第八讲后置前置倒装

1、 Postponement, Fronting and InversionLecture VIII Sentence StructureSVSVOSVCSVOiOdSVOCSVAdThere be The natural order?Subject+predicateWord OrderModern English has a more or less fixed word order in sentence construction. According to its normal, or natural, order, the subject usually comes first and

2、 the predicate follows the subject. Apart from the adverbial which is mobile, the positions of the other four clause elementssubject, predicator, object, and complementare almost fixed, that is, the subject precedes the predicator which is followed by the object or the complement, if any.End focus a

3、nd End weightThe sentence as an information unit, consists of two parts: old information + new information. Old information (also called given / known information) is the kind of information which, the speaker assumes, is already known to the hearer, and this is usually expressed by the subject. New

4、 information, usually expressed by the predicate, is the message to be conveyed, and the focus or the most important part of the message usually occupies the end position in the sentence. That is what we call information focus or end focus. Closely related to the principle of end focus is that of en

5、d weight, which manifests itself in the fact that the construction of the subject is usually shorter and less complicated than that of the predicate where the new information lies. According to the principle of end weight, sentences are generally constructed in such a way as to avoid being top-heavy

6、 or awkwardly unbalanced. PostponementPostponement means delaying the appearance of a grammatical unit until a later time.The end position in a sentence is normally reserved for Highlighting key words. Hence, postponement becomes A grammatical device for achieving emphasis. What did he give you?Who

7、did he give a book?A book. He gave me a book.Me. He gave a book to me.In ditransitive complementation, there are two possible orderings: the indirect object may be placed either before or after the direct, with the prominence being different.Fronting and inversionFronting means the placement of a no

8、rmally non-initial element at the head of a sentence so as to give prominence and lend emphasis. There are two types of fronting: fronting without inversion and fronting with inversion.1) Fronting without inversiona) usually occurs when the object or the subject/object complement is initially placed

9、 for textual cohesion, eg. Mr White fried two pieces of fish. One he fed to his cat. The other he ate himself.b) also occurs when the object or the complement is initially placed to acquire a contrastive meaning and to ensure balance in sentence structure, eg. Joan he gave nothing, but George he gav

10、e 10 shillings. Fool Joe may be, but thief he is not.2) Fronting with inversion(1)when the subject is too long or heavily modified, or when the fronted object is not a+noun or not a single+ noun, eg. Happy indeed are those who receive marvellous news after a long silence.Not a winning number did I h

11、ave all night.Not a single person attended the meeting that night.Shot by nationalist guerrillas were few entirely innocent tourists.(2)when an adverbial is fronted, there are full inversion and partial inversion. a) Full inversion commonly occurs when the fronted adverbial is a locative or an onoma

12、topoeia and when the predicator is a verb of motion such as come or go, eg. There was a sudden gust of wind, and away went his hat.b) Full inversion is also common when the fronted adverbial is a prepositional phrase denoting place, eg: In this chapter will be found a partial answer to this question

13、.c) Partial inversion usually takes place when the fronted adverbial comprises a negative word or a word with negative implication, eg: Never have 1 found him in such a good mood. Rarely do I get invited into his office alone.never; few; little; seldom; not for (a)one minute; no longer; no more; now

14、here else; at no time; hardly; rarely; scarcely; not for nothing(不是无缘无故的); not for anything(无论如何也不); not for the life of me; not until; under no circumstances; in no case; on no occasion; on no condition; by no means; not even then;not for any reason; in no case (决不); in no sense (决不); in no way(决不)

15、, in vain (徒劳); on no account (决不; no more (不再); not for a moment (从不) 等。d) Partial inversion occurs when the fronted adverbial is only + adv./prep. phrase/adverbial clause, or Not only . (but also), eg: Only yesterday did he find out that his watch was missing.Not only did he complain about the foo

16、d, he also refused to pay for it.e) Inversion normally takes place when a sentence is introduced by the correlative so . that. When initial so modifies an adjective or adverb, there is inversion, full or partial: So quickly did the Chinese workmen finished their work that they could got along with t

17、he Indian worker. So small was the girl that I could hardly see her among the crowd.f) Partial inversion is possible when the adverbial of manner or frequency is fronted. If the subject is heavily modified, then even full inversion is possible, eg: Thus began an intricate minuet between us and the C

18、hinese. Gladly would I pay more if I could get better service. Many a time has Mike given me good advice. (3) “so; neither; nor ” full inversion in conversation(4) Fronting caused by as, thougha. Tired as she was, she decided to finish her work.b. Tired as she was, I decided not to disturb her.c. Ti

19、red though she was, she decided to finish her work.Others: Lover of town as she is; Try as she would;1) , he does get irritated with her sometimes. A. As he likes her much B. Much as he likes her C. As much he likes her D. He likes her so much 2) , I couldnt lift the box. A. As I might try B. As try

20、 I might C. Try as I might D Try though I might(5) Inversion caused by omission of subordinators in subjunctive He would have succeeded had it been more time for him.(6) Inversion in Comparative clausesI spend more than do my friends.She looks forward, as does her secretary to the completion of the

21、building. Corpus findings about inversion1) Inversion is relatively rare (excluding syntactically conditioned inversion in interrogative clauses).2) Inversion is overwhelmingly a main-clause phenomenon: over 90% of all inversion in conversation, fiction, and news occur in main clauses.3) Inversion i

22、s more frequent in the written registers than in conversation, with a high frequency in fiction.4) Inversion is quite a normal option in conversation with certain fixed patterns: heres, here are, theres, so is, so am I Review: 1. 否定意义的词位于句首引起的倒装否定意义的词位于句首引起的倒装 英语中含有否定意义的词有英语中含有否定意义的词有: never (从不), s

23、eldom (很少), few (很少), little (很少), rarely (很少), barely (很少), hardly (很少), scarcely (很少), nowhere (任何地方都不) 等。 当它们位于句首时，多引起倒装。 1) a machine been so efficient and accurate as the electronic computer. A. More than ever before B. Never before has C. In the past, there never has D. Formerly there never wa

24、s 2) Never _ as bad as it is now in this city. A. air pollution has been B. has been air pollution C. has air pollution been D. air has pollution been 3) Little when I embarked on this quest where it would leas me. A. have I known B. had I known C. do I know D. did I know B C D Review: 2. 否定意义的短语位于句

25、首引起的倒装否定意义的短语位于句首引起的倒装 这类短语有这类短语有: at no time (决不, 任何时候也不), by no means (决不), in no case (决不), not until (直到才), under no circumstances (无论如何也不), in no sense (决不), in no way(决不), in vain (徒劳), on no account (决不), no longer(不再), no more (不再), not for a moment (从不) 等。 此外, 一些短语性连词, 如： not onlybut also (

26、不但而且), no soonerthan (一就), hardly (scarcely)when (一就)也引起倒装。 4) At no time, and under no circumstances the first to use nuclear weapon. A. China will be B. will be China C. will China be D. shall China be 5) “On no account to feed animals”, the warning can be seen on the signboard in front of every c

27、age. A. allow visitors B. visitors are allowed C. will visitors are allowed D. are allowed visitors 6) Hardly home when the telephone rang. A. I got B. did I got C. I had got D. had I got C C D Review: 3. 以以only或或so引导状语或表语位于句首引起的倒装引导状语或表语位于句首引起的倒装 倒装结构有以下几类倒装结构有以下几类: only+状语状语+谓语一部分谓语一部分+主语主语+谓语的另一部

28、分谓语的另一部分+ so +状语状语+V+S+V+that引导的状语从句引导的状语从句 so +表语（形容词）表语（形容词）+be+S+V+that引导的状语从句引导的状语从句 7) Only when you have acquired a good knowledge of grammar correctly. A. you will write B. can you write C. you can write D. you could write 8) Only under special circumstances from freshman composition and lite

29、rature examination. A. freshman excused B. freshman are excused C. are freshman excused D. are excused freshman 9) So little about mathematics that the lecture was completely beyond me. A. I know B. I knew C. do I know D. did I know 10) In fact, so powerful that it paved the way for a whole new era

30、in construction and engineering. A. was the new explosion B. the new explosive was C. was new explosive D. new explosive was B C D A Review: 4. So, nor, neither引起的倒装引起的倒装 在并列分句中在并列分句中, 如果第二部分所表达的内容与第一部分相同如果第二部分所表达的内容与第一部分相同, 习惯上用习惯上用So, nor, neither引起一个省略的倒装句。肯定式用引起一个省略的倒装句。肯定式用So,否定式用否定式用 nor或或 nei

31、ther。 11) surroundings have changed and in them. A. so have the people B. the people have so C. have the people so D. the people so have 12) For a long time we hardly saw any lights, we see the shore. A. nor did B. did nor C. nor D. nor do 5. 强调性倒装强调性倒装 当等副词位于句首表示强调时当等副词位于句首表示强调时, 则需要用倒装语序。则需要用倒装语序。 例：例： 13) dense was the jungle there that we had to rely on our ears instead of our eyes. A. How B. Extremely C. Very D. So 14) that the pilot couldnt fly through it. A. The storm so severe was B. So severe was th