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Hans51 Posted 11 years ago
Grammar

Back in the fifteenth century, in a tiny village near Nuremberg, lived a family with eighteen children. Eighteen!

Back in the fifteenth century, in a tiny village near Nuremberg, lived a family with eighteen children. Eighteen!

When I learned about inversion, if adverbial phrases of place are put in front, there happens an inversion but if there is a comma after the adverbial phrases, there is no inversion like

In the room, an armchair stood.

-> In the room stood an armchair stood.

Ans then, the original sentence is not grammatically correct?

What do you native English speakers think? Thank you so much as usual in advance!

  

Top answer

Hans51 Ans then, isn't the original sentence is not grammatically correct? It's fine. It has a literary tone, as in a narrative.

— AlpheccaStars

  • Hans51 Ans then, isn't the original sentence is not grammatically correct?
  • It's fine.
  • It has a literary tone, as in a narrative.
  • The comma is a red herring.
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29 Answers
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Hans51Ans then, isn't the original sentence is not grammatically correct?
It's fine. It has a literary tone, as in a narrative.
The comma is a red herring.
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The commas set off the parenthetical phrase "in a tiny village near Nuremberg".
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Hans51 the original sentence is not grammatically correct?
In the first place, there are TWO commas: that's OK.
Hans51if there is a comma after the adverbial phrases, there is no inversion
That is not a rule I am familiar with, nor is it one I would follow. Commaization depends on complexity of the fronted adverbial.
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Mister Micawber Commaization depends on complexity of the fronted adverbial.
Thank you all so much! And then inversion is not a must and it is just optional?

And then can I also write, " In the room an armchair stood." without a comma?
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Hans51And then inversion is not a must and it is just optiona
I said nothing about inversion. We are speaking of fronted adverbials.
Hans51can I also write, " In the room an armchair stood." without a comma?
Absolutely.
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Hans51In the room an armchair stood.
You're not doing the locative inversion correctly.

In the room stood an armchair. (no comma)

Compare:

In the village lived a family.

there-insertion is also possible with many of these.

In the room there stood an armchair.
In the village there lived a
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I am confused now, so without a comma in the example sentence, must it be an inversion, you think?
Thank you so much!
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Hans51I am confused now, so without a comma in the example sentence, must it be an inversion, you think?Thank you so much!
A locative inversion is a grammatical transformation that is unaffected by the presence or absence of commas.

CJ
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Hans51but if there is a comma after the adverbial phrases, there is no inversion
While this rule may not be universally observed, it does apply in your case, in my opinion, in that the following would be awkwardly punctuated:

Back in the fifteenth century, lived a family with eighteen children.
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GPYthe following would be awkwardly punctuated:Back in the fifteenth century, lived a family with eighteen children.
While that may be, it's ungrammatical with or without a comma.

CJ
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