Fronting

The most common word order in a declarative clause is subject (s) + verb (v) + object (o) or complement:

[S] [V]I bought[O]a new camera.

Sometimes, particularly in speaking, when we want to focus on something important, we bring it to the front of the clause. This is called ‘fronting’:

I bought a new camera. Anda very expensive camerait was.(Most common word order: It was a very expensive camera.)

Some elements like adjuncts or complements do not typically belong at the beginning of a clause. When we want to focus on them, we bring them to the front or beginning of the clause. We often find this in written literary or formal contexts.

When the fronting involves a prepositional phrase (on the corner, in front of me) we often change the order of the subject and the verb.

In informal speaking we commonly take the subject or object from within the clause and put it at the front of the clause. We often do this when the noun phrase is long and we usually use a pronoun to replace it in the clause:

That man over there with the dog,heworks in the corner shop.(That man over there with the dog works in the corner shop.)

That book you told me about, they’ve madeitinto a film.(They’ve made that book you told me about into a film.)