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WANG CHUN Posted 20 years ago
Grammar

Inversion Setnence

0 I am not sure whether this inversion sentence is right or not, if it is wrong. Would you give me a hand? Thank you for your help02br
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001. Orignial sentence02br
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00Although human beings will benefit from the results of his research, these results certainly bring about a series of moral and ethic problems02br
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00 02br
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002. Inversion sentence 02br
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00Benefit as human beings will from 00the results of his research, these results certainly brings about a series of moral and ethic problems00.0-
  

Top answer

02br 02br 01font 001. Original sentence02font 02br 02br 01font 01i 00Although human beings will benefit f02i 00rom the results of his research, these results certainly bring about a series of moral and ethic problems02font 02br 02br 01font 002. 02font 02br 02br 00Seems fine to me, although you are inverting a clause rather than a sentence.

— Clive

  • 02br 02br 01font 001.
  • Original sentence02font 02br 02br 01font 01i 00Although human beings will benefit f02i 00rom the results of his research, these results certainly bring about a series of moral and ethic problems02font 02br 02br 01font 002.
  • 02font 02br 02br 00Seems fine to me, although you are inverting a clause rather than a sentence.
  • If you want a simpler example where a whole sentence is inverted, consider this:02br 02br 01i 00and 01b 00we came02b 00 the next day 01b 00to Putiolus02b 00 where we found brethren, and were desired to tarry with them seven days, and so 01b 00came we to02b 00 01b 00Rome02b 00.
  • 02font 00 However, it sounds very theatrical or poetical.
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21 Answers
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0Hi,02br
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00I assume you are defining 'inversion' as 'placing the verb before the subject'.02br
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01font001. Original sentence02font02br
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01font01i00Although human beings will benefit f02i00rom the results of his research, these results certain
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01cite10Clive12cite11font101. Original sentence12br
12font11font11i10Although human beings will benefit f12i10rom the results of his research, these results certainly bring about a series of moral and ethic problems12br
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0I agree with Clive. This sentence seems ok to me. But I doubt people would use this tye of sentence structure in everyday use. What do you think if I use the following examples:02br
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001) He is still a lonely man though he made a lot of money 02br
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002) Made a lot of money he did, though he is still a lonely man.02br
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00The
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01cite10Goodman12cite102) Made a lot of money he did, though he is still a lonely man.12blockquote
10Sorry, Goodman, but I have to say this sentence is ungrammatical. You cannot use two finite verbs (made and did) in a clause.02br
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00paco00 0-
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0Hi guys,02br
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00Paco, yes, you can do that, subject to our comments that it can sound archaic, poetic, uncommon, odd, awkward, etc.02br
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00We stil see inversion in certain common expressions. eg, from an Australian magazine article about a car test: 01font01b00try as he may02b00, he could not keep h
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0Hi,02br
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00I think perhaps Goodman meant to write01i00 02i01font01i00Make02i00 a lot of money he did, though he is still a lonely man.02font02br
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00Clive0-
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0I learned "try as someone may" as a fixed phrase. It is my first time to hear from a native speaker that we can generalize this sort of construct <inf. as S aux> to any combinations of an auxiliary verb and an infinitive verb. 02br
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00paco0-
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0Hi,02br
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00Well, 'we can' doesn't mean 'we commonly do'. Let's not forget that this subject came up only in response to an exercise that **** Chun specifically asked about.02br
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00Clive0-
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0 Please look at 05000. I know concessive clauses can trigger inversions but I am still not sure to what extent we can use this sort of inversions. 02br
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00By the way do you find natural Goodman's example?02br
00 "Make a lot of money he did, he was still a lonely man"02br
00This sort of inversion (where <inf + object> is t
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0Hi,02br
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01font00By the way do you find natural Goodman's example?02br
00 "Make a lot of money he did, he was still a lonely man"02font02br
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01font00Well, I don't think this general structure really sounds like a natural part of modern English. Goodman and I exp
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