Given-New Information Structure

Definition

There is a preference in English writing and, to some extent, speech to position given (old) information near the beginning of the clause and new information at the end. This is known as the given-new information structure or end-weighting. While it is not a strict rule, not following the expected order of information can make texts more difficult to read.

Form

There are a number of grammatical resources that allow English users to follow the given-new information structure.

Passive Voice

One of the clearest examples is the passive voice. The subject of a passive verb is not the Agent, which is typically the subject of the active verb. Therefore, by using the passive voice, we move a different participant near the beginning of the clause as the subject. This is usually the object of the active verb, or in functional terms, the Goal or Recipient. Sometimes the result is to move old information to the start of the clause and new information to the end. For example:

Part of your brain called the motor cortex tells your body how to move. It’s made of neurons that act like tiny messengers, sending signals to the rest of your body. Your motor cortex devotes many more neurons to controlling your fingers than your toes. Because of the way your motor cortex is organized, it takes more “brain power” to move your fingers than your toes. (Source)

The highlighted passive verbs enable motor cortex (“it”), which is introduced in the first sentence, to stay near the start of the sentences, where it is considered old information. The new information (sending signals, many more neurons, the brain activity to move fingers and toes) comes later.

Dependent Clauses

In complex sentences, writers have the choice between starting and ending the sentence with the dependent clause. One reason for the choice can be to maintain given-new information structure.  For example:

Antiparticles are the “mirror” versions of particles. When a particle encounters its antiparticle, the two annihilate each other in a burst of energy. (Source)

Nonrestrictive relative clauses can also introduce new information at the end of a sentence. For example:

Scientists working with the James Webb Space Telescope discovered three unusual astronomical objects in early 2025, which may be examples of dark stars.(Source)

Correlative Conjunctions (e.g. not only … but also)

Correlative conjunctions are a type of coordinating conjunction with two parts – e.g. not only A but also B. In these sentences, the first part (not only) is usually familiar or more obvious, while the second part (but also) is new or surprising. For example:

We see evidence that our programs are working not only in math but (also) across the vast majority of our tested subject areas.

Possessives

English has two ways to expression possession: with apostrophe -s (the teacher’s book) or with a prepositional phrase (the roof of the house). Generally, we use the apostrophe -s (technically, an inflectional suffix) with animate nouns (e.g., people and animals) and the prepositional phrase with everything else. However, when the possessor is long, we generally choose the “of” form because it obeys the principle of end-weighting. For example:

the eldest son of the King of England (rather than the King of England’s eldest son)
the name of the person that I met (there’s no grammatical way to form this with an apostrophe)