Fronting

Fronting moves part of a sentence to the front, to give it emphasis or to link it to what came before. Sometimes the word order stays the same; sometimes the verb comes before the subject.

• Object first, normal order

  the subject and verb keep their usual order. It's common in speech, to contrast two things.

  Her name I can't remember, but her face I'll never forget.

• Adjective or participle first: be + subject

  formal and written style. Be agrees with the subject that comes after it.

  Gone are the days when a letter took weeks to arrive.

  Hidden in the attic was a box of letters.

• Place or direction first: verb + subject

  with verbs of position and movement like stand, lie, hang, come, go, walk, run.

  On the hill stood an old church.

  Down came the rain.

• With a pronoun subject, no inversion

  Here comes the bus. Here it comes.

  Off she went.

• Concession: adjective or adverb + as

  means although, with normal order after as.

  Much as I like him, I can't agree.

Common mistakes

• ✗ Down the rain came.→✓ Down came the rain.With a noun subject, the verb goes first.
• ✗ Here comes it.→✓ Here it comes.With a pronoun, the normal order.
• ✗ Much as I like him, but I can't agree.→✓ Much as I like him, I can't agree.