Fronting occurs when we move one of the sentence elements from its usual position to the beginning of the sentence.
Consider the following simple sentence:
David (S) owes (V) £4000 (DO).
The direct object £4000 can be ‘fronted’ as follows:
£4000 (DO) David (S) owes (V).
Fronting gives special emphasis to the fronted element. In this example, it might be used to express astonishment at the amount of money that David owes. The following examples also contain fronted direct objects:
Ice-cream he wants! (cf. He wants ice-cream.)
Some games we won easily. (cf. We won some games easily.)
That much I understand. (cf. I understand that much.)
A subject complement may also be fronted:
Stone cold her hands were. (cf. Her hands were stone cold.)
Extremely rude she was. (cf. She was extremely rude.)
Consider the following simple sentence:
David (S) owes (V) £4000 (DO).
The direct object £4000 can be ‘fronted’ as follows:
£4000 (DO) David (S) owes (V).
Fronting gives special emphasis to the fronted element. In this example, it might be used to express astonishment at the amount of money that David owes. The following examples also contain fronted direct objects:
Ice-cream he wants! (cf. He wants ice-cream.)
Some games we won easily. (cf. We won some games easily.)
That much I understand. (cf. I understand that much.)
A subject complement may also be fronted:
Stone cold her hands were. (cf. Her hands were stone cold.)
Extremely rude she was. (cf. She was extremely rude.)
