A study on english inversion

HANOI OPEN UNIVERSITY FACULTY OF ENGLISH GRADUATION THESIS B.A DEGREE IN ENGLISH STUDIES A STUDY ON ENGLISH INVERSION Supervisor : HỒ NGỌC TRUNG Student : NGUYỄN THỊ HOÀNG ANH Date of birth : 23/06/1993 Course : K18A2 (2011 – 2015) HANOI, 2015 A STUDY ON ENGLISH INVERSION I certify that no part of the above report has been copied or reproduced by me from any other’s work without acknowledgement and that the report is originally written by me under strict guidance of my supervisor Hanoi, 04 May, 2015 Student Supervisor Full name Full name ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I should like to express my deep gratitude to my supervisor, Dr Ho Ngoc Trung of Ha Noi Open University My teacher did an enormously helpful advice, enlightening guidance and encouragement, which are the most precious things and indispensable for the accomplishment of this study I also wish to acknowledge his invaluable suggestions and detailed, constructive comments which improved the thesis more perfect I am greatly indebted to Dr Quang, Dean of Ha Noi Open University, Faculty of English, for his invaluable suggestions and best conditions for me and other students to complete our study My sincere words of thanks also go to Ms Trang at the Library for providing me an abundant source of primary data which help me complete my research Last but not least, I am grateful to my family and my friends who have in one way or the other supported me during the thesis completion Finally, I would like to take full responsibility for this paper and lay sole claim to any of its shortcomings or imperfections Hanoi, May 2015 Nguyen Thi Hoang Anh SYMBOLS AND ABBREVIATIONS A Adverbial Adirection Adverbial of direction A.N Negative Adverbial A.Ns Semi-negative Adverbial AOnly Adverbial beginning with "Only" Aplace Adverbial of place Aposition Adverbial of position Aproccss Adverbial of process Areason Adverbial of reason Atime Adverbial of time BeOp “Be” as Operator Bep “Be” as Predicator BrE British English C Complement Co Object Complement Cs Subject Complement Cs.N Negative Subject Complement O Object Od Direct Object Od.N Negative Direct Object Oi Indirect Object Op Operator Op-n't Operator plus the enclitic "not' P Predicator Pmotion Predicator denoting motion Pposition Predicator denoting position Q-element clause element containing the Q-word Q-word interrogative word S Subject S1 the Subject of the first clause S2 the Subject of the second clause S-BeOp inversion of Subject and Operator "Be" S-BeP inversion of Subject and Predicator "Be" S-Op inversion of Subject and Operator S-P inversion of Subject and Predicator V Verb Vcomlex-trans complex transitive Verb Vditrans ditransitive Verb Vint Vmonotrans intensive Verb monotransitive Verb When there are two numbers inside the parentheses separated by a colon, e.g (1989:131), the former number indicates the year published the book and the latter indicates the page(s) The symbol / (oblique stroke) is used to separate alternative words, phrases or terms The symbol → indicates the transfer from the first sentence or structure to the second one The symbol – mentions examples or details for each kind of inversion LIST OF TABLES Pages Table 1.1: Difference between fronted element with and without inversion 22 Table 2.1: Examples of negative yes-no question 28 Table 2.2: Positive and negative tag questions 31 Table 2.3: Examples of Negative and Positive tag questions 32 Table 2.4: Examples of Positive and positive tag questions 32 Table 2.5: Examples of Negative and Negative tag questions 32 Table 2.6: Examples of Wh-questions with S-Op inversion 37 Table 2.7: Examples of inversion with initial negative adverbial 39 Table 2.8: Examples of inversion with a semi-negative adverbial 40 Table 2.9: Examples of inversion with the fronting of an adverbial begin with “Only” 41 Table 2.10: Examples of inversion with “so/such… that” and “no sooner” or “hardly/scarcely” 45 Table 2.11: Examples of inversion with initial adverbial 46 Table 2.12: Examples of inversion in conditional sentence 47 Table 2.13: Examples of initial “Here” or “There” 50 TABLE OF CONTENTS PART A: INTRODUCTION PART B: INVESTIGATION CHAPTER 1:THEORETICAL PRELIMINARIES 1.1 Word Order 1.1.1 Word Order and Linearity 1.1.2 Word Order, Patterns and Structures 1.1.3 Marked and Unmarked Word Order 1.2 English Inversion 10 1.2.1 Sentence Elements 11 1.2.2 Operators 14 1.2.3 Definition of English Inversion 15 1.2.4 Fronting and Inversion 19 1.2.4.1 End-focus and End-weight 19 1.2.4.2 Theme 20 1.2.4.3 Fronting and Inversion 21 1.3 Types of Sentences according to Communicative Functions 23 CHAPTER 2:CONCRETE CASES OF ENGLISH INVERSION 26 2.1 Subject-Operator Inversion 26 2.1.1 In Question 26 2.1.1.1 In Yes-no questions 26 2.1.1.1.1 In Yes-no questions 26 1.1.1.1.2.In Negative Yes-no questions 28 2.1.1.1.3 In Tag Questions 29 2.1.1.1.4 In Echo Tags 33 2.1.1.1.5 In Exclamatory Questions 34 2.1.1.2 In Wh- Questions 35 2.1.1.3 In Alternative Questions 37 2.1.2 In Commands with Question Tags 38 2.1.3 In Exclamations 38 2.1.4 In Statements 39 2.1.4.1 With an Initial Negative Adverbial 39 2.1.4.2 With an Semi-Negative Adverbial 40 2.1.4.3 With Initial “So” 42 2.1.4.4 With Initial “Neither/Nor” 42 2.1.4.5 With an Initial Subordinator 43 2.1.4.6 With an Initial Adverbial 45 2.1.4.7 With an Initial Negative Object 46 2.1.4.8 With an Initial Negative Complement 46 2.1.4.9 With Initial Predication 47 2.1.4.10 Inversion as a Signal of Conditional Clauses 47 2.1.5 In Formulae 48 2.2 Subject-Predicator Inversion 49 2.2.1 In Statements 49 2.2.1.1 With Intensive “Be” as Predicator 49 2.2.1.1.1 With an Initial Complement 49 2.2.1.1.2 With an Initial Adverbial 50 2.2.1.1.3 With Initial “Here” or “ There” 50 2.2.1.2 With a Verb Other Than “Be” as Predicator 51 2.2.1.2.1 With an Initial Adverbial 51 2.2.1.2.2 With Initial “Here” 53 2.2.1.2.3 With Initial “There” 53 2.2.1.2.4 With No Initial Element 54 2.2.1.3 With a Reporting Verb as Predicator 54 2.2.1.4 With a Whole Verb Phrase as Predicator 56 2.2.2 In Exclamation 57 2.2.3 In Formulae 57 CHAPTER 3:APPLICATION OF THE STUDY 58 3.1 Common mistakes in using inversion 58 3.1.1 Mistakes in using inversion with Negative complement 58 3.1.2 Mistakes in using inversion with initial Predication 59 3.1.3 Mistakes in using inversion as a signal of conditional clauses 60 3.2 Suggested solutions 61 3.2.1 Suggested types of exercises 61 PART C: CONCLUSION 66 BIBLIOGRAPHY 68 GRADUATION PAPER ON “A STUDY ON ENGLISH INVERSION” PART A: INTRODUCTION Background English, like many other languages, is full of problems for the foreign learners As Alexander L.G (1993:9) states, what makes language difficult is not just words, but the way words are combined to make sentences, for a sentence is a sum-total of words and this sum-total is greater than its parts On the other hand, it is easy to realize that the aims of learning foreign language is to communicate appropriately by means of the foreign language and that understanding the grammar of English can help learners to communicate since grammar is the support system of communication Inversion is a linguistically-specified formal device integrated in the main syntactic classes of sentences The subject could appear in such a special situation like: “Why are you looking at me like this?” or “Never have I eaten such a delicious meal”; or the inverted order of S and P like: “On a mountain in front of me stands a great castle”, etc This study - English Inversion is prompted by both theoretical and practical inspirational sources Theoretically, this study is based on linearity of linguistics signifiers which is one of the two primary principles of linguistics established by Ferdinand de Saussure According to him, linguistic signifiers are “linear” in the sense that they represent a dimension measurable only as a line, due to their temporal existence It is this tenet that underlines the syntagmatic relationships in English structures Typologically, English is synthetic language: there are few inflectional endings, and word order changes are the basis of the grammar It has a fundamental SVO order, for instance, the functions of Subject an Object are carried by preverbal and postverbal Nguyen Thi Hoang Anh – Group K18A2 – Course 2011-2015 GRADUATION PAPER ON “A STUDY ON ENGLISH INVERSION” within or after the speech, it function as predicator in the simple or past tense in each sentence For examples - Does rushing to meet work deadlines before a break leave you more prone to coming down with an illness? Finds out Claudia Hammond - The driver side refused the captain to get in the cabin to start the process descends down death row in the French Alps I must say that this makes us totally speechless ,” said Spohr - Only can I reiterate that we were shocked I cannot imagine the situation could become worse What we heard today was beyond imagination,” said the CEO - According to what we have currently got, and after comparing the information obtained , he did not have a related past to terrorism," said de Maiziere - I personally not accept adult add sexual pleasure, the brutal and crude into the stories for children They absolutely can write to lift their deep sorrow (sexual or violent) and wait for the welcome, judgment of readers in the stories for adults As for the children , it is not allowed to so" – said the writer Nguyen Thi Hue However, it is unusual of using inversion if the subject is a pronoun like “…., said he.” These structures are mentioned in the table below: “……”+ P + S “… ” Besides, if in a sentence occurs an adverbial of manner modifying the predicator, it comes at the end of sentence For example Nguyen Thi Hoang Anh – Group K18A2 – Course 2011-2015 55 GRADUATION PAPER ON “A STUDY ON ENGLISH INVERSION” - “Will you stop interrupting?” shouted the old woman - “How long have you been out of the room?” pressed her mother Moreover, there is no inversion of “say to” or “tell” which placed right after the direct statement or quotation For examples - I wanna go home now”, she told me - I wanna go home now”, she said to me There are some words of reporting verbs that can report direct speech in writing inversion: Add tell deny Admit say exclaim Advise promise declare Agree point out explain Announce predict groan Answer smile respond Apologize note remind Argue shout repeat Ask scream write Boast state warn Caution suggest cry Complain think wonder 2.2.1.4 With a Whole Verb Phrase as Predicator In this case, predicator can be a whole verb phrase which consisting more than one word For examples - On the floor was put a red carpet - Outside the shop could be seen a beautiful woman smiling Nguyen Thi Hoang Anh – Group K18A2 – Course 2011-2015 56 GRADUATION PAPER ON “A STUDY ON ENGLISH INVERSION” 2.2.2 In Exclamation The subject and predicator of this kind of inversion are reversed because it is usually used in poetic or literary style in order to emphasize and impressive the poem For example - How beautifuly sings the girl! - How slowly goes the moon! 2.2.3 In Formulae In the formulaic sentences, subject-predicator inversion goes with the subjunctive which function as predicator For example - I won’t take this complaint to the trial suffice it to say that you will sorry to me - Long live the Queen! Nguyen Thi Hoang Anh – Group K18A2 – Course 2011-2015 57 GRADUATION PAPER ON “A STUDY ON ENGLISH INVERSION” CHAPTER 3: APPLICATION OF THE STUDY 3.1 Common mistakes in using inversion Inversion is an English special structure used in both formal and informal language It expresses the main idea or to emphasize the important meaning in sentences There are many kinds of inversion which are listed in the Chapter Two From the previous chapter, all kinds of inversion are listed clearly and detail of both using and structure However, because of its diversity, it causes many complications for both students and teachers In this chapter, the mistakes of all kind of inversion are mentioned Besides, the methods are listed also There are two main reasons for this problem For the objective, inversion in English is not an official lesson in teaching program However, it usually appears in every exam like entrance exam to University or Collection Test, etc Therefore, it is no chance for teachers to contact with that lesson which leads to confusion in doing inversion homework of students For the subjective, students are not available to identify all kinds of inversion or maybe there are too many kinds of inversion, hence, they get some mistake in using this structure Once students are not fluent in using inversion, they will absolutely not understand or make clear of its functional This causes lack of effect in using inversion and it does not help them improve or diversity in expression Students are easy to make mistakes in using inversion with Negative complement and inversion with Predicator 3.1.1 Mistakes in using inversion with Negative complement There are many words that contain negative meaning such as “not, not, did not, shouldn’t,…”, however, negative complement inversion is a subject-operator inversion occurs with a complement as the initial element Nguyen Thi Hoang Anh – Group K18A2 – Course 2011-2015 58 GRADUATION PAPER ON “A STUDY ON ENGLISH INVERSION” Sometimes, it can be seen that no negative word appear in a sentence, therefore, it is not easy for students to find out or identify the negative complement to use inversion correctly For example - What is more, most cities just drop it in straight off the beach: rare indeed are the places like Cannes and Tel Aviv which pipe it even half a mile off shore From the example above, “rare” contains negative meaning not a negative word Students can easily make mistakes if they not have a good knowledge of this field When a sentence begins with a negative adverbial like “rarely”, “never”, “only”, “no”, and “not”, inversion is needed However, native speakers often make mistakes of not using inversion as examples below, especially in informal speech For example - Only if I pass the exam, I will take a long vacation - They not only broke into the poor, but also took all their food away - Rarely you can see him in battledress 3.1.2 Mistakes in using inversion with initial Predication In English, there is a type of inversion in which the predicator is fronted when the subject is long and complex This causes mistakes in using inversion with Predicator because of long and complex subject Sometimes it difficult to clarify which is subject and object complement Hence, the predicator is long and complex also The ordering is doubly irregular, predication preceding operator as well as operator preceding subject For example Nguyen Thi Hoang Anh – Group K18A2 – Course 2011-2015 59 GRADUATION PAPER ON “A STUDY ON ENGLISH INVERSION” - This garden is approached through an opening in the hedge on the left, towards the far end of the Lime Walk Facing this gap is the South Cottage, once the end of the long south wing of the Elizabeth house - Present at the conference were the President Obama and his assistant 3.1.3 Mistakes in using inversion as a signal of conditional clauses According to Quirk et al (1972:730), subject-operator inversion is a marker of subordination in some conditional clauses where the operator is “had”, “were” In this case, the structure “if” in conditional sentence occurs, students both have to identify the type of conditional sentence and its tense It is always a long and complex sentence, therefore, students have to find out the main verbs then put them before subject, still keep conditional sentence type For example - If it were not for your help, I would not finish my homework Were it not for your help, I would not finish my homework - If the Queen of Sheba had lived in the flat across the airshaft, Della would have let her hair hang out of the window someday to dry just to depreciate her Majestry’s jewels and gifts - Had the Queen of Sheba lived in the flat across the airshaft, Della would have let her hair hang out of the window someday to dry just to depreciate her Majestry’s jewels and gifts - If you should see him, tell him that I miss him so much Should you see him, tell him that I miss him so much The inversion with “had”, “were”, “should” is used in a formal or literary style It should be noted that in the negative conditional clauses beginning with “had”, “were”, and “should”, there is no contracted form of the negative “not” Nguyen Thi Hoang Anh – Group K18A2 – Course 2011-2015 60 GRADUATION PAPER ON “A STUDY ON ENGLISH INVERSION” For example: “Had I not know”, not “Hadn’t I know” Difficulties may also lie in learning to use the inversion structures after “so”, “neither/no”, “here”, “there” and after initial subordinator , for instance, the first one of the pairs “not only… but also”, “so/such… that”, “hardly/scarcely… when”, “no sooner… than” The reason is that Vietnamese employs the devices and orderings quite different from English in expressing the same meanings conveyed by these above-mentioned structures Errors concerning inversion are found in such incorrect sentences as follows: - Here the bus comes! - Not only the thiefbroke the house, but he took the dog away - Hardly had he gone to school when it rained - No sooner we arrived than it began to rain 3.2 Suggested solutions The mistakes listed above are common in using inversion, it must have solutions for this problem - Obey its structure so as not to misunderstand or confuse between this type and others - Practice by doing all kinds of inversion lessons to become fluent 3.2.1 Suggested types of exercises Type 1: Supply the suitable question tags For example - She couldn’t dance, could she? - They have not arrived yet, have they? a He smokes,……? b She went out yesterday and forgot to turn off the light,……? c It has been a long time we haven’t met each other,…… ? d It’s a nice day,… ? Nguyen Thi Hoang Anh – Group K18A2 – Course 2011-2015 61 GRADUATION PAPER ON “A STUDY ON ENGLISH INVERSION” e You are now last term student in Hanoi Open University,….? Type 2: Respond to each of the following statements beginning with “So’ or “Neither” For example - I can’t swim Neither can I - She cooks very good So does her daughter - They love swimming So I a I don’t have many friends ……… b They don’t want to live in a big city because it is too noisy ……… c I can’t swim ……… d He loves Paris……… e Her mother is a very helpful woman …… Type 3: Rewrite the sentences using inversion For example - If I had known the weather was so bad, I would have stayed at home Had I known the weather was so bad, I would have stayed at home a If it were Sunday today, I would go to swim ……………………………………………… b If you should see her, please tell her I miss her so much ……………………………………………… c If it had not been for his help, I wouldn’t have completed my thesis ……………………………………………… d If she had studied hard, she could have passed the exam ……………………………………………… e If you are not try to study harder, you will not have chance to get a good job ……………………………………………… Nguyen Thi Hoang Anh – Group K18A2 – Course 2011-2015 62 GRADUATION PAPER ON “A STUDY ON ENGLISH INVERSION” Type 4: English-Vietnamese translation a Although the Russian and Americans had worked together to defeat Germany and Japan, they could not agree on the shape of the post-war world Europe was divided along the lines of military control agreed during the war It certainly was unnatural that central Europe should be ruthlessly divided by what Churchill called an “iron curtain”, but until a clear dividing line was drawn, crises were commonplace …………………………………………………………………… b The sailor grinned and passed him a fragment of sea biscuit He clutched it avariciously, looked at it as a miser looks at gold, and thrust it into his shirt bosom Similar were the donations from other grinning sailors …………………………………………………………………… c I have climbed that hill many a time as a boy …………………………………………………………………… d We sat together many time without saying a word …………………………………………………………………… e They had no sooner been granted one increase of pay than they asked for another …………………………………………………………………… Type 5: Vietnamese-English translation a Ngày ngày, sau va đập mưu sinh nhọc nhằn người Hà Nội, già, trẻ, gái, trai muốn tìm Hồ Gươm, thả tan biến gió xanh, hàng xanh, hồ nước xanh, vòm trời xanh tiếng chim xanh (Một thoáng Hồ Gươm) …………………………………………………………………… Nguyen Thi Hoang Anh – Group K18A2 – Course 2011-2015 63 GRADUATION PAPER ON “A STUDY ON ENGLISH INVERSION” b Phía tây nam vịnh giáp đảo Cát Bà …………………………………………………………………… c Tập trung hai vùng vùng phía đông nam vịnh bái Tử Long phía tây nam vịnh Hạ Long …………………………………………………………………… d Sự cạn kiệt nguồn nước, gia tăng nhu cầu nước sạch, suy giảm chất lượng nguồn nước thách thức toàn cầu mà nhân loại phải đối mặt …………………………………………………………………… Type 6: Complete the sentences a I have often heard it said that he is not to be trusted …… .….it said that he is not to be trusted b If it were not for your help, I would not finish my thesis on time …………… , I would not finish my thesis on time c If you not want to join the party, let me know ………………, let me know d A young girl is smoking at the corner ……………… a young girl e A dog is laying on the sofa ……………… is a dog Type 7: Identify errors in sentences below a Not only did we lost all money but we also came close to losing our lives A Not only C came B lost D losing b So sudden the accident was that Paul had no time to get out of that car Nguyen Thi Hoang Anh – Group K18A2 – Course 2011-2015 64 GRADUATION PAPER ON “A STUDY ON ENGLISH INVERSION” A So sudden C had no time B was D get out of c At the endstood of the garden a handsome building of the newest style A At the end C handsome B Stood D newest style d A boy came firstwith a basket on his arm, then an old woman, then a dog A Came first C an old woman B a basket D a dog e Never have seen I such a beautiful woman A Never C such B seen D beautiful Nguyen Thi Hoang Anh – Group K18A2 – Course 2011-2015 65 GRADUATION PAPER ON “A STUDY ON ENGLISH INVERSION” PART C: CONCLUSION Review of the study In conclusion, inversion as a syntactical phenomenon occurs quite frequently in modern English There are two main types of inversion: subjectoperator and subject-predicator Many cases are found to be used in the four main syntactic classes namely statements, questions, commands (with question tags) and exclamations The operator or predicator also comes before the subject in several English formualae sentences According to Crystal, “most grammars derive question structures from statement structures by some kind of transformation” From these cases, inverted word order can be regared as variations of the normal word orders They are marked word orders such as end-weight and end-focus What is more, negative adverbials or seminegative adverbials can cause inversion with initial placement Besides, “here” “there”, “neither….nor”, “so/such… that” make inversion in formal language There are also relative similarities or partial similarities For example, in both languages some negative adverbials use to emphasize but the initial element is followed by operator and the subject Suggestions for further research As far as stylist is concerned, Galperin (1977:204) justifies that inversion functions as an expressive means and stylist device and that stylistic inversion aims at attaching logical stress or additional emotion to the surface meaning of the utterance Therefore, it can be said that inversion has its own role in stylistics with effects of the message and functional meaning The predominance of S-P-O word order makes conspicuous and change in the structure of the sentence and inevitably calls forth a modification design Nguyen Thi Hoang Anh – Group K18A2 – Course 2011-2015 66 GRADUATION PAPER ON “A STUDY ON ENGLISH INVERSION” It is not within the scope of this study to give a detailed discussion on the intonation associated with inversion structures Such an investigation can be carried out in a further research Nguyen Thi Hoang Anh – Group K18A2 – Course 2011-2015 67 GRADUATION PAPER ON “A STUDY ON ENGLISH INVERSION” BIBLIOGRAPHY Alexander L.G (1993), Longman Advanced Grammar Essex: Longman Berry, M (1975&1977) Introduction to System Linguistic Vol 1&2 London: Batsford Buren.P.V (1974) “Contrastive Analysis” In J.P.B Allen and S.P Corder et al.( eds) The inques in Applic Linguistics Voil 3.Oxford: Oxford University Press Chalker S (1984), Current English Grammar, London, Mac Millan Eastwood J (1994), Oxford Guide to English Grammar, Oxford: Oxford University Press Eagleson.R.D.et al (1983) Grammar: Its Nature and Terminology Vitoria: Pitman Firbas, J (1986), “On the Dynamics of Funtional Sentence Perspective”, Studying Writing: Linguistic Approaches, pp 40-71 Frank M, Modern English, New Jesey: Prentice-Hall, undated Galperin, I.R (1981), Stylistics, 2nd edn revised, Moscow “Higher school” 10 Green, G M (1989), Pragmatics and Natural Language Understanding, Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, New Jersey 11 Huddleston and Pullum et al., (2002), The Cambridge grammar of the English language, Cambridge University Press 12 Halliday M.A.K (1985), An introduction to Functional Grammar, London, Hodder and Stoughton 13 Hemingway, E (1993), A Farewell to Arms, David Campbell Publishers Ltd.,London Nguyen Thi Hoang Anh – Group K18A2 – Course 2011-2015 68 GRADUATION PAPER ON “A STUDY ON ENGLISH INVERSION” 14 Jones, L (1990), Progress to First Certificate, 2nd edition, CUP, Cambridge 15 Nguyễn Vạng Hộ (1987), Robinson Crusoe, (Song ngữ Anh-Việt) (dịch từ Robinson Crusoe Michael West viết lại), Sở Thông tin Văn hoá thành phố Hồ Chí Minh 16 Bùi Phụng (2000), Mặt trời mọc (dịch từ The Sun Also Rises Earnest Hemingway (1944), Nxb Văn Nghệ Thành Phố Hồ Chí Minh 17 Quirk, R et al (1972), A Grammar of Contemporary English, Longman, Essex 18 Ferdinard de Sausure ( 1973), Giáo trình ngôn ngữ học đại cương, Hà Nội: Nhà xuất Khoa học 19 Swan M (1980), Practical English Usage Oxford: Oxford University Press Nguyen Thi Hoang Anh – Group K18A2 – Course 2011-2015 69 [...]... 2011-2015 2 GRADUATION PAPER ON A STUDY ON ENGLISH INVERSION 3 Limitation of the study The structures are investigated in statements, questions, commands and exclamations-the four major syntactic classes classified according to different communication functions Besides, formulae as a minor sentence type are also taken into consideration There are always have some interplays of each language word order... Definition of English Inversion Inversion is a syntactical phenomenon which is considered as a language universal, using in many other languages such as: English, French, Nguyen Thi Hoang Anh – Group K1 8A2 – Course 2011-2015 15 GRADUATION PAPER ON A STUDY ON ENGLISH INVERSION Russian, German, It has various functions and uses which are mentioned in some definitions below: According to Swan,M (1980:277),... without auxiliary For example - It snowed heavily all the season Did it snow heavily all the season? Nguyen Thi Hoang Anh – Group K1 8A2 – Course 2011-2015 14 GRADUATION PAPER ON A STUDY ON ENGLISH INVERSION In some occasion, “BE” and “HAVE” can be predicator which can act like operators For examples - Have they any cars? - Is he a good guy? An operator can be used in some more occasions which apart from... yes-no question: Did she dance alone? - Wh-question: Who did she dance with? - Main verb in a command: Dance alone Nguyen Thi Hoang Anh – Group K1 8A2 – Course 2011-2015 20 GRADUATION PAPER ON A STUDY ON ENGLISH INVERSION In exclamation, the exclamatory Wh-element functions as Theme: - What an interesting performance! - How beautiful she is! 1.2.4.3 Fronting and Inversion Fronted element in a clause is... GRADUATION PAPER ON A STUDY ON ENGLISH INVERSION dimension of chain is correspondent to the time dimension in spoken language, and to either the time or space dimension in written language Patterns occur along the dimension of chain Each language has a number of patterns which belong to it but does not have certain others For example: We say “It’s a beautiful girl” not “It’s girl beautiful a As... STUDY ON ENGLISH INVERSION 4 Exclamations sentences which have an initial phrase start with exclamation word like “what” or “how”, generally without inversion of subject and operator - What a beautiful lie - How nice he is! - For a thousand time have I loved you! - What a noisy city! In conclusion, there are many formulae in the sense that although they may have the appearance of belonging to one of... of inversion are going to be classified and analyzed Nguyen Thi Hoang Anh – Group K1 8A2 – Course 2011-2015 25 GRADUATION PAPER ON A STUDY ON ENGLISH INVERSION CHAPTER 2: CONCRETE CASES OF ENGLISH INVERSION 2.1 Subject-Operator Inversion 2.1.1 In Question In terms of word order, all questions in English usually “have inversion , which means the subject and the first verb of the predicate change places... normal implication that something new is being said about a “subject” that has already been introduced in an earlier sentence Another feature is that S determines concord of person and number Nguyen Thi Hoang Anh – Group K1 8A2 – Course 2011-2015 11 GRADUATION PAPER ON A STUDY ON ENGLISH INVERSION with the verb phrase Elements which can be the S are a N or a NP or a clause with nominal function It... dimension of language or the syntagmatic axis of language According to her, any utterance consists of a number of language, one after another, in a sequence, and the dimension along which the sequence occurs is called the dimension (or axis) of chain She also indicates that each bit of language forms a link in the whole chain of a complete utterance and that the Nguyen Thi Hoang Anh – Group K1 8A2 – Course... “The Mermaid”, anonymous) Nguyen Thi Hoang Anh – Group K1 8A2 – Course 2011-2015 3 GRADUATION PAPER ON A STUDY ON ENGLISH INVERSION As a master of fact, the above-mentioned inversion structures cannot be examined without considering the rhymed and rhythmic patterns governingthe verses Consequently, inversion in poetry is beyond the scope of this paper It is axiomatic that inversion is associated with