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Understanding Fronting in Sentences

The document discusses the concept of fronting in English grammar, which involves moving elements such as objects, prepositional phrases, and noun clauses to the beginning of a sentence for emphasis. It distinguishes between forms of fronting that require subject-verb inversion and those that do not. Examples illustrate how fronting can alter the structure of sentences while maintaining their meaning.

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7 views11 pages

Understanding Fronting in Sentences

The document discusses the concept of fronting in English grammar, which involves moving elements such as objects, prepositional phrases, and noun clauses to the beginning of a sentence for emphasis. It distinguishes between forms of fronting that require subject-verb inversion and those that do not. Examples illustrate how fronting can alter the structure of sentences while maintaining their meaning.

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candeapthsut
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© All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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FRONTING

Types of Inversions

 Under no circumstances will I wash the dishes today.

 At the end of the corridor lives the old woman.

 More cosmopolitan New York could be but more


beautiful it isn’t.
To make a contrast with sth. In the
previous statement.

Move objects and complements to the


beginning of the sentence.
 Normal sentence:

She may be friendly but she isn´t reliable.

 Fronting the object:

Friendly she may be, but reliable she isn´t.


 Normal sentence:

I disagree with that.

 Fronting

That I disagree with.


Elements that are fronted
include
 Prepositional phrases

At the back of the room stood a few


couples chatting

Normal sentence order:


A few couples stood at the back of the room
chatting.
 Comparative adjectives

The salmon was good, but even


better was the dessert that followed it.

Normal sentence order:


The dessert that followed it was even better.
 Objects

He bought some whisky and a


beer. Whisky he downed immediately.

Normal sentence order:


He downed some whisky immediately.
 Noun clauses
(wh-clauses, that clauses, infinitive clauses)

That she had been swimming was obvious.

Normal sentence order:


It was obvious that she had been swimming.
Fronting and inversion
 The two first examples include subject-
verb inversion.
 The second two don't.
 so we can divide fronting into those forms
where inversion is usual, and those where
there is no inversion.
Beside the bed stood a small table.
Bigger they may be, but are they better?
 Advanced Learners’ Grammar – Unit 34 –
page 322.
Exercise 3 – page 325

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