Inversion is the syntactic phenomenon of intentional changing word-order of the initial sentence model

Classification. There are two basically different types of inversion: grammatical and stylistic. Grammatical inversion is devoid of stylistic information. It is just a technical means of forming different types of questions. Stylistic inversion is such a change of word-order which gives logical stress or emo­tional colouring to the language units placed in an unusual syntactic position.

Stylistic inversion is typical of the predicate, predicative and all the sec­ondary parts of the sentence:

In came Jack, (predicate)

Insolent Connor's conduct was. (predicative)

Little chances Benny had. (direct object)

To her family Martha gives all her time. (indirect object).

A horrible death Douglas died. (cognate object)

This is a letter congratulatory. (attribute)

To the disco Hilda went. (adverbial modifier)

In the Russian and Ukrainian languages the word order of a sentence is flexible, and inversion as an expressive means is supported with a spec­ifying intonation:

- Очевидно, Федір ніде не працює.

- Працює він. Тільки вдома ложкою.

Самотності не зносила ріка.

DETACHMENT

When placed in a certain syntactic position, a sentence component may seem formally independent of the word it refers to. Such compo­nents of sentence structure are called "detached":

There was a nice girl there, I liked her name, Linda.

Brian came into the room, very much flushed and rather unsteady inhis gait.

Classification. Any secondary part of the sentence may become de­tached:

Smither should choose it for her at the stores - nice and dappled. (attribute)

They put him under laughing-gas one year, poor lad. (apposition]

Talent. Mr. Micawber has, capital Fr. Micawber has not. (direct object)

It was indeed, to Forsyte eyes, an odd house. (indirect object)

Gordon was stubbornly crawling to the place of his destination inch by inch - like a caterpillar. (adverbial modifier).

Communicative function. Detachment results in logical emphasis of the components of sentence structure.

Compare:

Вже почалось, мабуть, майбутнє. Оце, либонь, вже почалось... (parenthetic modal words)

Поміж людьми, як кажуть, добре й нам. (parenthetic clause)

А у натовпі був і він, Пилип. (apposition)

Щодня, щогодини бомбардую думками образ твій, Сфінксе. (address)

До колоса, до цар-колоса Данило мав незмінний трепет душі... (indirect object)

Сади, омиті музикою згадок, ковтають пил міжселищних доріг. (attribute)

Там, за небокраєм, там, за горою - ти на синім морозі гориш. (adverbial modifier)

RHETORIC QUESTIONS

and other cases of syntactic transposition

Contextual environment of a language unit may change its initial meaning. A typical case of contextual transposition of meaning is rhetoric questions. In fact, rhetoric questions are not questions but affirmative or negative statements put into the interrogative shape. A rhetoric question needs no answer, because the answer to it is quite obvious:

Why should I do it? means I shouldn't do it. Why doesn't he shut up? means He must shut up. What could 1 do in a case like that? means I could do nothing in a case like that.

Compare:

Ах, кримська ніч! І хто тебе вигадав?! І навіщо ти така синя?! І навіщо ж ти така прозора?!

Життя цілого не досить, а що є в людині, окрім життя?

Communicative functions. A rhetoric question enhances the expressiveness of speech. Used in oratory style, rhetoric questions aim at catching the attention of the audience, making the sequential sentences sound persua­sive and significant.

There are some more varieties of contextual transposition of meaning:

1. Exclamatory sentences with inversion:

Much he knew about it 1 = He did not know much about it.

Дуже ти багато розумієшся на мистецтві! Натюрморт від пейзажу відрізнити не можеш.

2. Negative sentences implying emphatic affirmation:

I'll hang myself if it isn't Barney Woods who did it! = It is Barney Voods who did it.

3. Syntactic structures of the type "Me a liar?" (I am not a liar).

4. Syntactic structures with Subjunctive mood forms:

I wish I had not done it = I had done it.

PRACTICAL ASSIGNMENT

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