinese,study their influence on sentence structure,sentence sequence,context coherence and illustrate how to use them to translate faithfully,expressively and closely.

Key words: theme, rheme, subject, predicate, topic