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Vcolts Posted 13 years ago
Grammar

Order of Words

I am wondering how the ordering of words works with the following cases:

1. Nor could he use his influence to reverse the adverse effects.
2. He was quite confident because he believed that he could do the job better than could anyone less educated to the task.

Q1. Are both academically acceptable in terms of grammar?
Q2. How is the different order of words (the parts in bold) called?

It seems as if they (the bold parts) follows the grammatical order of a question, and yet, they are not questions.
I would like to know the grammatical reasoning and term for such a grammatical structure if there is any and whether such usages are acceptable in academic papers.

Thanks in advance.
  

Top answer

vcolts Q1. Are both academically acceptable in terms of grammar? Yes.

— Mister Micawber

  • vcolts Q1.
  • Are both academically acceptable in terms of grammar?
  • Yes.
  • vcolts Q2.
  • How is the different order of words (the parts in bold) called?
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1 Answers
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vcoltsQ1. Are both academically acceptable in terms of grammar?
Yes.
vcoltsQ2. How is the different order of words (the parts in bold) called?
Inversion. Subject-operator inversion often happens where negative elements also appear; also with 'so' ('so handsome was he that') and comparatives ('better than could anyone'). No
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