Thematic relation

Thematic relation is like playing a game of "I Spy" with words in a sentence. Every word in a sentence has a job to do, and its job is called its "thematic relation." For example, in the sentence "The dog ate the bone," "dog" is doing the action of eating, so it has the thematic relation of "agent." "Bone" is being acted upon by the dog, so it has the thematic relation of "patient."

Just like how every player has a different job in a game, every word in a sentence has a different job to do. The different jobs are called thematic relations, and they help us understand what's happening in a sentence.