Even more pragmatic uses of sentence inversion

WE’VE already taken up the role of inverted sentences as transitional devices, and earlier, we saw how inverted sentences depart from the normal sentence-verb-complement pattern (S-V/C) to put the verb or its complement wherever it can do its work best.Now we’ll focus on transposing sentence elements from their normal S-V/C order.

take up a basic principle in sentence construction: moving any element of the S-V/C sequence from its normal position gets stronger attention for that element. The element put out front gets more attention, followed by the one placed at the tail end; the one placed at the middle gets the least attention or is “backgrounded.”

This is actually why adverbial phrases work so well in starting off sentences, as in this example: “Hardlyappreciated is the contribution of this masterful painter to Philippine art.” See how the tension in the sentence slackens when that adverbial phrase is relegated to its normal tailendposition: “The contribution of this masterful painter to Philippine art ishardly appreciated.”

Now, take a look at this sentence frontlined by a detached adverb phrase: “Nowmorearticulate thanever, the Greek orator Demosthenes challenged every Athe-

agora.” Simply by virtue of having the adverb phrase out front, that sentence packs a wallop.

Normally though, that adverb phrase in the normal S-V/C pattern would be positioned like this: “The Greek orator Demosthenes wasnowmorearticulate thanever , so he challenged every

at the agora.” Here, the adverb phrase has been “backgrounded” to mid-sentence, where it can’t do an emphasizing job.

Frontlining adverbial complements is actually the same process as coming up with a “feature element” in a sentence; the adverb phrase “featurizes” otherwise normal SV/C sentences to make them more interesting to read.

In addition to frontlining adverbial complements, there are four more pragmatic inversion schemes for featurizing sentences. To fully appreciate their semantic value, however, it’s best to imagine the examples of inverted sentences to be given below as being preceded by normal S-V/C sentences. We can then feel more strongly how well the inversion works. The semantic alchemy that inversion performs is, of course, not easy to explain, but there’s absolutely no doubt about its power to perk up prose.

1. Prepositional phrase frontline complement: as

“Beside themartyr’sgrave the widow knelt and wept.” This inverted C-S-V sentence powerfully conveys emotion, while its S- V/ C construction pales in comparison: “The widow knelt and wept besidethemartyr’sgrave .”

2. Time of occurrence frontline complement: as

“Atexactly . he fell from the volley of the dictator’s firing squad.” This inverted sentence has an ever so subtle emotional tug, while its S-V/C construction hardly has any: “He fell from

squad atexactly8:15a.m .”

3. Locational phrase as frontline complement:

“Fifteenblocks later she realized she was hopelessly lost.” This inverted sentence conveys heightened feeling, while its S-V/C form is deadpan: “She realized she was hopelessly lost .”

complement:

her Carol is the epitome of success.” The sense of immediacy of this inverted sentence (no comma before “Carol”) is much stronger than that of its S- V/ C pattern: “Carol is the epitome of success tothosewhoknowher.”

We know that the English language reserves its much deeper sentence inversions to express highly emotional states, such as pleasure, passion, frustration,

advocacy and deeply held belief. (At the very top of the inversion spectrum is poetry, but we’ve got no time to take it up here.)

( Next:

How the noun clause, adjective clause, and adverb clause differ)