Inversion (in sentence)

Question

Over no nation does the press hold a more absolute control than over the people of America.

Is the original sentence 'Over no nation(,) the press does hold a more ~~.?

If so, what impact can be made by changing the order of the words? (to emphasise 'the press?' or what?)

Clive · Accepted Answer

Hi,

Over no nation does the press hold a more absolute control than over the people of America.

Is the original sentence 'Over no nation(,) the press does hold a more ~~.?

If you want to write that way, it would have too be 'Over no nation the press holds a more . . . ', but that is far from natural English.

I'd say a more normal word order is

eg The press holds over no nation a more absolute control than it does over the people of America.

If so, what impact can be made by changing the order of the words? (to emphasise 'the press?' or what?)

By starting with 'over no nation', the writer focuses more on the uniqueness of the situation in America.

Here's a simpler example.

No woman do I love except you.

I love no woman except you.

Clive

Moon7296 · Answer

Hi, Clive. Thank you.

I think the inversion of the example is a little unique because 'does' is added.

I will put another example.

1. Under no circumstances are passengers permitted to open the doors.

=> Passengers are permitted to open the doors under no circumstances. <= this is a normar order, isn't it? And 'Under no circumstances' is fronted to emphasise, isn't it? There is no added word like 'does' in my first question. That's why I think the inversion of my first question if unique.

Q) Why inversion with an added word(like 'does') takes place? And why not like No.1?

Can you explain it with some examples?

Clive · Answer

Hi again,

Over no nation does the press hold a more absolute control than over the people of America.

'Does' is the correct auxiliary for the Present Tense active voice 'It holds'.

That's why we say the negative 'It does not hold' and also the emphatic 'It does hold'.

I wouldn't say it is completely wrong to say either Over no nation the press holds . . .

or Over no nation the press does hold . . . .

But we don't say those things. The structure in your example above is pretty standard, almost formulaic.

A simpler example is No woman do I love more than Mary.

It wouldn't be completely wrong to say No woman I love more than Mary or No woman I do love more than Mary, but we don't say those things.

The use of 'do' at the front adds emphasis, as well as being part of what is a standard sentence structure.

In short, the whole structure of the sentence is designed to be emphatic.

Clive

Inversion (in sentence)

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