Recent models of metadiscourse proposed by Joseph M. Williams and William J. Vande Kopple are collections of disparate structures instead of principled systems--they do not contain rules to explain the interdependencies of their categories. Metadiscourse should be redefined as a category within the larger context of speech act theory. Specifically, metadiscourse consists of the elements in a sentence that convey illocutionary content in either fully or partially explicit form. By limiting the term "metadiscourse" to those constituents that convey illocutionary content, metadiscourse can become a clearly delineated category that functions within the larger context of speech act theory, thus allowing use of the research that speech act theorists have been conducting for over 30 years and providing a principled framework in which to conduct further study. (SRT)