Author Topic: A bewildering encounter with an inverted sentence  (Read 2278 times)

Joe Carillo

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A bewildering encounter with an inverted sentence
« on: February 16, 2018, 11:48:13 PM »


To test your grasp of English grammar and syntax, set aside whatever you’re reading or doing now and take this multiple choice sentence completion test:

“In the fine print at the end of the document ________ result from civil unrest.”
(A) “lies the clauses that make us liable for any expenses that”
(B) “lies the clauses that make us liable for any expenses which”
(C) “lies the clauses that make us liable for any expenses that”
(D) “lie the clauses that make us liable for any expenses which”
(E) “lie the clauses that make us liable for any expenses that”


Forum member Miss Mae, who posted this baffling test in the Forum almost five years ago, said that her answer was (C) “lies the clauses that make us liable for any expenses that.” Wrong. She was told that the subject of the sentence, “the clauses,” requires the verb to be in the plural form “lie” instead of the singular “lies.”

Even so, she asked, why is it that the correct answer is (E) “lie the clauses that make us liable for any expenses that,” such that the sentence should read as follows?

“In the fine print at the end of the document lie the clauses that make us liable for any expenses that result from civil unrest.”

We will recall that the construction above is an inverted sentence, one that deliberately departs from the normal declarative form of this rather structurally unwieldy sentence:

“The clauses that make us liable for any expenses that result from civil unrest lie in the fine print at the end of the document.”

We can see that although that sentence is grammatically correct, its convoluted syntax makes it clunky and difficult to comprehend.

In contrast, the particular form of inversion given in its place puts the prepositional phrase “in the fine print at the end of the document” at the beginning of the sentence, and then positions the intransitive verb “lie” ahead of its subject “the clauses.” The inverted sentence given in the 5th paragraph above is the result.



As we can see, inversion has made the sentence not only much more readable but also highly emphatic. This improvement in syntax comes at a price, though. When we look at the inverted sentence, it strongly appears that the subject of the verb “lie” is the singular noun “document”—not the plural “clauses”—so the reader is apt to be tempted to correct that verb to the singular form “lies.”

When constructing inverted sentences, identifying its true subject correctly isn’t so simple. That true subject is the subject of the main clause of the inverted sentence, and the verb should agree with the number of that subject, not with that of the noun that intervenes or comes before it. Indeed, the singular verb form “lies” for the plural “clauses” is what makes (C) “lies the clauses that make us liable for any expenses that” incorrect.

That, however, still leaves as possible correct answers either (D) “lie the clauses that make us liable for any expenses which” and (E) “lie the clauses that make us liable for any expenses that.” So what is it that makes E the only correct answer?

It’s the use in E of the relative pronoun “that” as opposed to the use in D of the relative pronoun “which.”

Remember now that in American English, “that” is used when the relative clause is restrictive or indispensable to the meaning of the sentence, and “which” (preceded by a comma) is used when the relative clause is nonrestrictive or not absolutely necessary to that meaning.

In the inverted sentence in question, the relative clause “that result from civil unrest” is clearly a restrictive relative clause, one strongly bound semantically to the noun “expenses” in that sentence.

This essay first appeared in Jose A. Carillo’s weekly “English Plain and Simple” column in the July 21, 2012 issue of The Manila Times, © 2012 by the Manila Times Publishing Corp. All rights reserved.

IMPORTANT RELATED READINGS:
The emphatic forms and inverted sentences
Guideposts for using “who,” “that,” and “which” to link relative clauses
Why it’s tough choosing between “that” and “which” to link relative clauses
« Last Edit: February 17, 2018, 01:45:23 AM by Joe Carillo »