a) The Place of the Direct Object
§ 479. The direct object is usually placed after the verb unless the indirect object precedes it.
He offered me his help.
However the direct object may be put before its verb or may be severed from the latter by other parts of the sentence.
She lavishly displayed for my pleasure all her charms... (Bronte).
§ 480. Sometimes the object is pushed to the front of the sentence. It occurs:
1) When the direct object is an interrogative word which
is naturally placed at the head of the sentence to form a spe
cial question, as in What did you dot Who (m) will
you meet there*
2) When the direct object serves to connect two thoughts 1.
/ see he is ready to apologize. This he can't avoid.
3) When the object is made emphatic, the speaker wishing
to attract attention towards it. Not asyllable did she
utter. Here the particle not emphasizes the word syllable.
§ 481. The direct object is separated from its verb by some other parts of the sentence — adverbial complements, prepositional objects — when it is intentionally placed at the end of the sentence for the sake of emphasis, logical stress.
And unexpectedly he saw against the background of the forest two approaching figures. (Betteredge).
b)The Position of the Indirect Object
§ 482. The indirect object cannot be used in the sentence without the direct object. The indirect object is regularly put before the direct object as in That gave me a new idea.
The only possible exception to the rule is the use of the direct object it before the indirect object, / gave ithim. In
1 À. È. Ñ m è p í è ö ê è è, op. cit., p. 216.
A. I. Smirnitsky's 1 opinion this can be easily explained by the nature of it which denotes a thing and not a person and cannot be mistaken for the indirect object.
The indirect object cannot be pushed to the front of the sentence because that would impair its only distinct formal feature — its position immediately after the verb, before the direct object.
c)The Position of Prepositional Objects
§ 483. In most cases they follow the direct object, though for stylistic purposes, i. e. for emphasis and expressiveness, they may be placed at the head of the sentence.
Cf. / didn't tell him about Mary's departure. About Mary's departure I didn't tell him.
Occasionally the prepositional object js placed before the direct object (particularly if the prepositional object happens to be a '/o-phrase').
/ tecommended to himsome effective measures.
III. The Position of Adverbial Complements
§ 484. Adverbial complements are often referred to as the most mobile par'ts of the sentence 2. We must bear in mind, however, that the position of adverbial complements is not altogether free, though it is more varied than that of the other parts of the sentence.
§ 485. Adverbials of place and time are normally placed either at the end of the sentence (e. g. It happened î ï Wednesday), or at the beginning of the sentence (Î ï Wednesday he came again. Along the narrow street moved a queer procession.).
In case there are both an adverbial of place and an adverbial of time, the former comes nearer the verb than the latter.
They were married in Brighton in 1876.
1 Op., cit , p. 217.
2 À. È. Ñ ì è p í è ö ê è è, op cit., p. 228; Á. À. È ë ü è ø,
op. cit., ð. 42; Í. Sweet, op. cit. § 1833, etc.
Adverbials of indefinite time and frequency (always, never, seldom, ever, often, etc.) are placed before a synthetic predicate verb and within an analytical predicate verb.
Cf. / always helped him. I have always helped him.
A. I. Smirnitsky * explains this position of the adverbials in question by their functioning as a sort of time attribute to the verb, owing to which they form an inalienable part of the predicate.
If these adverbials are placed at the head of the sentence they become emphatic. Never shall I forget that day.
Adverbial complements of manner are likewise closely allied with the verb and are mostly placed either after the verb (or after the object) or within the analytical form.
"Good-bye", she answered softly. (Galsworthy). He moved nervously about, while Carrie looked at him confusedly. (Dreiser).
He has openly defied the law.
IV. The Position of Attributes
§ 486. Attributes may precede or follow the word they modify and accordingly we distinguish prepositive and postpositive attributes. Both prepositive and postpositive attributes are placed in close proximity to the noun modified.
My dear girl. Her desire to p I e a s e was quite apparent.
§ 487. The position of an attribute depends both on the head-word a nd on the attribute. If the head-word is a pronoun, the attribute is, as a rule, postpositive.
E. g. I can't tell you anything important yet.
A noun has mostly prepositive attributes, but some attributes are regularly postpositive.
a) Prepositional phrases.
E. g. Men of good will, the idea of going there, an old friend of mine.
b) Infinitives, infinitival and participial constructions.
I
1 Op. cit., p. 229.
E.g. I've no wish to see him to-night. This is a book read and enjoyed by young and old, a book for you to read.
c) Adjectives in -able, -ible.
E. g. The happiest man imaginable, a decision fully justifiable.
In certain set expressions like from time immemorial, court martial, knight errant the position of the attribute was influenced by French.
§ 488. In postposition attributes often acquire what we might call a 'semi-predicative' connotation.
E. g. something important «a something (which is) important.
A man in love «^ a man (who is) in love. A book enjoyed ^ a book (which is) enjoyed. A decision justifiable «=; a decision (which is) justifiable.
This is probably the reason why words whose main function is that of predicative complements are sometimes used as postpositive attributes.
E. g. Barbara asleep was a symbol. (Galsworthy). /'// stand up to any man alive. (Shaw).
^
§ 489. If there are two or more prepositive attributes to one and the same noun their order is dependent upon a number of factors which appear to be semantic and stylistic rather than grammatical. :
a) The general principle is that we tend to place closest
to the head-word that attribute which is most closely connected
with the noun and to which the greatest importance is'attached
in the given context.
E. g steady dangerous eyes; a short killing remark.
b) The general naturally comes before the specific as in
a slow laborious process, a nice good-natured smile.
c) There is a tangible tendency to follow a definite rhythmi
cal pattern by placing a shorter adjective before the longer
one. That rude ignorant man.
1 See English Language Teaching, v. XVI, No. 4, 1962, p. 196.
§ 490. Though the sequence of the attributes modifying one noun is in most cases influenced by several of the above-mentioned factors concurrently, we may speak of certain rules or rather tendencies of their arrangement in accordance with their meanings. The table presently to be given shows these rules.
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