1 What is a Discourse Community?
Tracy L.F. Worley, DM PMP
Everyone belongs to a discourse community, but what exactly is it? A discourse community is a group with shared customs, practices, disciplines, beliefs, assumptions, goals, and/or values. The discourse of the community has a common way of communicating, and it can be a local community (like a school or business) or a focal community (like an accounting or project management association). Determining your discourse community requires an assessment of your interests, academic major, employment, social group, or organizational memberships. Knowing your discourse community will help you to create within a context that is common to your audience. Knowing your discourse community will also help you to craft a compelling treatise that uses lexis (lingo, language) that is common to your discourse community.
There are three different kinds of subordinate clauses: adverb clauses, adjective clauses, and noun clauses. Each of these clauses are introduced by certain words. These words are listed below.
Introducing Adverb Clauses
| After | Though | Though |
| Although | If | Unless |
| As | In order that | Until |
| As if | Since | When |
| Because | So that | Where |
| Before | Than | Whether |
| Even | That | While |
These are all subordinating conjunctions.
Introducing Adjective Clauses
| That | Who | Whose |
| Which | Whom |
These are all relative pronouns.
| When | Where | Why |
These are all relative adverbs.
Introducing Noun Clauses
| That | Who | Whose |
| Which | Whom |
These are all relative pronouns.
| What | Whichever | Whomever |
| Whatever | Whoever |
These are all other pronouns.
| How | Whenever | Whether |
| If | Where | Why |
| When | Wherever |
These are all other subordinating words.
