Inversion

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In linguistics, inversion is any of several grammatical constructions where two expressions switch their canonical order of appearance, that is, they invert. So, the most frequent type of inversion in English is subject–auxiliary inversion, where an auxiliary verb changes places with its subject. In many other languages – especially those with freer word order than English – inversion can take place with a variety of verbs (not just auxiliaries) and with other syntactic categories as well. When a layered constituency-based analysis of sentence structure is used, inversion often results in the discontinuity of a constituent, although this would not be the case with a flatter dependency-based analysis. In this regard inversion has consequences similar to those of shifting. Inversion is one of the common patterns of word order. The order of words in which the subject is placed after the predicate is called inverted order or inversion. We distinguish full inversion, partial inversion and double inversion. The inverted order of words is widely used when a word or a group of words is put in a prominent position, i. e. when it either opens the sentence or is withdrawn to the end of the sentence so as to produce a greater effect. So word order often becomes a means of emphasis, thus acquiring a stylistic function. In this case inversion is not due to the structure of the sentence but to the author’s wish to produce a certain stylistic effect. Standard word order in English declarative sentences is first the subject, then the verb.