A fearful voyage I had with such a monster in the vessel.
(Ch. Bronte) Honey she had in plenty out of her own hives.
(Hardy) As a rule this prominent position of the object causes no inversion except when the object is
expressed by word-groups with
not a.., or
many a... .
The direct object acquires some prominence when it is separated from the predicate by some
secondary part of the sentence — generally an adverbial modifier or a prepositional indirect
object. We may call this the back position of the object.
She produced from her pocket
a most housewifely bunch of keys .
(Ch. Bronte) I had at heart
a strange and anxious thought .
(Ch. Bronte) Cowperwood smiled as he saw in the morning papers
the announcement of the passage of
each ordinance granting him a franchise.
(Dreiser) As is seen from the above examples this occurs when the object has an attribute.
The front position of the indirect object in declarative sentences is rare. The prepositional
indirect object is more common in this position, especially in colloquial English.
Of his love he would tell her nothing.
(Voynich) To Martin the future did not seem so dim. Success trembled just before him.
(London) Sometimes the front position of the prepositional indirect object causes inversion.
To this circumstance
may be attributed the fact that none of the letters
reached my hand.
(Dickens) Joining sentences with present participles ('-ing')
