GUIDE ENGLISH GRAMMAR BOOK

PAGE 55
49 Front position
48 The subject
1 The subject often makes a link with the previous sentence.
The man is in prison. He stole some jewellery.
There was a break-in. Some jewellery was stolen.
The girls did well. Celia got the first prize.
There were lots of prizes. The first prize went to Celia.
We can often express an idea in different ways, e.g. Celia got the prize./The prize
went to Celia. It is best to choose a subject that relates to what went before.
2 The subject can express ideas such as time and place.
This has been an eventful year for us. September saw our move to new offices.
(= We moved to new offices in September.)
The house was empty, but the garage contained some old chairs.
(= There were some old chairs in the garage.)
They're building a new theme park. It will attract lots of visitors.
(= Lots of people will visit it.)
3 Sometimes we can use an abstract noun to refer back to the idea in the previous
sentence.
Someone threw a stone through the window. This incident upset everyone.
Lucy had finally made up her mind. The decision had not been easy.
Brian is an impossible person. His rudeness puts people off.
The people here have nothing. Their poverty is extreme.
49 Front position
The subject often comes at the beginning of a statement, but not always. We
sometimes put another phrase in front position before the subject. We do this to
emphasize a phrase or to contrast it with phrases in other sentences. The phrase in
front position is more prominent than in its normal position.
1 An adverbial in front position
a
This paragraph is about a man who is starting a forbidden love affair.
For a week after this, life was like a restless dream. On the next day she did not
appear in the canteen until he was leaving it, the whistle having already blown.
Presumably she had been changed on to a later shift. They passed each other
without a glance. On the day after that she was in the canteen at the usual time,
but with three other girls and immediately under a telescreen. Then for three
dreadful days she did not appear at all.
(from G. Orwell Nineteen Eighty-Four)
The first phrase in the sentence usually relates to something that has gone before.
Here the adverbials in front position make the sequence of events clearer.
Compare an alternative order.
They passed each other without a glance. She was in the canteen at the usual
time on the day after that...
This order is possible, but it is more difficult to read. You might not realize at first
that the second sentence is about a different day.