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ORGANIZING INFORMATION:. EMPHATIC STRUCTURES 1) LEXICAL EMPHASIS 2) FRONTING 3) CLEFT SENTENCES. FRONTING. What’s FRONTING? moving part of a sentence ( the topic ) from its usual position to the beginning of the sentence: e.g.: Next to the window was a vase .
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ORGANIZING INFORMATION: EMPHATIC STRUCTURES 1) LEXICAL EMPHASIS 2) FRONTING 3) CLEFT SENTENCES
FRONTING What’s FRONTING? • moving part of a sentence (the topic) from its usual position to the beginning of the sentence: e.g.: Next to the windowwas a vase. Strange people are they. • the topic moved to the front may be: the object, the complement, or an adverb.
What are the reasons for FRONTING? • to emphasize information: e.g.In the evenings she writes. It is a time when the house is quiet and peaceful. • to point out contrast: e.g. In the evenings she writes. The mornings are devoted to reading andthe afternoons to helping her kids. • to emphasize a subject that contains neworunexpected information by moving it to the end of the sentence: e.g.More important than anything to me is my family.
FRONTED STRUCTURES • WITHOUTINVERSION,WHEN THE TOPIC IS: • The subject complement (Cs) after a linking verb: seem, appear, look, sound, smell, feel, become, get, keep, grow, etc.) e.g. The baby smells good. Goodthe baby smells. She has become a nurse. A nurse she has become. • The Object (O) or the Object Complement(Co): e.g. I hate writing. - Writing I hate. She called me a fool. - A fool she called me.
3. An adverbial: Type of adverbial: (postverbal) TIME During the evenings she works on her paper. MANNER Slowlyshe walked into the kitchen. PURPOSEIn order to win her heart, he showered her gifts. REASONBecause I was annoyed, I slept all the afternoon. CONDITION If it doesn’t rain, we can have a picnic this weekend. FREQUENCY Every night the group would meet in the living room of the old mansion. *preverbal adverbials (often, always, usually, etc) are NOT fronted.
OPTIONAL INVERSION WHEN THE TOPIC IS: • 1. Adverbial of position ( after verbs of position: stand, lie, sit, stay, sleep, etc.) • e.g.. On the park benchan old woman sits. • On the park bench sits an old woman. • 2. Adverbial of direction/motion (after verbs of motion: come, go, run, fly, leave, walk, etc.) • e.g.Into the house John ran. • Into the house ran John. • NOTE: • NO Subj./Verb inversion takes place if the subject is a personal pronoun (end-focus); • Linking verb BE is not grammatical in final position. Therefore, subj./verb inversion must occur.
REQUIRED INVERSION , WHEN THE TOPIC IS: • Negative expressions: never, rarely, seldom, barely, scarcely, hardly, neither, nor, on no condition, under no circumstances, no sooner, little, less, only, etc. I have neverseen such generosity. Never haveIseen such generosity. Max would not leave Sue for anything. Not for anything wouldMax leave Sue. James had discovered the nest only by chance. Only by chance hadJamesdiscovered the nest.
2. Present Participle construction: e.g. Our missing cat was sitting at the kitchen table. Sitting at the kitchen table wasour missing cat. 3. Past Participle construction: e.g. Several barrels of wine were hidden in the garage. Hidden in the garage were several barrels of wine. 4. Comparative structures: e.g. John’s younger brother was even more jealous. Even more jealous wasJohn’s younger brother. 5. Adverbial of degree or extent (so+ adj/adv+ that or such + be ...+that) e.g. His manner was so absurd that everyone laughed at him. So absurd was his manner thateveryone laughed at him.
e.g. The play is so popular that the theater is full every night. Such is the popularity of the show that the theater was full every night. 6. Conditional Clauses (with ellipted if) e.g. If you should need more information, please contact our main office. • Should you need more information, please... If Alex had asked, I would have been able to help. • Had Alex asked, I would have been able to help.
