Examples Of The Interpersonal Metafunction In Mathematics

(1) proposition (statement) realised by a clause of declarative mood:

a2	=		b2 + c2
a [squared]	equals		b [squared] plus c [squared]
Subject	Finite	Predicator	Complement
Mood		Residue

(2) proposal (suggestion: offer+command*) realised by a clause of imperative mood:

let	x	=	3
	Subject	Predicator	Complement
	Mood	Residue

* For suggestions as being both offers and commands, see Halliday & Matthiessen (2014: 166).

As the examples above demonstrate, mathematical symbolism is the written mode expression plane system, the "graphology", that realises the wording of language — identifying clauses — for the registers realising the field of these situation types.

In spoken mode, the expression plane system for mathematics is the phonological system of the language of the mathematician.