7.1 Sentence Variety
Starting a Sentence by Inverting the Subject and Verb
As we noted earlier, most writers follow the subject-verb-object sentence structure. In an inverted sentence, the order is reversed so that the subject follows the verb. Read the following sentence pairs:
- A truck was parked in the driveway.
- Parked in the driveway was a truck.
- A copy of the file is attached.
- Attached is a copy of the file.
Notice how the second sentence in each pair places more emphasis on the subject—a truck in the first example and the file in the second. This technique is useful for drawing the reader’s attention to your primary area of focus.
