There are two kinds of inversion: complete inversion of subject and predicate, which is called complete inversion. A man with a white beard came in.
Only when auxiliary verbs (including modal verbs) are moved before the subject is it called partial inversion. John was late for class only once.
The inversion of English sentences is due to the needs of grammatical structure and rhetoric. In the former case, inversion is necessary, otherwise grammatical errors will occur; In the latter case, inversion is optional, and whether it is inverted or not will only produce differences in expression effect. This paper intends to discuss the usage of inverted sentences from their rhetorical functions.
First of all, emphasize:
The most prominent and common rhetorical effect of inverted sentences is emphasis, which is shown as follows:
1. Only+adverbial or adverbial clause is put at the beginning of the sentence, and the sentence is partially inverted.
Example 1: Only in this way can you solve this problem. Only in this way can you solve this problem.
Ex. 2: Only after he said that word did he realize that he had made a big mistake. Only after he said that word did he realize that he had made a big mistake.
2. Negative words or phrases such as 2.Not, Little, Hardly, Scarely, No More, No Longer, No Way, Never, less, Only, No behavior are located at the beginning of the sentence, and the sentence is partially inverted.
Hardly had I got home when it began to rain.
Ex. 2: I seldom go to work by bus. I seldom go to work by bus.
3. so/so ... The so or so in the structure is located at the beginning of the sentence, which means that the part between so/so and that is emphasized.
Example 1: His price was so unreasonable that everyone started to do it. His asking price was so high that everyone was dumbfounded.
Ex. 2: She went in for so long that both actors came out in high spirits. Her rehearsal lasted for a long time and both actors went out.
In all the above cases, the inverted sentence order is used to highlight the first component of the sentence, and its tone is stronger than the natural word order, so the rhetorical effect is excellent.
Second, connecting the preceding with the following.
Sometimes inverted sentences can tell the people or things mentioned in the previous sentence, or tell the people or things related to the previous sentence immediately after the next sentence, so that the relationship between the two sentences is clearer and more closely linked, which plays a connecting role.
They broke into her uncle's bedroom and found the man lying on the floor, dead. He has a brown snake wrapped around his head. They broke into her uncle's bedroom and found him lying dead on the floor. A brown snake wrapped around his head.
Ex. 2: We really shouldn't resent being called a pauper. We are poor and will always be poor. We really shouldn't be angry at being called poor. We are really poor, and we will continue to be poor.
Third, create suspense and render the atmosphere.
In news or literary creation, sometimes for the need of content or for emphasis, the author often uses inverted sentences to create suspense and render the atmosphere. For example:
Hanging on the wall is an excellent painting. There is a beautiful picture hanging on the wall.
Another example is Longfellow's passage in Snowflake:
From the air,
From her swaying folds,
On the brown bare forest land,
Over the abandoned harvesting field,
Silent, soft, slow,
It is snowing.
In this poem, the poet creatively uses inversion. In the first five lines, the poet piled up seven adverbials, which appeared continuously but the subject and predicate were not revealed, resulting in a suspense effect. After reading the whole paragraph, the reader suddenly realizes the theme of the poem, thus receiving extraordinary artistic effects.
Fourth, structural balance.
An important principle of English rhetoric is the principle of tail weight, that is, putting the most complicated components in a sentence at the end of the sentence to maintain the balance of the sentence. In order to avoid top-heavy and unbalanced sentences in language use, we often use inverted word order.
1. Start with a prepositional phrase as an adverbial: when the subject is long or the subject has a long modifier, in order to balance the sentence, the adverbial is often placed at the beginning of the sentence and the sentence is completely inverted.
A company of China People's Liberation Army came to the coal mine to rescue the trapped miners at the command.
B. A company of PLA soldiers came to the coal mine to rescue the trapped miners with orders from the headquarters.
A company of PLA soldiers came to the coal mine and were ordered by the headquarters to rescue the trapped miners.
Example 2: A. There are some air conditioners on the ground, which will be transported to other cities.
B. Some air conditioners are put on the ground, and they will be transported to other cities.
There are some air conditioners on the ground, waiting to be transported to other cities.
As can be seen from the example, the structure of A sentence with reversed word order is balanced and stable, and it reads naturally and smoothly, while the structure of B sentence with natural word order is messy and awkward to read. Therefore, when the subject is long, the inverted word order should be adopted to achieve the ideal expression effect.
2. Sentences starting with predicates: Sometimes, in order to put a longer subject behind, both the predicate and the predicate must be put in front of the subject. For example:
This will be our future home. Our future home will be like this.
3. The sentences starting with adverbs "here" and "there" are also completely reversed to keep the sentence balanced. For example:
This is the letter you have been looking forward to. Your long-awaited letter has arrived.
Verb (abbreviation of verb) makes the description vivid.
Sometimes, in order to make the narrative or description more vivid and increase the language effect, adverbs indicating the direction (such as the following, up, out, in, off, up, go, etc. ) or onomatopoeic words (bang, crack, etc. ) can be placed at the beginning of the sentence, and the sentence adopts the word order of complete inversion (except the sentence with personal pronoun as the subject). For example:
The rocket lifted off. The rocket whizzed into the sky.
The criminal jumped down from the third floor when the police aimed the pistol at him. The criminal jumped from the third floor with a bang when the police aimed at him.
There's a big bang! The cannon fired with a bang!
Bang, another shot! Bang! Another shot!
The above sentence is concise and vivid, which describes the related actions. Let's take a look at this inversion sentence. However, the rhetorical function of this inverted sentence can be more clearly reflected in the paragraph.
"Catch a thief! Catch a thief! " There is a magical cry in the voice. The businessman left his counter, ... they ran away, in a mess, making a hullabaloo about, ...
"Catch a thief! Catch a thief! " A hundred voices were shouting, ... They flew away, splashing mud, climbing up the window and people ran out. (Dickens)
In the first and second paragraphs, the author uses adverbs away, up and out at the beginning of the sentence to introduce four inverted sentences: away they run, away they fly, up goes to the window and out runs. This creates a tense and hurried atmosphere and vividly depicts a tense and chaotic scene of catching thieves.
Inversion is an important rhetorical device in English. The use of inverted sentences enriches our language expression. Knowing and mastering the usage of various inverted sentences will not only improve our ability to appreciate English language, but also be of great benefit to the improvement of English expression ability. Therefore, the proper use of some inverted sentences in writing will definitely make the article more vivid and powerful.
Third, the main rhetorical functions of English inversion sentences
Communicative rhetoric and aesthetic rhetoric have different names, but the essence is the same. Fan Jiacai believes that communicative rhetoric pays attention to the refinement of words and sentences in content, clarity and fluency, fluency and preciseness in form and structure, and logical thinking in general, which can effectively play the communicative function of language. However, it should be pointed out that the choice of words and sentences in communicative rhetoric is the basis and premise, and it also reflects the author's basic language skills. Some scholars believe that inverted sentences are used only because of the needs of sentence structure and certain words at the beginning of the sentence, as well as the needs of writing. "This sentence can be expressed without inverted sentences, but the effect is different." I think this view is debatable. The author chooses inverted sentences because of the need of rhetoric, in order to emphasize the conditions of things happening, balance the sentence structure, or connect the preceding with the following to express emotions. There are many forms of inverted sentences, and some scholars have summarized 22 kinds of sentence patterns. Although there are many, their rhetorical functions can be divided into the following categories: First, they are used for emphasis. Here, here, now, then; When only the+adverbial or adverbial clause is placed at the beginning of the sentence, and words or phrases with negative meanings such as not, little and hardy are placed at the beginning of the sentence (except when the subject is modified with negative adverbs), the sentence is inverted. Obviously, the inverted sentence used under this rule is grammatical, and the first component of the sentence emphasizes that it only happens at a certain time or under certain conditions, so it has an emphasized rhetorical effect. It can be seen that grammatical inversion also has certain rhetorical functions.
Example (1): It's time for us to discover the secret of pulses from distant planets. Ex. (2): Only after we leave our teacher will we begin to realize the value of water. No sooner had they taken office than SARS broke out. Ex. (4): I am such a small star that I can't see it in the sky. The second is to balance the sentence structure. The following sentence has many subjects and complex structure. Putting them at the end of the sentence can avoid the problem of top-heavy and achieve the rhetorical purpose of balancing the sentence structure. In addition, the inverted sentence highlights the composition at the end of the sentence, that is, the subject of the sentence, which is also the most important information: how rich food she has prepared for her family.
Example (5): There are sliced bread, ham, bacon and fruit in her basket, which are for her family. Example (6) is taken from Lesson 2, Volume 2 of Contemporary College English (Intensive Reading). The author uses two inverted sentences in succession, each of which is a supplement to the previous sentence, which makes the context more closely linked and plays a connecting role. The second kind belongs to the orientation inversion sentence. Its purpose is to put the new information in the context at the end of the sentence and make it the focus of the whole sentence, so as to emphasize or highlight this new information (a black cloak in hand). Therefore, the purpose of inverted sentences is to meet the needs of rhetoric or pragmatics. Example (6): By that time, Megan had grown up by half. Disappeared like that wool coat. There is a black cloak in that place. Fourth, it is used for vivid description. When adverbs indicating trends, such as adverbials such as in, up, down, away and their constituent phrases, or onomatopoeia such as bang bang and crack, are located at the beginning of a sentence, inverted sentences can be used to describe actions and situations more vividly. Ex. (7): The rocket took off.
The fifth is to express emotions. Bitterness, Bitterness is pain, and the increasingly wild grey Hudson are excerpts from Wilde's article Wine and Roses in the second volume of Contemporary College English (intensive reading). In order to save a sincere love, the nightingale gave her voice, at the same time, she did not hesitate to sacrifice herself and let the thorn of the rose plunge into her throat. The white rose was dyed red with bright red blood. Her singing is getting louder and louder, but her pain is getting bigger and bigger. The repeated use of Bitter and Wilder here not only conveys the long and sad beauty of phonology, but also expresses the author's inner feelings on the conscious level with inverted sentences, that is, the lofty feelings of singing and dedicating themselves to true love. This inversion realizes the clarity, conciseness and revelation of the soul required by communicative rhetoric. The last lesson written by French writer Dude, Mr. Han Meier finally wrote "Long live France" on the blackboard. This sentence should be translated into English as "Long live France". The use of English inverted sentences is not only a grammatical provision, but also fully reflects the common people's love for their mother tongue, motherland and nation.
In addition, the author thinks that when the sentence structure (so+adj/ adv .t hat) like example (4) is at the beginning of the sentence, the inverted sentence is used not only for emphasis, but also to express the rhetorical effect of emotion. Imagine the speaker's expression, "The stars in the sky are so small that you can hardly see them." . An excited and anxious mood sprang from the paper. This lyrical effect in spoken language can be fully expressed and can be felt by the listener. Therefore, an inverted sentence sometimes has not only one rhetorical function, but also two or more, and only careful readers can understand its "mystery".
Judging from the expression effect of the above examples, the author thinks that due to grammatical requirements, such as the need of sentence structure, inverted sentences should not be used; In most cases, the use of inverted sentences is more reasonable and can not be chosen. Rhetoric includes not only metaphor or exaggeration, but also the choice of words and sentences to achieve the expected purpose of language communication. Inverted sentences are the result of certain cognitive laws of human beings, which enrich English expressions. It is not only an important rhetorical device in English, but also a very necessary writing skill. English learners' mastery of the usage and rhetorical functions of various inverted sentences can not only improve their ability of reading and appreciating the language, but also help to improve their writing level.