While reading a book called The Runaway by Martina Cole, I came across this construction:
She was really out (of prison), she was home. But she still had old scores to settle and settle them she would.
I am interested in the last part of the last sentence: ‘and settle them she would.’
I do understand it is an emphatic construction, to make the meaning stronger. Is there some cliche for this construction, something similar to inversion-for example, not only did he smoke, but he also gambled.
Hello Beeesneees,
While searching for the name of the cliche, I came across this definition:
Moving into initial position an item which is otherwise unusual there is called fronting. A Comprehensive Grammar of the English Language
The scholars who wrote that book were:
Professors Randolph Quirk, Sidney Greenbaum, Geoffrey Leech, and
Jan Svartvik. Published by Longman in London and New York.
In other words, the “normal” sentence would read:
She had old scores to settle and she would settle them.
The professors in the book I came across explain that sometimes authors use fronting for “mannered rhetoric.” (I guess that means to make things more
dramatic.) Here is their example. Notice how fronting makes it so much more
interesting and dramatic:
They have promised to finish the work, and finish it they will.
A few months ago we studied inversion and fronting, but somehow it slipped my mind that the sentence I posted on the forum is an example of fronting. The book we use is Cambridge Grammar for CAE and Proficiency with answers by Martin Hewings, CUP 2009.
Here is the definition of fronting:
We can emphasise a particular part of a sentence by moving it to the front of the sentence, changing the usual word order:
She sees making music as a fundamental part of a child’s development. - Making music she sees as a fundamental part of a child’s development. (fronting of object)
She resisted this. - This she resisted.
So now I am fully equipped to bring this useful tool, I mean fronting, to my students’ attention.