Common Contracts
1 similar null contracts
English 281, Kill UW Summer 2006July 25th, 2006
The known-new contract is the general expectation that new information will be preceded by known information. It is useful because it facilitates the process of comprehension by suggesting how we might fit the new information into the framework of what we already know. We present information in this way all the time without giving it much thought, and using the known-new contract consciously can be a very effective way to improve the clarity and cohesiveness of writing. Writers who are attentive to the known-new contract recognize that by providing the reader with known information that links the new information into what has already been established they can satisfy reader expectations at the sentence-level and produce more cohesive prose.
