We have already taken up 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 in the sentence, and how they can serve as powerful transitional devices. This time, we will focus on the even more practical uses and benefits of transposing sentence elements from their normal S-V/C order.
Before doing that, however, let’s first take up a basic pragmatic principle in sentence construction:
moving any element of the S-V/C sequence from its normal position gets stronger attention for that element. In general, the element we put up front gets more attention, followed by the one we put at the tail end; the one we put at the middle gets the least attention, or is “backgrounded.”
This is actually why adverbial phrases work so well in starting off sentences: “
Hardly appreciated is the contribution of this masterful painter to Philippine art.” See how the tension in the sentence slackens when the adverbial phrase is relegated to its normal position at the tail end: “The contribution of this masterful painter to Philippine art is
hardly appreciated.”
Now, take a look at this sentence frontlined by a detached adverb phrase: “
Now more articulate than ever, the Greek orator Demosthenes challenged every Athenian firebrand to a debate at the agora.” The sentence packs a strong wallop simply by virtue of having the adverb phrase up front. Normally, of course, the position of that adverb phrase in the normal S-V/C pattern would be in a construction like this: “The Greek orator Demosthenes was
now more articulate than ever, so he challenged every Athenian firebrand to a debate 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 S-V/C sentences to make them more interesting to read.)
Adverbial clauses up front aren’t the only grammatical forms that can strongly perk up normal S-V/C sentences. Even relative clauses with clear adverbial connections can work very well as emphasizers—or
featurizers—when they lead off sentences. Take this example: “
First caught shoplifting in a candy store when she was 9, the fashion diva was sentenced to three years imprisonment in Paris last week for insider stock trading.”
Normally, that relative clause would be the tailender complement in a two-sentence affair like this: “The fashion diva was sentenced to three years imprisonment in Paris last week for insider stock trading.
She was first caught shoplifting in a candy store when she was 9.” This straightforward statement, as we can see, simply doesn’t have the power to grab us by the lapels, in contrast to the original version with the relative clause out front.
We must take careful note, though, that in each of the two sample sentences we have examined, the complement was simply moved from a tail end to a frontline position. Meanwhile, the main clause of each sentence retained the normal S-V/C pattern. Take the first example, for instance: “
Now more articulate than ever, the Greek orator Demosthenes challenged every Athenian firebrand to a debate at the agora.”
That sentence is actually not a true inverted sentence. Observe that its main clause is a straightforward S-V/C sentence, with the adjunct adverb phrase
“now more articulate than ever” simply working to modify the subject of the main clause, “the Greek orator Demosthenes.” But we can clearly see that even if that sentence has stuck to the S-V/C pattern and hasn’t resorted to inversion, its simple physical positioning of the adverb phrase in front instead of in mid-sentence has strongly emphasized the importance of that adverb phrase in the statement.
We have already seen, of course, that
a true inverted sentence is one where the transposition of the sentence element—whether the subject, verb, or complement—occurs within the main clause itself. The transposed element doesn’t detach itself from the main clause in the form of a modifying adverb phrase or relative clause, in contrast to the two sample sentences we examined above.
See the difference in these three true inverted sentences: “
Over the hills they went.” (Normal pattern: “They went
over the hills.”) “
Never have I been
so disgusted.” (Normal pattern: “I have
never been so disgusted.”) “We
dared not enter the restricted room.” (Normal pattern: “We
did not dare to enter the restricted room.”)
Now we come to the crucial question: short of being literary or poetic, which we don’t really want for our day-to-day prose, what practical uses can we really have for this type of sentence element reorderings?
We will explore some answers to this question in the next week’s column.
This essay, which first appeared in my weekly column “English Plain and Simple” in The Manila Times
, subsequently became Chapter 73 of my book Giving Your English the Winning Edge
, ©2009 by the Manila Times Publishing Corp. All rights reserved.Read this essay and listen to its voice recording in The Manila Times
:Even more pragmatic uses of inversionNext week:
Using inversion for stronger emphasis (February 27, 2025)
Visit Jose Carillo’s English Forum, http://josecarilloforum.com. You can follow me on Facebook and X (Twitter) and e-mail me at j8carillo@yahoo.com.
