Object and complement fronting in the english clause

Abstract

The main aim of this study is to examine object and complement fronting constructions in Contemporary English, focusing on the constituent placed in initial position to carry out a formal and a discourse pragmatic analysis. The research is based on examples taken from online documents and samples from the BNC in which Objects such as Direct Objects and Prepositional Objects and Complements like Subject Complements and Prepositional Complements are placed in pre verbal position. In terms of formal analysis, the findings suggest that most occurrences of fronting take place when the Direct Object appears in clause initial position. Besides, most examples are composed by verbs that express mental processes, especially verbs of cognition. In terms of discourse pragmatic analysis, most occurrences link with previous discourse, and therefore, they have a Given Topic. This approach has enabled us to observe the preferences of speakers of English when using Object and Complement fronting.