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Moon7296 Posted 13 years ago
Grammar
Old and new information (inversion)
Marked word order can be defined as the movement of a constituent into a position in the sentence where we would not ordinarily expect to find it. Adverbial fronting is among different types of marked word order. The motivations for employing adverbial fronting are the management of given and new information and contrast, or emhasis. With this in mind, consider the following sentences.
a. An elm tree stands in the garden.
b. In the garden an elm tree stands.
c. In the garden stands an elm tree.
Q1) Are the sentences above different in this way?
A. A normal sentence order.
B. Does an elm tree stand in the park? => No, in the garden an elem tree stands.
C. What is standing in the garden? => In the garden stands an elm tree.
Q2 What can be the normal question to get the answer like a?
a. An elm tree stands in the garden.
b. In the garden an elm tree stands.
c. In the garden stands an elm tree.
Q1) Are the sentences above different in this way?
A. A normal sentence order.
B. Does an elm tree stand in the park? => No, in the garden an elem tree stands.
C. What is standing in the garden? => In the garden stands an elm tree.
Q2 What can be the normal question to get the answer like a?
Top answer
moon7296 Q1) Are the sentences above different in this way? No, not to me. A is right, and it answers both B and C questions.
- moon7296 Q1) Are the sentences above different in this way?
- No, not to me.
- A is right, and it answers both B and C questions.
- ") C is a variation emphasizing the tree.
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3 Answers
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moon7296Q1) Are the sentences above different in this way?No, not to me. A is right, and it answers both B and C questions.
B is very poetic ("Under a spreading chestnut-tree The village smithy stands...")
C is a variation emphasizing the tree.
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Ok. You mean C is a variation of B, emphasizing the tree which is also very poetic?
Then the passage above is meaningless to ordinary people except grammarians?
Then the passage above is meaningless to ordinary people except grammarians?
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moon7296Then the passage above is meaningless to ordinary people except grammarians?Not meaningless, certainly. The explanation about marked structures is correct enough, but the example is poor and overly prescriptive.
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