You’re right. Sentence B, “To be in London now is everybody’s wish,” is the correct inverted form of “Everybody wishes to be in London now.”
Sentence B is an inverted sentence that uses an infinitive phrase as frontline complement to give the sentence a stronger sense of immediacy. The infinitive phrase in this particular case is, of course, “to be in London now,” which functions as a noun form—hence as the subject of the sentence. In the normal subject-verb/complement construction, “Everybody wishes to be in London now,” the subject (and doer of the action) is the noun “everybody,” the verb is “wishes,” and the infinitive phrase “to be in London now” is its adverbial complement that also functions as its direct object (one that answers the question “What was wished for?”)
Putting the sentence complement up front in this way is one of the simplest and most common ways of achieving emphasis through inversion. Here, as excerpted from my book
Give Your English the Winning Edge, are several other ways of inverting sentences to make them more emphatic:
Prepositional phrase as frontline complement: “
Beside the martyr’s grave the widow knelt and wept.” This inverted C-S-V sentence powerfully conveys emotion, while its S-V/C construction comes comparatively flat: “The widow knelt and wept beside the martyr’s grave.”
Time of occurrence as frontline complement: “
At exactly 8:15 a.m. 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 the volley of the dictator’s firing squad at exactly 8:15 a.m.”
Locational phrase as frontline complement: “
Fifteen blocks later she realized she was hopelessly lost.” This inverted sentence conveys heightened feeling, while its S-V/C form is decidedly deadpan: “She realized she was hopelessly lost 15 blocks later.”
To express highly emotional states like pleasure, passion, frustration, disgust, and anger as well as fierce advocacy and deeply held belief, the following much deeper inversion schemes can be used:
Frontlining negative adverbs for emphasis: “
Never in my time have I seen such a spectacular display of ignorance!” This is obviously much more emphatic than its S-V/C version, “I have never seen such a spectacular display of ignorance in my time,” thus truly meriting the exclamation mark.
Deep C-S-V inversion for emphasis: “
Four times I read the book before I could put it down.” Its S-V/C pattern is much less compelling: “I was able to put the book down only after reading it four times.”
Fronting a noun or adjective complement for emphasis: “‘Precious’ is the word that I use to describe/all the feelings I have for you deep down inside.” These lyrics of the old song are, of course, an inversion of this longwinded, confusing S-V/C sentence: “The word that I use to describe all the feelings I have for you deep down inside is ‘precious.’”
Extraposition of a relative clause for rhetorical purposes: “A woman came in
who had nine toddlers and a solitary goat in tow.” Here’s its normal S-V/C form: “A woman who had nine toddlers and a solitary goat in tow came in.” By delivering the verb “came” much earlier, the inverted sentence reads much better both silently and aloud. This extraposition is thus very useful to spoken narratives and speeches.
Infinitive phrase as frontline complement: “
To those who know her Carol is the epitome of success.” The sense of immediacy of this inverted sentence (without a comma before “Carol”) is much greater than that of its S-V/C pattern: “Carol is the epitome of success to those who know her.”
Inversion is such an important and powerful tool in exposition that I have devoted four chapters to it in
Give Your English the Winning Edge. Click this link to the book’s
Table of Contents for the various aspects of inversion taken up in those chapters.
