Inversion /help
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Inversion /help
Message from mohammad51 posted on 08-11-2021 at 07:07:53 (D | E | F)
Hello
Please guide me if is correct or incorrect.
Thank you in advance
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Is it applicable ?
Superlative or comparative \ inversion
Emphasis or what ...... ?

One friend translator wrote a sentence as :
Most concerned was she of his silence and his baffled look.

Indeed, I felt the example is strange and is never common.

Most concerned or let me say , most interested or any non-gradable adjective else

I think even to rewrite as : She was most concerned of his .... = not correct
Perhaps we say " She was the most concerned among all her friends \ among people \ her classmates etc.
xxxxx
In English = is changed to possessive = his silence
I can easily translate as : What made her more frightened \ concerned \ scared etc.. is his silence

My question is not about the translation. My question is about the grammar.
Is it possible to say
Most concerned was she \ Most interested was she ..... ?
Is it possible to use inversion in such ways ?

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Edited by lucile83 on 08-11-2021 07:45
You have to use English here,other languages are not admitted.

Re: Inversion /help from sherry48, posted on 08-11-2021 at 13:50:45 (D | E)
Hello.
I never thought much about the reason for this technique called "fronting" until I learned it in a college grammar class. Here is a link you may find helpful. Link

Sherry

Re: Inversion /help from mohammad51, posted on 08-11-2021 at 15:02:17 (D | E)
Hello
Thank you dear teacher lucile83

I can't edit the question after your editing

Thank you dear teacher sherry48 I regard your answer

It is not a matter of fronting with the origin sentence : Most concerned was she of his silence and his baffled look.

Here the translator uses inversion mode >>> Most concerned was she ( V + S )

As much as I know the inversion is not used in the way he used.

The most uses of inversion are :
1- with negative words ( never , not , not until , hardly , seldom , scarcely, under no circumstance etc...)
2- in conditionals ( had , were ) Had we known = if we had known \ were it necessary = If it were
3- here \ there when introducing a sentence
4- with so and such ( less used )

I never heard : Most concerned was she

So please and perhaps I am not acquainted with all uses of inversion

Is it right or wrong to say "Most concerned was she " ?

Re: Inversion /help from sherry48, posted on 08-11-2021 at 19:44:23 (D | E)
Hello.
Your example-most concerned was she-sounds very awkward and I would never use it. You sometimes see unusual word order in songs for rhyming. In conversation, people give prominence to a word by stressing it. Moving something to the beginning or front of a sentence is a technique to indicate what the speaker thinks is most important, but it can make odd sentences that native speakers tend to avoid.
Sherry

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