Page 534 - Practical English Usage 3ed - Michael Swan, Oxford

sentence structure (4): information structure 512
Structures with have are often used to 'personalise' a situation by making a person the subject.
I'vegotthehousefullofchildren. (InsteadofThehouseisfullofchildren. OR There are children all over the house.)
We can often get the subject we want by choosing the right verb. Compare:
- The biscuitfactory employs 7,000 people. 7,000 people work for the biscuit factory.
- He led the children through the silent streets.
The children followed him through the silent streets.
Some verbs can have both agent and patient subjects. For details, see 609.
She opened the door The door opened.
4 end-weight: It worried me that she hadn't been in touch
Longer and heavier structures usually come last in a clause or sentence. (These usually have the highest 'information-value' in any case.)
Children are sometimes discouraged by the length oftime it takes to learn a musical instrument. (More natural than The length oftime it takes to learn a musical instrument sometimes discourages children.)
Because of this, we often use a structure with 'preparatory it' in order to move a clause or infinitive subject or object to the end of a sentence. For details, see 446-447.
It worried me that she hadn't been in touch for so long.
(More natural than That she hadn't been in touch for so long worried me.)
It's important to teU us everything you know.
(More natural than To tell us everything you know is important.)
He made it clear that he was not in the least interested. (More natural than He made that he was not in lhe leasl interested clear.)
Adverbs do not normally separate the verb from the object in an English clause (see 21.1). However, a very long and heavy object may come after a shorter adverb. Compare:
She plays the violin very well (NOT She,,1ays rtery well the I1i6Hn.)
She plays very well almost any instrument that you can think ofand several
that you can't.
End-weight can also affect the word order of indirect questions. Compare:
I'm not sure what the point is.
I'm not sure what is the point ofspending hours and hours discussing this.
S emphatic structures: What I need is ...; Nice man, Joe
There are various ways of giving extra emphasis to one part of a sentence. One way is to use a 'cleft sentence' with it or what: this emphasises one idea by putting everything else into a subordinate clause. For details, see 130-131.
It was my mother who finally called the police.
What I need is a hot bath and a drink.
If we move to the beginning of a sentence something that does not normally go there, this gives it extra emphasis. This kind of structure ('fronting') is common in speech, where intonation can make the information structure clear. For details, see 513.
The other plans we'll look at next week. Nice man, Joe.
For more information about emphaSis, see 184.
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