Subject and predicate are the core of a sentence, and there are two word orders between them: first, the subject is called natural word order; Before the predicate; Second, the subject followed by the predicate is called reverse order.
In the inverted sentence order, there are complete inverted sentences and partial inverted sentences. Complete inversion, also known as "complete inversion", refers to putting all predicates in a sentence before the subject.
This structure is usually only used in the simple present tense and the simple past tense.
Partial inversion: refers to the inversion of a part of a predicate, such as an auxiliary verb or a modal verb, before the subject, while the predicate verb remains unchanged.
If the predicate in the sentence has no auxiliary verbs or modal verbs, you need to add auxiliary verbs do, does or did before the subject.
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.
1) The most prominent and common rhetorical effect of inverted sentences is emphasis, which is embodied as: 1. only+ adverbial or adverbial clause is placed at the beginning of the sentence, and the sentence is partially inverted.
Only in this way can you solve this problem. Only in this way can you solve this problem. Only after he said the 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. Almost, never, rarely, almost, rarely, never, no longer, no longer, no, not only, soon, not only? (but also), not until? A negative word or phrase is located at the beginning of a sentence, and the sentence is partially inverted. Hardly had I got home when it began to rain. Hardly had I got home when it began to rain. I seldom go to work by bus. I seldom go to work by bus.
She didn't go to bed until twenty o'clock last night. She didn't go to bed until twelve last night.
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.
His price is so unreasonable that everyone starts. His asking price was so high that everyone was dumbfounded. She went in in high spirits and two actors came out. 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.
4. Sentences that start with some adverbs can be completely inverted. Sentences with adverbs, such as here, there, now, then and that, can be completely reversed. The condition is that the predicate verb is an intransitive verb, such as: rise, be, come, exist, go, follow, etc. It should be noted that when the subject is a pronoun, it cannot be inverted. Our headmaster is here. Our headmaster is here. Here it is. Here it is.
Here's your key. Here's your key.
2) Connecting the preceding with the following.
1. In order to avoid unnecessary repetition of some sentences, the inverted sentence form of "so+be verb (auxiliary verb and modal verb)+subject" or "nen/nor+be verb (auxiliary verb and modal verb)+subject" is often used.
The first sentence means "the same as the above positive situation" and the second sentence means "the same as the above negative situation". Example: A: His brother is (not) a college student; So is mine. Neither is mine. A: His brother is (not) a college student. B: So is my brother. Neither is my brother. ) a: he has studied abroad; Me too. (Never) A: He has gone abroad for further study. B: I've been there too. Me neither. A: A friend of mine can speak three foreign languages. So can his wife. (It can be his wife. A friend of mine can speak three foreign languages. So will his wife. Neither will his wife. ) 2. Inverted sentences can say the person or thing mentioned in the previous sentence, or the person or thing related to the previous sentence can be said immediately after the next sentence, so that the relationship between the two sentences in meaning is clearer and closer, 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.
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.
3) 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, Longfellow in the section "Snowflakes":
Out of the embrace of air, it comes from the sky. Shake out from the clouds of her clothes, overlapping dark clouds and shaking clothes cover the brown and bare woodland, be quiet, don't panic, and continuous snowflakes fall across the abandoned harvest field.
The snow fell silently, softly and slowly on the bare brown forest. And lonely fields after harvest.
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.
4) Balanced structure
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,
Adverbials are often placed at the beginning of sentences, and sentences are completely inverted.
A China People's Liberation Army company was ordered by the headquarters to go to the coal mine for rescue.
Trapped miners.
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.
There are some air conditioners on the ground, which will be transported to other cities.
Some air conditioners are put on the ground, and these air conditioners will be transported to other cities. There are some air conditioners on the ground, waiting to be transported to other cities.
Example (2) contains a non-restrictive attributive clause. If there is no inversion in sentence B, the antecedent of the clause and the leading word separated by adverbial are not easy to understand, while the inversion in sentence A makes the relationship between the antecedent air conditioner and the leading word which clear at a glance. 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. This will be our future home. Our home will become like this. 3. The sentences starting with adverbs "here" and "there" are also completely reversed to keep the sentence balanced.
This is the letter you have been looking forward to. Your long-awaited letter has arrived.
5) Make 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).
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. But the rhetorical function of this inverted sentence
It 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, in a panic, making a hullabaloo about, ...
"Catch a thief! Catch a thief! " A hundred voices were shouting, ... They flew away, splashing.
Through the mud, climb up the window, 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 lead to four inverted sentences, Away they run and away they.
Fly, climb the window and people run out. 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, and we can understand and master various sentence patterns of inverted sentences.
The usage of ""will not only improve our ability to appreciate the 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.