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Moon7296 Posted 12 years ago
Grammar

inversion (in direct speech)

"But I must get to New York today!" an angry lady hotly told the clerk. "I'm sorry, ma'am, but there are no more seats available," came the reply.

The above is the exerpt from a passage.
Q1) I was wondering why inversion occured in the second part when doesn't in the first part.
Q2) Are both inverted and not inverted version possible?
  

Top answer

I suppose you could say . . the reply came.

  • I suppose you could say .
  • .
  • the reply came.
  • But 'came the reply' is almost a fixed idiomatic expression.
  • It adds a little bit of drama and style.
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1 Answers
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I suppose you could say . . . the reply came.
But 'came the reply' is almost a fixed idiomatic expression. It adds a little bit of drama and style.

Clive

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