Misconstruing A Mood Adjunct (Intensity) As A Continuity Item [1]

Martin (1992: 231):

[4:165] CONJUNCTION Ben will run

                                 even if I have to drag him there. 

            CONTINUITY    Ben beat Lindley.

                                 He even beat Carl.

Blogger Comments:

[1] In SFL theory, this is not conjunction, a non-structural resource of the textual metafunction, but a structural relation of the logical metafunction.  The logico-semantic relation in the clause complex is concessive condition and marked by even if.

[2] The function of even here is interpersonal: a mood Adjunct of intensity (counterexpectancy: exceeding), and so it does not mark a continuity relation with the previous message.

He	even	beat		Carl
Subject	mood Adjunct: intensity	Finite	Predicator	Complement
Mood			Residue