Fronting, Inversion, Existential There, Dislocation, Clefting & More
Fronting
When an element normally placed after the verb is placed in initial position, creating an intensifying effect. Mostly found in declarative main clauses (except for wh-word fronting). Rare in English but common in fiction and academic writing (for cohesion).
Types of Fronting:
- Fronted Object: Various structures like nouns, pronouns, and complement clauses can be fronted objects. E.g., This vocabulary I cannot approve / Who did this, I can’t tell.
- Fronted Nominals (Other Than Object): E.g., Whether I like it or not, I can’t be sure.
- Fronted Predicatives: Many structures, including proportion clauses (e.g., The thicker the material is, the heavier the books are) and degree clauses (e.g., So fussy she was that she never ate). Some fronted predicatives involve subject-verb inversion.
- Fronted Non-Finite Constructions:
- Bare Infinitive: A non-finite verb and its complements are fronted. E.g., He said it should have to be repaired, and repaired it was.
- -ing and -ed Participles: Often used with exceptionally long subjects placed at the end (subject-verb inversion). E.g., Enclosed you will find a special gift for your birthday.
- Fronting in Dependent Clauses: Occurs only with subordinators “as” and “though.” E.g., Clever as they were, none of them could study.
- Fronting in Exclamations: Exclamatives with a wh-element have obligatory fronting. E.g., What a miracle, Paul is making the beds!
Inversion
The verb phrase or operator comes before the subject. Two main types:
Subject-Verb Inversion (Full Inversion):
The subject is preceded by the whole verb phrase. Required after negative or restrictive coordinators/adverbials (e.g., nor, then, never, rarely, only, in, out, first, under no circumstances). E.g., Then came the mother and shouted at us.
Subject-Operator Inversion (Partial Inversion):
The subject is preceded only by the operator. Often opens with an adverbial. E.g., Here comes Joanne.
Existential There Clauses
Introduce new information, presented in the notional subject. Used with an intransitive or copular verb. Normal structure: there + be + indefinite NP (+ place/time adverbial). E.g., There is a man dancing on the table.
Dislocation
Involves breaking up a clause-like structure into two separate chunks. A definite NP is placed at one end, and a co-referential pronoun is used within the clause. E.g., The little girl, she’s a brilliant singer.
Clefting
Similar to dislocation, but each chunk has its own verb. Two major types:
It-Cleft:
Uses the pronoun “it,” a form of “be,” and a relative-like dependent clause. E.g., It was only for my kids that I traveled there.
Wh-Cleft:
Introduced by a wh-word (usually “what”), a form of “be,” and the focused element. E.g., What is really important for me is the education of my children.
Performance Phenomena in Conversation
Conversational grammar differs from written grammar due to real-time processing pressures. Includes dysfluencies (e.g., incomplete utterances), syntactic blends, and the add-on strategy (using prefaces and tags).
Non-Clausal Units
Two general kinds: inserts (e.g., interjections, greetings, response forms) and syntactic non-clausal units (e.g., condensed questions, directives, statements).
Ellipsis
Omission of recoverable elements. Types: textual and situational. Positions: front, middle, and final.
Lexical Bundles
Frequent sequences of three or four words that become prefabricated chunks. E.g., do you want me…, did you see that…, I don’t know what…
Binomial Expressions
A type of lexical bundle: word1 + and/or + word2. Words are from the same class and have a fixed order. E.g., come and play, fish and chips, day and night.