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Sandip Kumar Posted 6 years ago
Grammar

'Left dislocation' of object for emphasis.

I admire her. (SVO).

Her I admire. (OSV).

The left dislocation of the object is due to emphasis on it.

"I know when he will come."

Here, the object is "when he will come". Is 'left dislocation' possible here and can we say the following?

"When he will come I know."

  

Top answer

I know when he will come. '" Incidentally, your suggestion "When he will come I know" is not one of dislocation, but of preposing the interrogative, and is so unnatural as to probably be ungrammatical. And your example "Her I admire" is simply one of preposing the object of "admire", not dislocation.

  • I know when he will come.
  • '" Incidentally, your suggestion "When he will come I know" is not one of dislocation, but of preposing the interrogative, and is so unnatural as to probably be ungrammatical.
  • And your example "Her I admire" is simply one of preposing the object of "admire", not dislocation.
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2 Answers
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I know when he will come.

The underlined element is not object, but an interrogative clause (embedded question), where the meaning is:

"I know the answer to the question 'When will he come?'"

Incidentally, your suggestion "When he will come I know" is not one of dislocation, but of preposing the interrogative, and is so unnatural as to pr

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While it is true that novelists and poets occasionally make use of "left dislocation", as you call it, it is not something you will often read or hear in conversations or texts.

Generally speaking, it is almost never possible, but you may hear it in conversation when a single word direct object is fronted, thus:

— Do you know Marilyn and Fred?
— Marilyn I know, but I

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