精典範例
To be or not to be: that is the question.
--William Shakespear
Never before have we had so little time to do so much.
--美國前總統 Franklin D. Roosevelt
Plain: We sat on the cliffs by the sea, watching the sunset.
Interesting: On the cliffs by the sea we sat, watching the sunset.
(介詞短語-主語-謂語-分詞)
Normal: The professor walked in.
Reversed: In walked the professor.
(謂語-主語)
Normal: Jeremy scorned honest men.
Reversed: Honest men Jeremy scorned.
(賓語-主語謂語)
Normal: Although I am fond of my children, I hope they won’t grow up spoilt.
Reversed: Fond as I am of my children, I hope they won’t grow up spoilt
Normal: He never gave up certain habits of his youth, and one of them was that he liked to inspect his clothes thoroughly for wrinkles before he stepped out of the door.
Reversed: Certain habits of his youth he never gave up, and one of them was that he liked to inspect his clothes thoroughly for wrinkles before he stepped out of the door.
Normal: Stephen was a bungler then.
Reversed: A bungler Stephen was then.
(補語-主語-謂語)
Normal: We shall never feel secure.
Reversed/Interesting: Secure we shall never feel.
(補語-主語-謂語)
Normal: This is a lost generation.
Reversed: This is a generation lost.
Plain: The immense expanse of the Gobi Desert stretches before us.
Interesting: Before us stretched the immense expanse of the Gobi Desert.
(介詞短語-謂語-名詞)
Plain: He wasn’t cut out to be a peacetime officer. He wanted glory, he wanted the excitement of war. No one, except possibly himself, has ever doubted his physical courage (or any other kind of courage).
Interesting: He wasn’t cut out to be a peacetime officer. He wanted glory, he wanted the excitement of war. His physical courage (or any other kind of courage) no one, except possibly himself, has ever doubted.
Normal: Nobody knows why lands sink under the sea and rise again.
Reversed: Why lands sink under the sea and rise again nobody knows.
Normal: I dare not trust her.
Emphatic: Trust her I dare not.
Normal: I never thought he would return alive.
Emphatic: Never did I think he would return alive.
Loose: History has proved amply that mere numbers may be defeated by smaller forces who are superior in arms, organization, and morale.
Better: That mere numbers may be defeated by smaller forces who are superior in arms, organization, and morale history has amply proved.
Plain: I hate taxes and tax collectors equally.
Interesting: Taxes and tax collectors, I hate equally.
(賓語- 主語- 謂語)
Normal: This is more noticeable in Kaohsiung than anywhere else in Taiwan.
Emphatic: Nowhere in Taiwan is this so noticeable as in Kaohsiung.
Normal: Like most Irishmen, Samuel was quick-tempered.
Reversed: Samuel was quick-tempered, as are most Irishmen.
Normal: A man lay beside the road, waiting hopelessly for help.
Reversed: Waiting hopelessly for help, a man lay beside the road.
Plain: In the President’s office, there was a pale, thin, sandy-haired man in his early thirties with the President. He was wearing a rumpled suit and looking completely out of place.
Better: In the office with the President was a pale, thin, sandy-haired man in his early thirties, wearing a rumpled suit and looking completely out of place.
倒裝結構中的常見短語：
Strange as it may sound…
Little did I know...
To your right...; and to your left ... as in "To my right is a large a lake, partially hidden behind the hill.
Off we go...
Down with ... as in "Down with the Gang of Four."
Happy will be the day...
Reverse the sequence for effect
如果你行文平淡，那就枯燥無味。你需要不時地改變一下你的行文規則，把簡單的東西緊縮，放在一起寫，有時你得打破你敘述事情的慣用模式。達到語言變化自如的途徑之一是顛倒句子的正常順序。倒裝使文章清新，出人意料,富於創造性。
打破詞或句子的`自然順序可獲得強調的效果，但注意：如果過分使用倒裝會使文章矯揉造作，有明顯的雕琢痕跡。同時句子次序的變化不應該造成歧義。
例 Wrong: Those who teach rarely get rich.
這個句子含義模糊，分辨不出是 "teach rarely" 還是 "rarely get rich?"
Reversed/ Correct:Rarely do those who teach get rich.
Reversed/Correct:Rarely do people get rich by teaching.
優秀作家一般在句子的一半處引出主語。可是很多學生幾乎不用這種寫法。應該變換這種主語開頭的寫法。
