Focus is a concept in linguistic theory that deals with how information in one phrase relates to information that has come before. Focus has been analyzed in a variety of ways by linguists. Historically, there have been two main approaches to focus – the generative approach and the functional approach. In the generative approach, the term focus is used to refer to words or expressions that are either prosodically or syntactically prominent, generally because they introduce “new” information. In the functional approach, the term focus is used to refer to words or expressions that establish coherence in the text or conversation.