Subject–verb inversion in English is a type of inversion marked by a predicate verb that precedes a corresponding subject, e.g., "Beside the bed stood a lamp". Subject–verb inversion is distinct from subject–auxiliary inversion because the verb involved is not an auxiliary verb.
Types of subject–verb inversion A number of types of subject–verb inversion can be acknowledged based upon the nature of phrase that precede the verb and the nature of the verb(s) involved. The following subsections enumerate four distinct types of subject–verb inversion: locative inversion, directive inversion, copular inversion, and quotative inversion.
Locative inversion Locative inversion occurs in many languages, including Brazilian Portuguese, Mandarin Chinese, Otjiherero, Chichewa, and a number of Germanic and Bantu languages. A predicative phrase is switched from its default postverbal position to a position preceding the verb, which causes the subject and the finite verb to invert. For example:
a. A lamp lay in the corner. b. In the corner lay a lamp. – Locative inversion c. *In the corner lay it. – Locative inversion unlikely with a weak pronoun subject a. Only Larry sleeps under that tree. b. Under that tree sleeps only Larry. – Locative inversion c. *Under that tree sleeps he. – Locative inversion unlikely with a weak pronoun subject The fronted expression that evokes locative inversion is an adjunct of location. Locative inversion in modern English is a vestige of the V2 order associated with earlier stages of the language.
Directive inversion Directive inversion is closely related to locative inversion insofar as the pre-verb expression denotes a location, the only difference being that the verb is now a verb of movement. Typical verbs that allow directive inversion in English are come, go, run, etc.
a. Two students came into the room. b. Into the room came two students. – Directive inversion c. *Into the room came they. – Directive inversion unlikely with a weak pronoun subject a. The squirrel fell out of the tree. b. Out of the tree fell the squirrel. – Directive inversion c. *Out of the tree fell it. – Directive inversion unlikely with a weak pronoun subject The fronted expression that evokes inversion is a directive expression; it helps express movement toward a destination. The following sentence may also be an instance of directive inversion, although the fronted expression expresses time rather than direction:
a. The toasts came after the speeches. b. After the speeches came the toasts. – Inversion after a time expression Like locative inversion, directive inversion is undoubtedly a vestige of the V2 word order associated with earlier stages of the language.
Copular inversion Copular inversion occurs when a predicative nominal switches positions with the subject in a clause where the copula be is the finite verb. The result of this inversion is known as an inverse copular construction, e.g.
a. Bill is our representative. b. Our representative is Bill. – Copular inversion c. *Our representative is he. – Copular inversion unlikely with weak pronoun subject a. The objection was a concern. b. A concern was the objection. – Copular inversion c. *A concern was it. – Copular inversion unlikely with weak pronoun subject This type of inversion occurs with a finite form of the copula be. Since English predominantly has SV order, it will tend to view whichever noun phrase immediately precedes the finite verb as the subject. Thus in the second b-sentence, A concern is taken as the subject, and the objection as the predicate. But if one acknowledges that copular inversion has occurred, one can argue that the objection is the subject; and A concern, the predicate. This confusion has led to focused study of these types of copular clauses. Where there is a difference in number, the verb agrees with the noun phrase that precedes it:
a. Jack and Jill are the problem. b. The problem is Jack and Jill. – On an inversion analysis, the verb agrees with the apparent predicate.
Quotative inversion In literature, subject–verb inversion occurs with verbs that attribute speech to a character. The inversion follows an instance of direct speech that typically occurs in quotation marks:
a. "We are going to win," Bill said. b. "We are going to win," said Bill. – Quotative inversion c. *"We are going to win," said he. – Quotative inversion less likely with weak subject pronoun a. "What was the problem?" Larry asked. b. "What was the problem?" asked Larry. – Quotative inversion c. *"What was the problem?" asked he. – Quotative inversion less likely with weak subject pronoun This sort of inversion is almost entirely absent from everyday speech. It occurs almost exclusively in literary contexts.
Multiple verbs Subject–verb inversion can sometimes involve more than one verb. In these cases, the subject follows all of the verbs, the finite as well as non-finite ones, e.g.
a. Remnants of marijuana consumption have been found under her bed twice. b. Under her bed have been found remnants of marijuana consumption twice. c. Under her bed have been found twice remnants of marijuana consumption. Sentence b and sentence c, where the subject follows all the verbs, stand in stark contrast to what occurs in cases of subject–auxiliary inversion, which have the subject appearing between the finite auxiliary verb and the non-finite verb(s), e.g.
d. Has anything been found under her bed? Further, the flexibility across sentence b and sentence c demonstrates that there is some freedom of word order in the post-verb domain.
Structural analysis Like most types of inversion, subject–verb inversion is a phenomenon that challenges theories of sentence structure. In particular, the traditional subject–predicate division of the clause (S → NP VP) is difficult to maintain in light of instances of subject–verb inversion such as Into the room will come a unicorn. Such sentences are more consistent with a theory that takes sentence structure to be relatively flat, lacking a finite verb phrase constituent, i.e. lacking the VP of S → NP VP. In order to maintain the traditional subject–predicate division, one has to assume movement (or copying) on a massive scale. The basic difficulty is suggested by the following trees representing the phrase structures of the sentences:
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