05-08-2014, 10:11 AM
I think it all comes down to how self-conscious an inversion is. Some are subtle and some aren't. Some bring with them an implication of a new meaning, and some don't. We shouldn't dislike the technique in its entirety just because it isn't always done well.
I read something years ago that really affected me. I've forgotten the name of the author, but I think he was a fairly well-known grammarian. He said that the rules of English are what they are for no other reason than that there is a consensus among educated and influential people. If it were the consensus that a double negative made a negative (as in "There isn't no way"), then so it would be. However, the consensus is that a double negative makes a positive, and so that phrase means there is a way. So if enough people keep saying that they like inversions, and continue using them, they'll survive.
Part of the problem, it seems, is that it's okay to reverse word order in some cases and not in others. Thus, we are all free to put an adverb before a verb or after a verb, and no one will say that it's wrong. But if we start rearranging the major parts of speech (subject, verb, etc.), people object. It all depends on how skillfully it's done.
I read something years ago that really affected me. I've forgotten the name of the author, but I think he was a fairly well-known grammarian. He said that the rules of English are what they are for no other reason than that there is a consensus among educated and influential people. If it were the consensus that a double negative made a negative (as in "There isn't no way"), then so it would be. However, the consensus is that a double negative makes a positive, and so that phrase means there is a way. So if enough people keep saying that they like inversions, and continue using them, they'll survive.
Part of the problem, it seems, is that it's okay to reverse word order in some cases and not in others. Thus, we are all free to put an adverb before a verb or after a verb, and no one will say that it's wrong. But if we start rearranging the major parts of speech (subject, verb, etc.), people object. It all depends on how skillfully it's done.
(05-08-2014, 09:47 AM)Erthona Wrote: However, in the future Caleb, if you wish to make a point leave me out of it, create your own points instead of riding on my coattails. I dislike knowing that I have to be so careful in anything that I write that it will be completely above reproach. It makes me feel like I am studying philosophy again.I find this remark incredibly bizarre. If you're participating in a thread and you make a comment that I disagree with, I'm certainly free to say so in a subsquent post.
