7.5.2 Focus fronting

111a) is a case of topicalisation, whereas (111b) is something different. Note that the comma after the topic indicates an intonational difference between the two sentences: the topic forms an intonational unit by itself, with its own stress, and the following sentence also has its own stress. The other construction, however, has the fronted element within the same intonation unit as the rest of the clause and this element carries the major stress of the sentence. Interpretationally, there is also a large difference between these two sentences. In the first, the conversational situation must be that an Arsenal supporter has already been mentioned, probably as one of a number of people being discussed. The sentence then offers some new information about this person: that the speaker wouldn’t trust him. Thus we may classify the topic as ‘old’ information and what follows, usually termed the comment, as ‘new’: