Starting the sentence with the 2nd clause of the sentence

Question

Can you say this and is it grammatical?1 People  nicer than them, you will never find.Thank you

Avangi · Accepted Answer

alc24People nicer than them, you will never find.

Yes. This is okay.

I'd prefer the pronoun "these," but I can't find a reason why "them" should be wrong.

Of course, "them" is not demonstrative. We assume it has an antecedent in prior context.

Take them to the station. (antecedent)

Take these to the station. (no antecedent)

(But don't use "them" as an adjective: How do you like them apples?)

Dimsumexpress · Answer

<<<People nicer than them, you will never find.>>>

It surves no purpose to express the idea twith a noun phrase his way. to me. it is awkward and gramamtically marginal. In conventional sentence structure, subject is easily identifiable, such as:

You will never find people nicer than the Lees. - clearly, "you" is the subject here and "people" is the object.
With the above, "people" may be mistaken as subject.

A passive alternative can be: "People nicer than them are never to be found"

Avangi · Answer

Granted, it's not casual conversation.  It's poetic    -   stylish.

Dimsumexpress · Answer

The OP asked about the grammaticaity and if it can be said....

CalifJim · Answer

alc24Can you say this and is it grammatical?1 People
nicer than them, you will never find.

You can say it, and it's grammatical, but it's very seat-of-the-pants to me. People say things like this all the time in conversation. In the heat of conversation, we don't necessarily plan out a sentence very carefully, and we sometimes have to reverse mid-course to get ourselves out of grammatical corners.

The speaker starts:

People nicer than them ...

Thinking: "Oops. I meant to say, You'll never find people ..."

"Oh, well, I'll just go ahead and throw it in now."

... you'll never find.

And some speakers even throw in an extra (ungrammatical) them at the end.

*People nicer than them you'll never find them.

(Personally, I would use "people nicer than they are".)
[Edit: No. Better yet: Nicer people.

-- They have been really good to us, haven't they?
-- Yes. Nicer people you'll never find. ]

It's surprising how often we "front the object" just to emphasize it, though, and not because of misspeaking at the beginning of a sentence. This kind of thing occurs much less often in careful writing.

-- Would you recommend adding more cayenne pepper to this chili?
-- Yikes! No! That I would not do.

-- You don't like "Country and Western" songs, do you?
-- Not really, although some of them I can tolerate.

-- Is it time to add the butter?
-- No. Add the milk. The butter you add at the end.

CJ

Dimsumexpress · Answer

<img class='emoticon' style='Width:19px;Height:19px;' data-delaysrc='https://uat-englishforward-forums-backend.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/Emoticons/97.gif' src='https://uat-englishforward-forums-backend.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/Emoticons/97.gif' alt='Emotion: clap'/> CJ, Nicely said! I am always amazed how effortlessly you have tackled immensely difficult questions. I am learning ....

Avangi · Answer

alc24People nicer than them, you will never find.

Okay, I guess I can hear it in casual (excited) conversation:
People nicer than them?! (in an argument) Hey! You'll never find 'em!

BillJ · Answer

alc24Can you say this and is it grammatical?

1 People nicer than them, you will never find.

Thank you

Yes, you can and it is perfectly grammatical. It's a special way (called preposing) of presenting the information you want to convey by putting an element of a sentence before the subject when its basic position would normally be after the verb. In your sentence, the element "people nicer than them" is the object of the verb "find" and would normally appear after it: "You will never find people nicer than them". Moving the object to the front of the sentence provides a link to the preceding discourse (what's already been said). But, it's essential that it is closely related to information previously introduced into the discourse; in your example that's especially evident by the use of the pro-form "them" which refers to some people previously mentioned:

"The neighbours did a lot for you didn't they?

"Yes, people nicer than them you'll never find"

The expression "people nicer than them" clearly refers to "the neighbours"

BillJ

Starting the sentence with the 2nd clause of the sentence

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