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Guest Posted 21 years ago
Grammar
Inverted Sentences
Is the sentence: "What she did Maria will never know." in inverted order? My thinking is that it is not. I think that "Maria" is the subject and "will never know" the predicate. This sentence and claim came out of a textbook and I think the textbook is wrong! Can someone clarify this for me please!
Top answer
Hello Guest I would take it as an inversion. Normal order: 1. Maria will never know what she did.
- Hello Guest I would take it as an inversion.
- Normal order: 1.
- Maria will never know what she did.
- Inversion: 2.
- What she did, Maria will never know.
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42 Answers
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Hello Guest
I would take it as an inversion.
Normal order:
1. Maria will never know what she did.
Inversion:
2. What she did, Maria will never know.
MrP
I would take it as an inversion.
Normal order:
1. Maria will never know what she did.
Inversion:
2. What she did, Maria will never know.
MrP
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MrP
Thanks for your response. I guess I'd like a few more details from you. The way I understand inverted sentences is that the order of subject and predicate are reversed from their normal S-P order. It seems to me that #2 hasn't altered the order of S-P and therefore is not the inverse of #1??? Please explain further.
Thanks for your response. I guess I'd like a few more details from you. The way I understand inverted sentences is that the order of subject and predicate are reversed from their normal S-P order. It seems to me that #2 hasn't altered the order of S-P and therefore is not the inverse of #1??? Please explain further.
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Hello growinup, welcome to English Forums!
I would roughly break down the 'uninverted' sentence as follows:
1. Maria | will never know what she did [VP] =>
2. Maria | will never know [VP1] | what she did [VP2 = O]
i.e. S+V+O
If inverted, we get:
3. What she did | Maria | will never know
i.e. O+S+V.
MrP
I would roughly break down the 'uninverted' sentence as follows:
1. Maria | will never know what she did [VP] =>
2. Maria | will never know [VP1] | what she did [VP2 = O]
i.e. S+V+O
If inverted, we get:
3. What she did | Maria | will never know
i.e. O+S+V.
MrP
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Hello Mr P
I think the linguistic term for that is rather "topicalization".
topicalization [noun]
(linguistics) the placement of the topic at the beginning of a sentence, as in "That movie, you couldn't pay me to see" `"Those girls, they giggle when they see me".
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I think the linguistic term for that is rather "topicalization".
topicalization [noun]
(linguistics) the placement of the topic at the beginning of a sentence, as in "That movie, you couldn't pay me to see" `"Those girls, they giggle when they see me".
[url="
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Thanks, Paco!
I am probably using 'inversion' in a loose sense, to include Miltonic inversions ('Of man's first disobedience...'), putting the object first, certain kinds of topicalization, etc.
(Perhaps the text book in question has done the same.)
Incidentally, does the 'movie' example sound odd to you? I could accept 'That movie – you couldn't pay me to see it!';
I am probably using 'inversion' in a loose sense, to include Miltonic inversions ('Of man's first disobedience...'), putting the object first, certain kinds of topicalization, etc.
(Perhaps the text book in question has done the same.)
Incidentally, does the 'movie' example sound odd to you? I could accept 'That movie – you couldn't pay me to see it!';
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Yes, "That movie – you couldn't pay me to see it" sounds more natural to me also, though the dictionary editor might intentionally leave out "it" to emphasize the fronting of the object noun phrase.
paco
[PS] What about the case below? I don't feel much difference in naturalness between the two.
2-a. What she did, Maria will never know.
2-b. What she did, Mar
paco
[PS] What about the case below? I don't feel much difference in naturalness between the two.
2-a. What she did, Maria will never know.
2-b. What she did, Mar
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Hello Paco
2b sounds a little odd to me – it has an air of translation!
MrP
2b sounds a little odd to me – it has an air of translation!
MrP
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Please, excuse my intrusion, but it'll be useful to me too...
2-b doesn't sound right to me, but if we change it to
"Whatever she did/may have done, Maria will never know it"
Right or not right?
2-b doesn't sound right to me, but if we change it to
"Whatever she did/may have done, Maria will never know it"
Right or not right?
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Whatever Juana did/may have done, Maria will never know it"
Not any better, I guess?
Not any better, I guess?
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