sentence structure (inversion?)

Question

Movies were first seen as an exceptionally potent kind of illusionist theatre, the rectangle of the screen corresponding to the proscenium of a stage, on which appear actors.

1.Actors appear on the proscenium of a stage.

Q) What "which" refers to is "the proscenium of a stage," right?
Considering the word order in #1, why the original sentence is "... on which appear actors," and not ... on which actors appear? Are both possible?

AlpheccaStars · Accepted Answer

moon7296Q) What "which" refers to is "the proscenium of a stage," right?

Just proscenium. That is the front part of the stage.

moon7296why the original sentence is "... on which appear actors," and not ... on which actors appear? Are both possible?

Yes, both are possible. The inversion here seems very strange to me. I suppose it is to get the reader's attention. I think the normal word order is stylistically better.

Movies were first seen as an exceptionally potent kind of illusionist theatre, the rectangle of the screen corresponding to the proscenium of a stage, on which the ~~appear~~ actors appear.

CalifJim · Answer

Note that both structures you have asked about recently are "locative inversions". The element of the sentence that indicates a location goes to the front of the sentence.

A ship appeared on the horizon becomes On the horizon appeared a ship.
Books were placed on the shelf becomes On the shelf were placed books.

Likewise,
Actors appear on it > on which appear actors
Solutions were placed on it > on which were placed solutions

CJ

sentence structure (inversion?)

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