XIV Международная студенческая научная конференция Студенческий научный форум - 2022

For the English language it is typical to have a fixed order of words in a sentence, that is, the subject is in the first place, the predicate is in the second. However, there are a number of cases in which this rule can be violated.

Inversion is a change in the conventional word order that serves to express a certain lexical, grammatical or stylistic meaning. In modern English Inversion is a complicated and extensively used phenomenon performing different functions in different contexts and language situations, and that makes it a relevant subject for modern studies.

Grammatical inversion is widely used in the English language, as it is necessary to make interrogative and negative sentences. As a stylistic device, though, inversion is not that ubiquitous, since its use often sounds very literary or formal and is aimed at emphasizing particular parts of the sentence or adding some extra emotional colouring to the utterance.

Grammatical inversion is a structure in which the predicate verb precedes the subject, for instance: “Never have the taxes been so high in our country.” Structurally two types of grammatical inversion are generally distinguished: full inversion (FI), for example: “All along one wall climbed a beautiful rambling rose” and “subject-auxiliary inversion (SAI), for example: “…deep blue sky arched high over the moorland. Never, never had Mary dreamed of a sky so blue. In India skies were hot and blazing ” (Burnett F. H., The Secret Garden).

The distinction between the two lies in the nature of the verb involved whether it is a full or an auxiliary verb. The subject-auxiliary (partial) inversion (SAI) is a frequently occurring type of inversion, where a finite auxiliary verb, including the finite forms of the link-verb be, changes positions with the subject. Therefore, the word order is auxiliary-subject, which is opposed to the canonical subject-verb order of declarative sentences in English. This type of inversion in English is commonly found in the process of question formation: “he is a good boy” – “Is he a good boy?”. However, there are other cases as well, including the formation of conditional clauses, for example: “If I were richer…” - “Were I richer…”, and also he structure of sentences with negative expressions in the initial position, for example:” No criminal can hide from our police”.

In modern English, grammatical inversion can often be found in magazines and newspapers. It is attributed to the fact that it does not depend on the personal attitude of the speaker and is regulated by the grammar rules of the language. Stylistic inversion serves as a means of enhancing the expressiveness.

From the standpoint of stylistics, the violation of the conventional word order imposes additional semantic shades, highlights or weakens the semantic load of a certain word or word combination in a sentence. It is mostly found in literary discourse – prose and poetry. For example: What a piece of work is a man! (W. Shakespeare, Hamlet 2:2). Due to some psychological factors the extent of text comprehension depends on the sentence structure. So, for the writer it is not enough to convey the meaning, the plot of the book. The writer has to build their utterance so as to shake up and excite the reader’s imagination and feelings. The use of emphatic constructions helps to facilitate and enhance comprehension.

Thus, inversion in the English language is a complex, many-sided phenomenon whose role can vary in different language situations. In general, the majority of native speakers prefer to comply with the traditional word order in spoken language; however, the use of inversion as a stylistic device permits to make one’s speech more expressive, eloquent and diverse. In modern English that use is widely spread in literature and formal written language.

Literature:

1. Komyagina O.V., Karpova A.V. The use of grammatical inversion in the modern English language. Philological aspect, 2018, no. 6(38), pp. 100-110.

2. Swan Michael. Practical English usage. Fourth Edition, Oxford University Press, 2016, pp 270-271

3. Zhiber E. V. Expressive inversion in the English language. Vestnik of Moscow State Linguistic University. Humanities, 220, no. 11 (840), pp. 81-91