Fronted Objects, Predicatives, and Non-finite Constructions in English

Fronted object

Fronted object= “ This I do not understand” ; “Why he came this way I will probably never know”. The object of the clause is in initial position. Many different structures occur as fronted objects, such as nouns, pronouns(1) and complement clauses(2).

Fronted nominals other than object

Fronted nominals other than object= “Whether Nancy was there or not, she could not be certain”. A nominal structure is in initial position, such as the complement the adjective “certain” in the example here “ She could not be certain whether Nancy was there or not”

Fronted predicatives

Fronted predicatives= “ Far more serious were the severe head injuries” ; “ The larger the base the easier it will be to perform the action”; “ So preoccupied was she that se was unaware that Diana was standing in the doorway”. A subject predicative is in initial position. Many structures can occur as fronted predicatives. Special cases include proportion clauses with the(2) and degree clauses with so… that (3). Some fronted predicatives occur with inversion(1,3)

Fronted non-finite constructions

Fronted non-finite constructions: “ I have said he would come down and come down he did” ; “ Waiting below was Michael Sams” ; “ Enclosed is a card for our permanent signature file”. An infinitive(1), ing-participle (2) or ed-participle(3) is in initial position. Its complements are fronted with it(e.g. “down” in “ come down”). Some fronted non-finite predicates occur with inversion(2,3)

Fronting in dependent clauses that use “ as “ or “though”

Fronting in dependent clauses that use “ as “ or “though”“ Try as she might to make it otherwise<…> “ ; “ <…> unsuccessful though they have been in their proposals”. Dependent clauses that use the subordinator as(1) or though(2) sometimes have an element placed before the subordinator. (1) illustrates fronting of a main verb and (2) illustrates fronting of a predicative.

Variation in the noun phrase across registers: premodifiers and postmodifiers

Variation in the noun phrase across registers: premodifiers and postmodifiers

Noun phrases

Noun phrases(with pre and post modifiers) are equally common in English, but there are differences across registers in the use of the types of modifier. In conversation the typical case is to use nouns with no modifier at all. ; has many noun phrases but are usually very short and have concrete referents. Pronouns are also very common in conversation. In contrast, noun phrases in academic writing usually have premodifiers or postmodifiers(or both), and all noun phrases have some modification. Premodifiers and postmodifiers have a similar distrubtion across registers.

Premodifier types across registers

Premodifier types across registers: Adjectives are by far the most common type of noun premodifier. Nouns are also extremely common as noun premodifiers, especially in the written expository registers.

Postmodifier types across registers

Postmodifier types across registers: Prepositional phrases as postmodifiers are especially common in news and academic prose. These structures often occur in extremely dense, embedded sequences. In academic , prepositional phrases allow a very dense packaging of information in a text. The prepositional phrases are more compact than relative clauses. PP commonly occur in sequences in academic prose, which also adds to the dense packing of information. Relative clauses differ from prepositional phrases as postmodifiers in both their communicative function and their register distribution. They are common in both fiction and news, where they are often used to identify or describe a person.